Bronson Appoints New Library Director. Anchorage Action Continues to Seek Eledge's Removal

Likely feeling the pressure due to public records requests and calls for him to remove social media superstar Judy Eledge from her leadership role, Anchorage Mayor David Bronson has suddenly and entirely miraculously appointed Robert Hudson as the Anchorage Public Library's next director.

Bronson's announcement came a little over a week after Anchorage Action co-founder Andrew Gray launched an online petition seeking the removal of Eledge as deputy director of the library and after former librarian Linda Klein asserted the library was not functioning correctly due to a lack of qualified leadership.

Hudson's degrees include a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of British Columbia, Canada, but he does not appear to have ever operated a public library. His background seems to be primarily in law — specifically sports law. He has worked in academic, medical, and law libraries in the United States, Canada, and Qatar.

According to a press release, Mayor Bronson appears to believe that Hudson is capable of working with the Anchorage Assembly and the people of Anchorage to move the APL "into the future" — which I think as a matter of practicality — might be challenging to do since Judy Eledge will continue to serve in her current role as Teacher Against the Dark Arts.

In a statement posted to his online petition, Andrew Gray called Mayor Bronson's decision to keep Eledge on in her role "unacceptable," writing that she fosters an environment of hyper-partisanship, shows disrespect to library employees, and works to block access to library materials of interest to marginalized groups.

Gray said he would submit his petition calling for Mayor Bronson to remove Eledge from her leadership role at the Anchorage Public Library during the April 26 meeting of the Anchorage Assembly.