The D.C. Public Library’s Board of Trustees voted this week to name the main auditorium in the renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library after Amazon co-founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The auditorium’s naming was recommended by DCPL Director Richard Reyes-Gavilan as a means to recognize Bezos’s donation of $2.7 million to the library system in Dec. 2021 to support Beyond the Book, a new childhood literacy programs. There were four votes in favor and one abstention during Wednesday’s board meeting. (One board member, former D.C. official Victor Reinoso, works for Amazon, but he did not attend the meeting.)

“Beyond the Book is a transformational program that allows the D.C. Public Library to reach children ages 5-8 and help them develop the critical skills they need to be strong readers in school and throughout the remainder of their lives. Mr. Bezos’ gift, which is the largest donation in the D.C. Public Library Foundation’s history, funds this program,” said the library system in an emailed statement.

“The library has a governing policy that allows us to recognize donors who make significant contributions to the Library. One of the ways that we can do that is by naming library spaces in recognition of the gift. Following Mr. Bezos’ personal donation of $2.7 million, the library will name the auditorium in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library the Bezos Auditorium,” it added.

In a press release announcing his gift last year, library officials said Bezos’s gift “will make a real difference in the lives of children and families in the District of Columbia.”

In 2019, the board approved a “Naming Policy for D.C. Public Library Spaces and Programs” that spells out when interior and exterior spaces of libraries can be named after specific people, notably staff members or distinguished people who offered “extraordinary service” to the library system, or donors “who have made a significant financial contribution to the library.” The policy does call for a “due diligence review” of any proposed renaming, including “whether the name is and will continue to be a positive reflection on the library.”

Bezos, whose net worth of an estimated $170 billion puts him among the wealthiest people on the planet, was the country’s biggest philanthropists in 2020, giving more than $10 billion to a number of causes according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He’s also a growing presence in the Washington region, having purchased and renovated a $23 million, 27,000-square-foot mansion in Kalorama, and bringing Amazon’s second headquarters to Crystal City, Virginia, now rebranded as National Landing. Bezos’s name is also soon to be emblazoned on a new building at the National Air and Space Museum, in exchange for a $200 million donation to the Smithsonian.

But the decision to rename the brand new 291-person auditorium in the city’s flagship library — which was recently modernized at a cost of $211 million — is attracting criticism.

“I’m sorry, what? That’s ridiculous,” tweeted D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6). “Your service, rather than money, should be biggest factor for such an honor. These moments should never be for sale,” opined Oye Owolewa, D.C.’s shadow representative to Congress.

Other critics on social media argued that the donation was a relatively paltry sum for a man of Bezos’s wealth — it has been reported that he can earn $200 million a day — and relatively small compared to the D.C. Public Library’s $75 million budget. (The city’s overall annual local budget is roughly $9 billion.) They also pointed to a 2021 investigative report from ProPublica that showed that Bezos was among the country’s multi-billionaires who have managed to pay no federal income taxes, which are used to fund many programs and services.

But a majority of the criticism to the idea of a Bezos auditorium has been fueled by what some people say would a glaring contrast with person the library was named after, slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While best known for his work on advancing rights for Black people, King was also critical of economic inequality and the gap between rich and poor. That gap has grown in recent decades.

In an email to DCist/WAMU, one DCPL staff member similarly cited King’s legacy as the main reason they oppose naming the auditorium after Bezos. They asked that they not be named, because DCPL does not allow staff to speak with reporters without prior authorization.

“Considering that MLK was assassinated while defending the right of workers to strike, it is a totally absurd decision to name any part of the building after Bezos,” they wrote, referencing Amazon’s antipathy towards unionization efforts among its warehouse workers.

“Not to mention, there is such a high bar for naming library facilities — people like Juanita Thornton, Dorothy Height, [and] Watha Daniel contributed far more to our city and community than can be quantified in millions of dollars. There are so many more people who are deserving of having a part of a library facility named after them. If the Board of Trustees asked staff or community members, I’m sure they would get so many inspiring ideas!” this person added.

A letter-writing campaign has been started to change the board’s mind.

In what’s certainly an unexpected coincidence, the library is currently hosting an exhibit detailing the history of how it came to be named after Dr. King. The exhibit — titled “We Are Not Asking Politely: How letter writers won the campaign to name the library after Dr. King” — is in the library’s Great Hall.