Seven months after he became the new president of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Chad Helton set out on a summer of international travel and used donated library funds to pay for it.
Helton travelled to Egypt for eight days last June. He then traveled to China two weeks later. In August, he jetted to Japan for an eight day excursion.
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The library confirmed the trips were paid for with $45,000 from a discretionary donor fund which Helton controls.
In a statement, Helton said the trips allowed him to learn about other libraries “with the added intention of strengthening relationships with our international library peers.”
However, members of the library employees union call the travel excessive.
Residents in the Penn North community believe the funds could have served a greater purpose by making their community library ADA compliant.
“They are breaking the law by not having handicap accessibility for the library because of the type of building the library is…and the fact that he’s going around enjoying himself with the money, it’s sad that here we are,” Marvin
Baltimore library president’s summer globe-trot on donor cash sparks backlash
