Open Meeting for Library Board Today!

 By Gretchen Garrity

The Fake News is busy building their narrative. You can read the latest HERE. First, the Springfield News-Leader reporter Marta Mieze labels the Christian County Commissioners as conservative, instead of concerned about age-inappropriate library materials--as are many citizens. The commissioners heard from their constituents and acted appropriately.

Second, a motion was made to investigate labeling of LGBTQ materials by Trustee Janis Hagen and it was voted on affirmatively by former Trustee Allyson Tuckness. That has yet to see any movement, and it has been several months. Here is the meeting in question--August 27, 2024:

Third, Mieze makes the same mistake that many make regarding the ILL (Inter Library Loan ) systems in question. Since MOBIUS, the expensive system now in place in the Christian County Library has more materials, it is assumed they are better than the Evergreen system. MOBIUS is primarily an academic library consortium, while Evergreen in a public library consortum. Big difference. Mieze might want to ask why most public libraries in Missouri use Evergreen.

Mieze finally does a decent job of writing about the search for a new executive director by quoting state statute: "While the same chapter of state law decrees that the board 'shall appoint a qualified librarian' to be the chief executive, what constitutes 'qualified librarian' is left undefined."

ON ANOTHER NOTE

Remember reporter Susan Wade, who recently stepped down from reporting for the Springfield Daily Citizen? You know, that media source that is dedicated to "unbiased coverage of the local news that affects each of us." Traditionally, reporters would not reveal their political bent and would try to stick to the facts regardless of their political affiliations. Well, it was really good of Susan to step down, because this is how she really feels (and no doubt felt) as she covered the Library for her media outlet:

If only there was a FAKE news boycott.

Is that what the lawsuit is about? Censorship?

EVEN MORE

Wait until you hear about the "nonpartisan" League of Women Voter members who've been attending library meetings. In a recent letter to the editor of the Springfield Business Journal (of all places), Emily Fessler and Liz Wertz -- co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri, opine on the importance of libraries to the community. As is usual with progressive-oriented individuals and organizations, the ladies assert their support for "access by all persons to public library services as a major source of knowledge and information necessary for informed, active participation in a democratic society."

 

This is the exact type of deceptive agenda the American Library Association (ALA) supports. No one on the current board of trustees is suggesting that the library should not be accessible to all. But, like commonsense people everywhere, not all materials should be accessible to all -- meaning there are some age-inappropriate and sexually explicit books that minors should be protected from. This has always been the crux of the matter.  But organizations and individuals like those detailed in this post want you to believe that citizens are out to ban and censor books.

 

Further, the co-presidents write, "We are seeing a growing effort to hinder libraries' ability to provide key and needed resources to our communities. This includes sowing distrust in public libraries as institutions and the American Library Association, a professional organization that has guided libraries for over 140 years. Worse still are the personal attacks on both board members and library personnel via social media or public comments."

 

How disingenuous of the ladies! If they truly cared about the community they would also want to protect the community's children from sexually explicit and age-inappropriate materials. But their decidedly leftist politics takes precedence, apparently. And their appeal to authority and accusations are logically incongruent with their apparent desire that libraries and tax-paying patrons support one another.

For more on recent events in the library, go HERE and HERE and HERE.