MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Library trustees have rejected a proposal to let a genealogy group keep its material at the Mason City Public Library. The trustees voted Tuesday against letting the North Central Iowa Genealogical Society’s more than 5,000 items remain at the library. The trustees also voted to give the society until Oct. 31 to vacate its space. The deadline had been Sept. 30. Discussion on a compromise is expected to continue between the society board and trustees.

The society has been housed in the library since 1979. A letter to the society from library director Mary Markwalter cited “changing space utilization needs of the library” in asking the society to leave.