By Bill Bader
I received my first library card some time in 1958, when I was 9 or so. I've been a library user ever since. Traditionally, libraries have presented themselves as family-friendly organizations. In my early teens I could visit either the local branch library or the central library on my own. My parents had no reason to be concerned. The one and only time a librarian questioned my choice was to be certain I wasn't overextending myself as far as reading level was concerned. When she saw that I was doing fine, she had no further issue.
I relied on the library for many years for entertainment and information, but only as a user. This changed when I started my library career. I began working with the St. Paul Public Library in November 1979, and retired in December 2019. For two years I was a library clerk. For 38 years I was a library associate (27 years as a paraprofessional reference librarian, and 11 years as a cataloger).
During the 1990s I started to notice that teen fiction was becoming more sexually explicit. Not overtly at the time, but enough that I started cautioning parents to read the synopses when I saw them browsing the shelves to find books for their children. I also spotted the occasional nonfiction books aimed at teen readers who wanted to explore their sexuality and didn't want to talk about this with their parents. This trend has only accelerated since then.
Around this time I learned that the library has an unwritten philosophy: Leave your values at the door. Another unwritten philosophy: Don't interfere in any way, in any context, if a minor wants to read or borrow something potentially harmful.
For example: if a child has been exploring materials dealing with end-of-life topics such as suicide and euthanasia I was expected to stay silent, even if I knew him or her to be emotionally disturbed. I discussed this theoretical scenario several times with my supervisor. She told me I shouldn't become involved at all. Don't alert the child's parents, don't try to discuss my concern with the child, and don't even point this out to another librarian. Privacy overrides another person's safety, or possibly even his or her life.
Library policy permits users of any age to freely check out materials regardless of age-appropriateness. Minors may freely read and borrow books that are far more obscene than such "classics" as James Joyce's Ulysses, or Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. The American Library Association Bill of Rights deals with these concerns by not dealing with them. In section V, it states that a person's age should not be a factor in the ability to use the library. Since this includes borrowing materials, the document provides no safeguards for parents who care about what their children read or view.
Taxpayers provide the greatest portion of library funding. When library boards and administrators approve the addition of materials that violate community standards, they break an unwritten and unspoken trust—that they will follow the values of their constituents.
Libraries have an image unlike that of other institutions. Librarians frequently remind us that they provide much more than books and movies. Their agencies have become gateways to information and knowledge in a way that was unimaginable a generation ago. This leads to the question of how they have managed their responsibilities. I contend that they have fallen down deplorably on the job.
Over the last few years, librarians throughout the United States have transitioned from abdicating moral responsibility to actively promoting evil: Drag Queen Story Hour events feature men in outlandish costumes and exaggerated makeup presenting themselves as distortions of women while telling stories to preschool children. One library in Texas did not even bother to run a background check and discovered after the event that they had invited a registered child sex offender to read to children during Drag Queen Story Hour. At least one Drag Queen has spoken out against these events, telling parents that bringing children to Drag Queen Story Hours is “extremely irresponsible.” We’re only twenty years in, but that might be the understatement of the century.
Libraries have changed from what they were a couple of generations ago. They have radically, slowly, subtly shifted their focus from family-friendly to family-hostile.
Even though the individual may feel powerless to change any of this trend, remember that there is strength in numbers.
Librarians need to hear your concerns. But be sure to pray and discuss with family, friends and maybe a pastor regarding any plans you may have before acting on them. Please don't confront or accuse librarians of evil intentions. Many of them may not even be aware of what their libraries contain, or that many users care what they provide. Instead, give them the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to state their points of view. And above all, speak the truth in love. Library board members and the library director may be more than willing to listen to your concerns – after all, we pay for these resources to be made available to the community.
Years ago, librarians safeguarded a commonly understood moral standard. But now they seem to actively seek to uproot these standards and impose their own self-righteous, not to say depraved, worldview on the communities around them. They've chosen a dangerous path, but we can hope that they may still choose to change.
