I wish I could post pictures of butterflies or daylilies today.
OK, just one. I'll post one, the Citrus Kick I bought last week.
But today, I have to discuss something more serious than flowers or daylilies.
Our local library is running two adult reading programs. One, which all the county libraries are participating in, involves having a card stamped each time you visit a library. The other, only for customers of Your Home Library in Johnson City, New York, involves reading a minimum of six books between late June and mid August. I'm up to four, so I'm sure I'll make the reading deadline.
You don't have to pay me to read. Back when I worked in downtown Binghamton, New York, I was in walking distance of the public library, and I would go there two or three times a week. The library has a small flower garden with a covered picnic table and several benches and tables. Since COVID, I was only in that garden once, to take some pictures.
When I was young, I wanted to be a bookmobile librarian. I grew up in New York City and had access to one of the greatest library systems in the United States. I was fortunate. My parents allowed me to read whatever book I wanted. As an adult, I explored becoming a librarian when I lived briefly in Iowa.
In general, librarians are some of the most awesome people you'd ever want to meet. They have been on the front lines of fighting against censorship for many years, but now, they are being tested like almost never before.
There's always been book banning and censorship, but it is reaching new levels.
I have a Facebook friend, someone I have never met, but I have read her blog for several years. She lives in the Bonners Ferry, Idaho area (she writes about this town in her blog, but otherwise I am not revealing any personal information or linking to her blog).
Bonners Ferry. Idaho, a small town of about 2,639 people, was named after Bonners Ferry, operated by one Edwin Bonner. His ferry was used to transport men and mules to the Canadian Gold Rushes of the 1870's. Its library, the Boundary County library, was once named "The Best Small Library in America".
The Best Small Library in America is being besieged. The people doing it think they are doing right by their children and their beliefs. But the situation is spiraling into harassment and possible violence.
If you read the library's Facebook page, you will see postings that may well alarm you, if you believe in free speech and expression. The Spokane, Washington newspaper also featured an opinion piece on this situation this past Sunday. I am not linking to this directly, because I suspect Blogger has become sensitive to certain content not rated G or PG, but you can easily do a search engine search for that and the Boundary County library. The opinion piece is also posted on the Facebook page.
The situation has a lot of detail, and I think it would be better to read it directly from the sources.
A regular meeting today of the Board of Trustees, meantime, was cancelled "in the interest of public safety". The reason was "due to an increase in harassing behavior, derogative accusations, and a purported threat of violence".
I am thousands of miles from Idaho. My Home Library should be safe. Why should I care?
Because if what is happening to the Boundary County library hasn't come to a library (or bookstore) near you yet, it may well be on its way. What is happening in Idaho is happening elsewhere. People are on edge. People are fearful their liberties are being taken away. Librarians are facing unceasing pressure, and it's only getting worse. Communities are being divided.
It isn't just Idaho. Here's another library, in Vinton, Iowa, facing pressure.
While I'm on the subject, it would also be a good time to mention that Banned Books Week isn't that far off - this year it will be September 18-24. To quote from the ALA website:
"Books unite us. Books encourage boundless exploration and allow readers to spread their wings. Stories give flight to new ideas and perspectives. Reading—especially books that set us free—expands our worldview. Censorship, on the other hand, locks away our freedom and divides us from humanity in our own cages."
Our country is going to have to make a choice sooner rather than later.
The alarms are ringing. Will the American public respond? Will they turn out and show their support and help libraries resist this pressure?
I was alarmed by her posts as well.
ReplyDeleteI live just a few miles from the Island Trees School District, made famous in the 70’s because of a book banning case that went up to the US Supreme Court.
Book banning is scary. Book banners are never on the right side of history. We think we are safe her in NY…but Island Trees High School is just a few miles up the road …
...I'm not why a young person would want to become a librarian today.
ReplyDeleteMy younger daughter was trained as a librarian and worked as one for several years before she went on to another career. Thus, I have the highest respect for libraries and librarians. I don't often go to our local library anymore since I find most of my reading material, including books, online, but I am glad to know it is there for people who need it, including those who need it simply as a respite from our intolerable heat.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this world coming to....the crazies are in charge. Carol C
ReplyDeleteI sit on the board of our local library and love my job! So far none of this 'book banning' has reared its ugly head in our community. Good grief. All I can picture is that book-burning scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Horrifying then--especially when you see what it led to in history. Horrifying now. Have we learned nothing?!
ReplyDeleteI visited the Facebook page, and read the newspaper article they posted. Then, there were the comments. "What are you hiding? What's the real reason you cancelled the meeting." As if threats of violence and harassment aren't reason enough? My education is in library science, and I interned in a juvenile hall library (one of few in the country). There were challenges to books (I'm not sure how anyone outside the library or staff at the facility knew what was being read, it was highly unlikely the kids were writing home about what they were reading! More unlikely the parents would even care. Some of them had never been to a library before. And that's a BIG reason, in my opinion, they ended up in juvenile detention!), mostly sexual content. If it was a series, the entire series had to be pulled, and read by a group of adults. Some of the novels were actually embarrassing for me to read, but I wasn't going to challenge them. The books got the kids reading! Like with anything else (ahem... abortion...gay marriage..), don't like it, don't read it (don't have one, mind your own business) and monitor your own children, not mine (well, mine are adults, so not them, but you know what I mean!).
ReplyDeleteVery scary stuff. That and the school boards. I don't get why people don't realize how dangerous this is, how they're playing into the hands of the fascists. I used to wonder how countries fell to fascism. I don't wonder any longer.
ReplyDeleteBonners Ferry is known for some really strange people. We looked at moving there once...it is a beautiful area but some radical people live there.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP has added book burning to its inane, fascist policies.
ReplyDelete