HAVERHILL LIBRARIES AND THE LAW

Court Decision Limits Citizen Access to Library Information

The Haverhill Corner Library won an important victory in Grafton County Superior Court on January 29 when the court decided to permit libraries to keep their records from the prying eyes of the public. Several months ago it decided to defend itself against a suit to acquire information relating to the governance of the library. The reason for denying the records, the court record shows, was the requestor’s longstanding antagonistic attitude toward the libraries in Haverhill.

Woodsville resident Robert Fillion of Woodsville, who brought the suit citing the state’s right to know law, contended that since the Haverhill Corner library fit the legal definition of a public library by annually requesting and accepting money raised and appropriated by taxpayers and by providing library service to the public without charge, it could not withhold information from citizens He claimed that the library furthermore was a public body as defined in the law and that the library trustees knew that the library was subject to the law since it had told him how to submit future right-to-know requests.

Ruling in favor of the Haverhill Corner Library, Judge Peter H. Bornstein stated that the New Hampshire constitution requires government to “be open, accessible, accountable, and responsive” and guarantees that “the public’s right to access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted.” He stated that there was a question as to whether the library was a “public body” subject to the right-to-know law. He stated that none of the entities of government mentioned in the law as subject to its reach specifically refers to libraries. He decided that a library did not fit in the category of any “board, commission, committee, agency, or authority.”

Fillion claims that Bornstein’s ruling appears to be a landmark decision in library law since it clearly allows a library to deny information about the library to citizens.

The Haverhill selectboard has voted to include the amount of $11,280 for the Haverhill Corner Library in the budget to be voted on at town meeting in March.