#Board of Library Trustees

[readingrecap]

🗓️ This Week in Meetings 6/10 - 6/14

Here is the list of all the meetings with agendas currently scheduled for this week in Reading. As always, this list is only up to date as of Monday morning and new meetings or modifications can be added/revised at any time. For PDF’s of the agendas, please click on the meeting name. Please check out https://www.readingma.gov for any changes. Monday Volunteer Appointment Committee –…

[wutbju]

This is not really ominous. It's just curious.

When the Board meets on Holy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, they will not be meeting in the fancy schmancy Board room in the Library.

They'll be in the regular ol' Student Center.

What happened to the Board room?

[jenni3penny]

So, also, this recently happened...

[wausaupilot]

Marathon County supervisors again debate book challenges in trustee appointment

Despite warnings from corporation counsel, supervisors again veered into book challenges when discussing a library board member's reappointment:

Damakant Jayshi Despite warnings from Marathon County’s corporation counsel, the Board of Supervisors on Thursday again drifted into the topic of challenged books amid a debate over a library trustee’s reappointment. The 38-member county board approved, by a vote of 18-15, the reappointment of Reid Rayome to the Marathon County Public Library Board of Trustees for a full-term of three years…

[escondidolibrary]

There is still time to apply for the Library Board of Trustees! The deadline is today:https://www.escondido.org/application-for-appointment #escondidoca #cityofescondido #boardoftrustees #library

[thoughtportal]

Hundreds of New College of Florida library books, including many on LGBTQ+ topics and religious studies, are headed to a landfill.

A dumpster in the parking lot of Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the campus of New College overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center on Tuesday afternoon. Video captured in the afternoon showed a vehicle driving away with the books before students were notified. In the past, students were given an opportunity to purchase books that were leaving the college's library collection.

Some discarded books included "Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate", "The War of the Worlds" and "When I Knew" — which is a collection of stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting when they knew they were gay.

Amy Reid, the faculty chair and representative on the board of trustees, said when you throw away books, you also throw away democracy.

"They take the trees and people had a service to recognize the loss of those trees," she said. "I want to do that for books, because books are what matter."

Natalia Benavites, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at New College, said books in the dumpster carried the college's seal as well as a "discard" sticker on the spine.

The college also discarded books from the Gender and Diversity Center, which was located across campus. The GDC books were purchased individually and not with state funds, she said. Several students and activists with the SEE Alliance worked Thursday afternoon to save the GDC materials before they could be thrown away.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mike Hixenbaugh at NBC News:

METROPOLIS, Ill. — The pastor began his sermon with a warning. Satan was winning territory across America, and now he was coming for their small town on the banks of the Ohio River in southern Illinois. “Evil is moving and motivated,” Brian Anderson told his congregation at Eastland Life Church on the evening of Jan. 13. “And the church is asleep.” But there was still time to fight back, Anderson said. He called on the God-fearing people of Metropolis to meet the enemy where Satan was planning his assault: at their town’s library. A public meeting was scheduled there that Tuesday, and Christians needed to make their voices heard. Otherwise, Anderson said, the library would soon resemble a scene “straight out of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The pastor’s call to action three months ago helped ignite a bitter fight that some locals have described as “a battle for the soul” of Metropolis.

The dispute has pitted the city’s mayor, a member of Eastland Life Church, against his own library board of trustees. It led to the abrupt dismissal of the library director, who accused the board of punishing her for her faith. And last month, it drew scrutiny from the state’s Democratic secretary of state, who said the events in Metropolis “should frighten and insult all Americans who believe in the freedom of speech and in our democracy.” Similar conflicts have rocked towns and suburbs across the country, as some conservatives — convinced that Democrats want to "sexualize" and indoctrinate children — have sought to purge libraries of books featuring LGBTQ characters and storylines. Republican state legislatures have taken up a wave of bills making it easier to remove books and threatening librarians with criminal charges if they allow minors to access titles that include depictions of sex.

To counter this movement, Illinois Democrats last year adopted the first state law in the nation aimed at preventing book bans— which ended up feeding the unrest in Metropolis. Under the law, public libraries can receive state grant funding only if they adhere to the Library Bill of Rights, a set of policies long promoted by the American Library Association to prevent censorship.

