No more materials are to be removed from the Whitefish library, nor is the library to close prior to June 30, pending a resolution of a lawsuit, a district judge has ordered.

A lawsuit was filed last week against county and library officials related to the change of ownership and operation of the facility.

Whitefish is breaking away from the county library system and establishing its own independent community library in a building the city of Whitefish owns.

On Friday, Flathead County District Judge David Ortley issued a temporary restraining order in connection with the lawsuit filed last week by the Whitefish Library Association against the Flathead County Library Board, library Director Kim Crowley and the county.

A hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday before Ortley to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be issued pending a trial or other resolution of the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the Whitefish group asked for a temporary restraining order, a provisional injunction and a permanent injunction to make sure no more materials were removed from the library and that the library remain open through the end of June.

Ortley wrote that because of the allegation that library assets were being destroyed, it was necessary for the court to act without notifying the defendants to avoid “immediate and irreparable injury.”

Ortley ordered that no more materials be removed from the library by the defendants until the court takes further action. He also ordered county library officials to identify all materials that were housed in the Whitefish library as of March 1 and provide that list of materials within seven days. County library officials may not dispose of, destroy or discard any library materials, the judge said.

Ortley ordered that the county must continue operating the Whitefish library, pending further direction from the court.

County library officials have repeatedly said they will close the Whitefish library on June 18 although the agreement between the two entities runs through June 30.

They’ve said they need time to remove county-owned materials and make changes to the library’s bar code system.

The judge’s order states that the library association “is sustaining an ongoing injury” because county library personnel have removed books and other library resources from the Whitefish library and destroyed some of those materials.

Last November, the Whitefish City Council voted to terminate the agreement with the county that calls for the county to operate a branch library in a city-owned building and to instead operate a separate city library. The two entities have battled over library issues for years.

The Whitefish Library Association is a nonprofit organization that raises money to support the Whitefish library. It is not the same group as the Whitefish Community Library Board, which has been appointed by the Whitefish City Council to oversee library operations.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or [email protected].