Librarian forced to resign over fees

by: Ashley Singh

South Boston, VA - It's an amazing show of support for a former librarian in South Boston, forced to resign two weeks ago for waiving some overdue fees.

Hundreds have signed a petition to support Woodson Hughes, and on Tuesday, lots of people came out to show their support for him.

On Tuesday, the library board met at the Halifax Library in a small room, a room that was packed, with a line to get inside that stretched out the door. Most there said Hughes, the former Branch Manager, deserves his job back.

Hughes was a librarian in Halifax County for 22 years. He says he was recently forced to resign, for waiving fines. He never expected the town to rally behind him.

"I was just a person who managed a library in a small town in Southside Virginia. I certainly never expected anything like this. Never," Hughes said.

In September, library director Rhonda Griffin sent an email to staff saying a total of $1,400 in fines had been waived in a three month time period. One patron even had more than $80 waived.

Hughes says he did waive some fines for people who couldn't afford it, the elderly who couldn't get to the library to pay, and those with troubles.

"I tried to uphold the policies of the library to the best of my ability and I also tried to help the patrons to the best of my ability," Hughes said.

Ron Miller was so upset after hearing about what happened to Hughes that he resigned as president of the Friends of the Library funding group.

"When the library dismissed Woodson I just didn't feel like working hard to support a library that would do what it did to somebody like that," Miller said.

Anne Raab, who has been collecting signatures, says she has 300. And says there are still more forms out there.

“I cannot imagine him doing anything to bring discredit to the library, he loves the library,” Raab said.

“Leaving such a place in the best of circumstances would have been difficult. Leaving so abruptly was just ten times more so,” Hughes said.

Griffin says fees should only be waived in extreme circumstances.

The email she sent out to staff says continuously waiving fines for one person is the same as embezzlement.

from: wset.com