Many longtime residents were stunned when these national fissures erupted in Metropolis, a quirky, conservative city of about 6,000 people that has a reputation for welcoming outsiders. Because of its shared name with the fictional city from DC Comics, Metropolis has for the past half century marketed itself as “Superman's hometown.” Tens of thousands of tourists stop off Interstate 24 each year to pose beneath a 15-foot Superman statue at the center of town, to attend the summertime Superman Celebration, or to browse one of the world’s largest collections of Superman paraphernalia at the Super Museum.

“Where heroes and history meet on the shores of the majestic Ohio River,” the visitor’s bureau beckons, “Metropolis offers the best small-town America has to offer.” But lately, the pages of the Metropolis Planet — yes, even the masthead of the local newspaper pays homage to Clark Kent — have been filled with strife. Unlike in comic books and the Bible, the fight in Metropolis doesn’t break along simple ideological lines. Virtually everyone on either side of the conflict identifies as a Christian, and most folks here vote Republican. The real divide is between residents who believe the public library should adhere to their personal religious convictions, and those who argue that it should instead reflect a wide range of ideas and identities.

During his sermon in January and in the months since, Anderson has cast his congregation and their God as righteous defenders of Metropolis — and the Library Bill of Rights and its supporters as forces of evil. If Christians didn’t take a stand, Anderson warned, there would soon be an entire children’s section at the library “dedicated to sexual immorality and perversion.” And before long, he said, the town would be hosting “story hour with some guy that thinks he’s a girl.”

[...] A week later, the board went into a closed session and presented Baxter with an ultimatum: If she wanted to keep her job, she needed to sign a performance improvement plan. It stipulated that she would abide by the Library Bill of Rights, seek state grant funding and discontinue praying aloud with children and other religious activities at the library. Baxter refused to sign and began to criticize the board. Voices were raised, according to three members. After a few minutes, James, the board president, slammed her fist on the table. “This is not up for debate, Rosemary,” she said. “Either sign it, or don’t.” Baxter stood up and left. Minutes later, the board came out of closed session. By a vote of 5-3, they terminated Baxter’s employment. Baxter’s departure left the library in turmoil. Four employees resigned soon after, and the board got to work picking up the pieces.  They brought on a former library employee to serve as interim director and embarked on top-to-bottom reviews of the library’s catalog and finances. “Our focus,” James said, “is making sure our library is strong and healthy and there to serve everyone.” Then, on March 19, the story of Baxter’s firing was picked up by Blaze Media, a national conservative outlet. In a column titled, “A librarian’s faithful service is silenced by a secularist takeover,” conservative talk radio host Steve Deace interviewed Baxter and Anderson and reported that both had come under fire for their Christian beliefs.

Deace presented the local saga as a warning that evil forces were now coming for small-town America and blamed the problems in Metropolis, in part, on “a California transplant who is living with another man,” referring to Loverin, the library board member. Three days later, Metropolis Mayor Don Canada — who in 2021 had appointed Anderson, his pastor, to an open seat on the City Council — took a stand of his own. In letters addressed to James and two other board members, Canada announced that he’d “lost faith in the Board in its current state.” As a result, he was removing James and two others who’d voted to terminate Baxter. 

In Superman's alleged hometown of Metropolis, Illinois, the town has been engulfed with strife over conflicts on the direction of the town's public library, with Eastland Life Church Pastor Brian Anderson leading a war against the library as part of the faux moral panic about LGBTQ+ books that right-wingers falsely claim such books "sexualize" children.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Loud cheers erupted inside a packed high school gymnasium after the Brandon School Division rejected a call to remove books dealing with sexuality and gender identity from libraries.

[...]

The school division was inundated with calls, letters and emails after a delegation at its May 8 meeting, led by former school trustee and grandmother Lorraine Hackenschmidt, called on the division to set up a committee to review the content of books available in school libraries, and remove titles deemed inappropriate, including "any books that caused our kids to question whether they are in the wrong body."

Before the vote, board chair Linda Ross said there were many "errors and untruths" in Hackenschmidt's presentation.

Ross said that by denying the possibility that people could feel like they are born in the wrong body, "you are denying the reality of others. Because it is not your experience does not mean that it is not the reality of others."

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[local-lesbrarian]

Yesterday, the board of trustees for the library I work at voted unanimously against banning This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson! This was a huge relief for me (and my fellow staff), and I just wanted to share a few takeaways from this experience.

