The Sacramento Public Library's governing board will consider a proposal this afternoon that largely rejects the findings and recommendations leveled in a blistering assessment by the county grand jury, including a suggestion that library director Anne Marie Gold be fired.

The board is scheduled to vote on a draft response released this morning that would take issue with the grand jury's findings, partly because the library complains it has not seen all the evidence the grand jury used and partly because the library board says it cannot discuss the fate of employees such as Gold in public.

"While the Grand Jury can - and should - speak freely about the Library Director's management style, and critique her management skills, we cannot, and will not, participate in a public discussion of what must for us be a private personnel issue," the proposed response states. "Our interpretation of the law is that personnel evaluations must be conducted in a way that protects the privacy rights of the employee."

The board is scheduled to vote today on whether to adopt the draft response, reject it or postpone a response until a special meeting Aug. 6.

The library board is required to issue a response of some sort by Aug. 15 to the presiding judge of the Sacramento Superior Court.

The board, which is composed of 14 elected officials from area jurisdictions, received the grand jury report in May after a six-month investigation that found severe management problems within the library system, including:

• Low morale and a high rate of turnover among employees, especially key management personnel.

• Lax oversight that led to felony charges being issued against two library officials accused in an overbilling scheme involving maintenance work at library branches.

• A "major problem with uncollected fines" totaling $2.5 million. Since the report's release in May, the library has concluded it gave incorrect information to the grand jury and that the actual total of unpaid fines and value of unreturned materials is $4.6 million.

The grand jury issued 14 recommendations in its report, including telling the board it should "seriously consider" removing Gold from her $145,000-a-year job.

The board has made no move to remove Gold, and some members have voiced support for her. However, the agenda for today's meeting includes a closed session at which Gold will be given a "performance evaluation."

It marks the third time this year she has faced such an evaluation. Board agendas indicate she faced previous evaluations in closed sessions in February and March.

Last month, the board authorized spending $300,000 on a "performance audit" of the library, and the panel is to vote today on whether to spend another $30,000 for the same firm to perform a telephone survey of how it serves its patrons.

Some have questioned the need for spending such sums after a grand jury probe that included the review of 1,500 documents and 70 subpoenas, and on Monday a member of the grand jury questioned the need for such audits.

James F. Spagnole, a Sacramento attorney who was on the grand jury, sent a letter to The Bee on Monday noting that the panel consisted of four attorneys, a former police chief and numerous other professionals, and said the investigation took place "often in the face of obfuscation, indifference and non-cooperation from Library leadership."

Spagnole declined to elaborate on his letter, saying it speaks for itself.

But his view was echoed by a letter the grand jury foreman, Donald W. Prange Sr., sent June 30 to Superior Court Judge Raymond M. Cadei, who served as advisor to the panel.

"The Grand Jury's investigation into the management of the Sacramento County Library met not only indifference, but also active resistance and determined efforts to thwart the investigation," Prange wrote in the letter, which accompanied the panel's final report on all matters it investigated.

"Even after issuing 70 subpoenas and scrutinizing 1,500 documents, this Grand Jury is not satisfied that all activities at the Library which merited review were sufficiently examined."

The library board appointed a panel to come up with a response to the grand jury's findings. Among the recommendations the draft says the library agrees with:

• Library employees should be evaluated regularly.

• Create more oversight and reporting procedures.

• Publish an annual budget summary that includes year-end accomplishments and future plans.

• Create stronger internal controls.

• Tighten credit card policies.

The panel can adopt the response or continue the matter for discussion at a special Aug. 6 meeting. Today's meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the county supervisors' hearing room.

Call the Bee's Sam Stanton, (916) 321-1091