Members of North Idaho’s interlibrary loan consortium have decided to dissolve the Cooperative Information Network that has shared materials with patrons across the region for more than 40 years.

The Cooperative Information Network has library members from Bonner, Kootenai, Shoshone and Benewah counties in Idaho, as well as the city of Liberty Lake and Pend Oreille County in Washington. If the consortium dissolves, patrons from these libraries would no longer be able to borrow books from the other libraries in the network. Many of these libraries are small and rural, so losing access would greatly diminish the number of available titles in their catalogs.

The Osburn Public Library board first proposed dissolving the CIN as a way to avoid a potential lawsuit it believes the Community Library Network is planning to file against CIN, Osburn Library Director Jamee Sperry said at CIN’s June 18 meeting in Coeur d’Alene.

Sperry said she believes the potential lawsuit might be based on CLN’s interpretation of Idaho’s Children’s School and Library Protection Act. The new law went into effect last year and requires libraries to relocate “materials harmful to minors to an area with adult access only” within 60 days of a minor or their parent or legal guardian requesting the material be relocated.

“I just wanted to bring forth the idea that since we are in the place that we’re at, where we have so many things going on and we’re picking up the paper and we’re reading things about one group wants to sue us and we’re going through all of these things that are rather contentious,” a recording of the meeting shows Sperry saying.

The Community Library Network oversees libraries in Kootenai County outside of Coeur d’Alene, as well as Pinehurst Library in Shoshone County.