top of page

Book it! Libraries, staff stack up

Writer's picture: Kenneth WeissKenneth Weiss

The New York Times on Feb. 3 published a story on how librarians have come under the gun — literally, in the case of a northern Idaho library where a protester against the institution’s “Rainbow Squad” was arrested for carrying a loaded gun. The squad, about two dozen kids from all backgrounds, would gather to be read to by a friendly youth librarian.

 

The story noted that in 2023 more than 150 bills in 35 states targeted access to library materials and those who dispense them — library workers.

 

In an extremely frightening extension of this attack, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 blueprint for another possible Donald Trump presidential term, warns of the “omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children” and calls for the imprisonment of those who distribute it. In addition, “educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders,” according to the document.

 




Efforts in the past few years to squeeze libraries are on the rise. An NPR story in August 2022 detailed how the Lafayette Library Board of Control in Louisiana, which was taken over by conservatives in 2021, rejected a grant to fund a voting rights program as too left wing, canceled a Pride Month display and then tried to fire a popular librarian who defied the order.   

 

Perhaps I’m biased in my support of libraries and librarians for a couple of reasons. I hold a master’s degree in library service, in addition to one in journalism. Besides having worked in libraries in the past, I also happen to patronize them regularly. I can’t thank enough the librarians at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, especially those in the Central Library, for their assistance when I began writing my book.

 

I also can’t emphasize enough the importance of supporting our local libraries and the people who work in them. Library staff generally receive low pay and exhibit much patience. Most significantly, let’s not forget that they’re also in the vanguard of protecting our precious First Amendment rights.

2 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page