For context, a library patron had submitted a formal request to have the book removed after seeing it displayed alongside other recent additions to our YA section. He took issue with, of course, the chapter on sex ed and provided pages of out-of-context quotes and straight-up lies to make the book appear "dangerous." Lots of the homophobia and puritanism you'd expect. Per our policies, we formed a committee to address his request, and the committee decided the book was fine where it was. Again per policy, he had the option to appeal to the board of trustees, which he took.

We found out he was doing this 5 days before the next board meeting. And even with that short warning, we had over 150 people show up to a small-town library board meeting that often has few or no public attendees! We couldn't fit everyone in our biggest room! Look at us all!!

Public comments are limited to 3 minutes or less, and that still lasted for more than an hour. People spoke who were parents, teachers, nurses, therapists, voting activists, workers at other libraries, and of course, many queer people. They talked about censorship, freedom of expression, freedom to read, the positive impacts of this book and books like it on youth, their own experiences as queer kids and teens or parents or such, and more--too many perspectives to list here. Every single speaker opposed the book ban. Every. One.

The patron who initiated this challenge was present, but left before public comment was over, without speaking.

So, those takeaways:

This is further evidence that campaigns of censorship and queer erasure are perpetuated by individuals and small groups, and don't represent the common view. You can check out stats on ala.org to back this up, but most people, including most parents, oppose book bans.

This turnout was gathered mainly through texts, email, chats (like Discord), phone calls, and word of mouth. Every town and city has people willing to fight and support those fighting the tides of fascism--keep in touch with your community and your allies, your local friends and trusted acquaintances, and when the time comes for action, they will show up.

Pushback, especially public, visible pushback, demoralizes bad actors. These are often people with little to do except organize and promote their hatred, often people with few material problems demanding their attention. (In this case, a retired eye doctor.) Give them a fight, and they often back down. If they don't back down, see #2 and beat them with numbers and passion.

Even after a victory, stay alert. We're prepping for litigation (not that we think he has a case, but he does have a reputation). We're also keeping a close eye on the smaller libraries in nearby towns and townships. Even if someone like this backs down once, they might try their luck somewhere easier. Keep those contact networks from #2 ready to go.

None of this is comprehensive, and your particular situation may well require different tactics. I'm not an expert, just a chronically online trans woman and librarian who's gotten unexpectedly attached to her current town. It was incredibly heartwarming to see so many people stand up for queer teens where I live, when it usually feels like nobody cares about what's happening to queers in the States. This post has already gone on longer than I expected, I'm just still quite emotional and wanted to talk about it. (Also still mentally drained from the past few days of stress...)

Huge shoutout to everyone who helped make this community action happen. Many of them were more eloquent or piercing in their comments, but here's my 3-minute spiel. It was delivered with none of the eye contact or dramatic reading I'd rehearsed because, holy shit, there were a lot of people there!

[tomorrowusa]

Support your local public library!

If there is any attempt to ban books, go to a library board meeting and speak out.

And don't neglect elections where public library trustees are elected. Look into the backgrounds of those running for office. Party affiliation is often not listed on the ballot in such elections. Consider running yourself for your public library board.

It's probably more than a coincidence that a disproportionate number of books the far right wishes to ban or restrict are LGBTQ+ related. There's certainly homophobia involved in some way with the bulk of these banning attempts.

Perhaps the best blanket way to protect against book banning and censorship is to get your state to pass a law to ban book bannings. That's exactly what Illinois did.

Gov. Pritzker Signs Bill Making Illinois First State in the Nation to Outlaw Book Bans

That's probably an option only in blue states. But the more states that do it, the better.

[readingrecap]

🌈 Reading Public Library’s Board of Trustees Issues Pride Statement

Reading Public Library’s Board of Trustees issues a statement of solidarity and support for our Pride Community. Reading Public Library (RPL), Reading, MA—Reading Public Library’s Board of Trustees adopted a statement of solidarity and support at their May 13, 2024 meeting. “Our public library serves all in our community, fostering an environment of respect, understanding, and belonging. Our…

[antifainternational]

BRANDON, CANADA REPORTBACK:

All across the country an alliance of the religious-right and far right extremist groups is trying to invade school board meetings demanding the removal of any material supportive of LGBTQ+ youth.

These are the same bigots targeting educators and entertainers in drag who perform story time for kids, very popular events hosted by many public libraries.

One recent confrontation came in Brandon, Manitoba. There the public school board bowed to pressure from “concerned parents” to review their policy and examine library books. There was so much local interest that the meeting had to be held in a school gym.

