The Union County Public Library System's Board of Directors will not meet on Dec. 6, Board President Ken Goudy said.
The meeting's cancellation was announced in a post on the Barton Library's Facebook page, which cited a criminal investigation into "threatening and harassing communications ... targeting library Board members and employees."
Goudy declined to share any details about the threats, citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
"We can't discuss that – it wouldn't be fair to any of the parties involved," Goudy said Friday afternoon. "I just really can't discuss it."
Goudy said a police report had been filed with the Union County Sheriff's Office. Capt. Jeff Stinson, chief investigator for the UCSO, confirmed that an investigation was underway.
"I'm not to the point where I can say conclusively it constitutes a threat, but it's definitely harassment," Stinson said.
Stinson said employees of the Union County Public Library System reported being harassed with repetitive, anonymous calls and emails. He said he's issued search warrants for phone, email and social media providers to gain more insight into who might be a suspect.
"Clearly the person making these calls and emails aren't happy with what's going on. There's a pattern that suggests it's either the same person or the same few people... Everything at this point says it's one source or at most two people, and that's what I'm trying to find out right now," he said.
Stinson said while he hasn't seen evidence of any direct threats being made against UCPLS employees, the level of harassment they've received is enough to make anyone nervous.
"Any time you have someone coming at you this vehemently, it tends to make people nervous, especially if emotions are high already. It makes the employees that are still working there, it makes them uncomfortable because one, they don't know who it's coming from, and when somebody comes in the library, you don't know if that's the person or this is the person and if they might go from talking to acting out," he said.
Simple harassment, Stinson said, is a Class A misdemeanor, carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail per count. But, he said, if he were to uncover evidence of threats being made against UCPLS employees, or if the harassment develops into threats, potential charges could be steeper.
"The bottom line is, don't jump to any conclusions until you know what the facts of the matter truly are, because there's a tendency to pick a camp before we know really what's going on, and that's why I can't do that; I've got to figure out what the evidence is and what it tells me," Stinson said.
The Board was scheduled to meet next Tuesday, Dec. 6. Some local residents were planning to attend the meeting to present a petition for the reinstatement of former Barton Library Children's Librarian Karla Nelson, who was fired on Nov. 17.
Goudy said any meetings of the Board are cancelled until further notice.
"Be patient with us; let it run its course and then we'll evaluate and go forward," he said.
UCPLS Executive Director Michael O'Connell was not immediately able to be reached.