The good news is that the community turnout was overwhelmingly supportive of LGBTQ+ kids. One trans student spoke to the importance of finding positive literature in the library as part of making school a safe place for them. Parents and teachers echoed the sentiment, citing the need for safe supportive environments to avert the tragically high rate of suicide among trans kids.

In the end the handful of bigots were drowned out and the evangelical former school trustee who pushed for the meeting didn’t even show up. The school board voted 6 – 1 to maintain its policy of inclusion.

The cherry on top was when People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier showed up to a loud chorus of boos and heckling. The PPC has opportunistically made anti-LGBTQ+ politics its main focus. Seeing things weren’t going his way, Bernier slunk out in mid-meeting.

[frances-baby-houseman]

My library is doing some programming about gender identity this spring, and there has been a lot of chatter among disgruntled conservatives about "what is the library doing teaching our kids that boys aren't really boys" or whatever. We stand by our programming and haven't treated it any differently than anything else we do, other than providing a little extra support to the programmers and ensuring our safety team is doubled up when we have these programs in person.

Last night was our monthly board of trustees meeting and the talk on social media had been that there would be protesters and everyone was on edge. My friend was on the RA desk and texted me that there was a steady stream of people heading into the meeting, which is NOT the norm (we normally have 1 person from the league of women voters attend and that's it.) I watched the livestream at home and instead of protesters, we had ELEVEN community members speak during open comment offering support and thanks to the library for this programming (and a rainbow storytime we had last year with a non-binary storyteller, where we DID have a very vocal protester.) Anyway it was beautiful and so supportive and on my work besties group chat we were all pretty teary. Link if you want to watch, public comment starts at 5:00.

Just a reminder that if an organization you support does something you approve of, it's just as important to vocally support it as it is to protest something you don't approve of.

[wausaupilot]

'You can decide what books your child can read, but you have no right to tell others what they can get at public library'

Critics of the proposal said parents have the right to decide which books from the library their children can read - but they have no right to make decisions for someone else.

Damakant Jayshi | Wausau Pilot & Review The principle of parental responsibility surfaced again during the Marathon County Public Library regular meeting on Monday, amid another discussion in Wausau on a proposed rating system. Another topic centered on the subjectivity and potential bias of those who would perform such ratings – and whether that very act infringes upon the rights of those who…

[laindarko100]

Solidarity with the Portland State University student protests

For months, we at PSU have been calling for our school to cut ties with Boeing, Intel, and other companies that support genocidal Israel. We, the students, do not want to receive blood money from a glorified weapons dealer. We do not want internship partnerships with them. We want the school to replace those working relationships with companies that match our values. We want them, as an institution, to call for a ceasefire and publicly stand in solidarity with Palestine. PSU has extensive anti-racist & diversity policy - we really just want them to put their money where their mouth is. It's frankly not a huge ask. Yet the Board of Trustees & Pres. Ann Cudd were silent on the matter... Until the encampments on the park blocks late last week.

Here's the thing. I've been to a peaceful free Palestine march in Portland that must have had hundreds of attendees. Nobody reported on it, nobody in government responded to it. I joined students to peacefully disrupt a finance meeting at PSU to voice concerns about Boeing & Intel. No reporting from the media, no response from PSU. They moved the meeting to Zoom before half of us even arrived for "safety reasons" - bear in mind, this was in response to a couple of students merely speaking during the first portion of the meeting to list their concerns. They did not address our concerns at all, they simply found a way to ignore us.

It's only after the encampments, only after the occupation of the library, the vandalism and trespassing, that the media is reporting, and that Pres. Ann Cudd is pausing relations with Boeing and addressing concerns (even if her responses are sub par and her promises are empty). The powers that be love to tout peaceful protest because they can easily ignore peaceful protest. And let me be clear: the occupations and encampments are not violent. They are breaking the law but that does not immediately mean they are making an unsafe environment - quite the contrary, they were taking care of each other, and making the library welcome to students who needed it for study, etc. A broken window and some graffiti - that's why the police have shown up in riot gear? Yeah, right. This isn't about safety. This is about control, it's about violently forcing the students into complacency.

I am proud of PSU's student activists and the occupants of the library. I support them and stand in solidarity with them. I admire them, and hope that I may one day be able to develop in myself the bravery they have displayed this week.

Much love. Free Palestine 🇵🇸