Marxist Emily Drabinski is in the House

 

 

Today begins the annual conference at the Missouri Library Association. American Library Association President Emily Drabinski is present and will be giving the keynote address today.

On their Facebook page, the MLA posted the graphic above in honor of the ALA's "Banned Books Week." Notice the literature they are featuring. Graphic novels like Citrus are one of the main ways activists get smut in the library. The links below take you to reviews of the books. This is the stuff that the ALA and MLA actively defend being in your local libraries.

It's a process called demoralization that James Lindsay describes as:

"Demoralization is the destruction of one’s morale, in every possible sense. It’s also a Communist tactic being used not only on our society but on our children. At the end of the demoralization road, people can’t tell true from false, right from wrong, real from fake, or who to trust, and they completely lack hope outside of the vague hope that the state, institution, or cult will deliver them from their increasing misery and confusion. We must understand demoralization in order to resist and counter demoralization or else we risk losing our country, our children, and ourselves. In this episode of New Discourses Bullets, host James Lindsay sits down and discusses the various elements of demoralization and how they’re affecting your life. Join him to avoid the “black pill.”

Here is a 23-minute podcast episode on demoralization:

 

Incidentally, none of those books are banned. They are widely available in many public venues. The ALA and the MLA are lying when they say these books are banned.

Flamer (currently in the Nixa branch of the Christian County Library)

Fun Home (also in the Nixa library branch)

Home After Dark

Citrus, Vol. 1

Citrus, Vol. 2

The next meeting of the Christian County Library Board of Trustees is Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.

Library Reconsideration Process

 

The kind of agenda found in our libraries

                                                

By Gretchen Garrity

 The Christian County Library has recently updated their Censorship Policy, so-called, which is the process by which patrons can challenge sexually explicit, pornographic, and other types of materials that do not belong in the children's and teen sections of the library.

While state and federal laws are clear that obscene materials are to be kept from children, public libraries have been following the American Library Association's lead by continuing to place inappropriate materials within reach of children. As noted in a previous article, publishers and activist librarians are flooding the libraries with books and materials that push gender ideology (among other political agendas) even to very small children.

A Sunshine law request to the Christian County Library that asked how many book challenges had been successful from January 2020 to June 2023 brought back one result. The adult version of the Brick Bible, written by an atheist transgender individual, and illustrated by dioramas made from Lego bricks, was relocated to the adult section of the library.

Good on the library!

However, several recent reconsideration requests have been ignored, at least up until 2 p.m. today. One library patron submitted several challenges in June and July, just as the reconsideration form was being updated along with the challenge policy.

 

Previously, the policy noted that a written response from the executive director would be sent within four-to-six weeks from when the challenge was received. That policy was stated on the library's website policy manual last night until today, when the sentence, "A written response from the Executive Director or designated alternate will be sent within four to six weeks" was changed to read, "...a Request for Reconsideration form may be submitted and the Executive Director will respond."

 

To date, it is nearly nine weeks and no response to several challenges. 

 

While the policy was updated in June 2023, it still included the time frame response of the Executive Director. Now that it has gone missing, when are library patrons to expect a response? And why haven't challenge decisions been publicly posted on the website--at least anywhere noted and accessible?

 

A new state rule requires challenge results be posted publicly:

 

 

"(F) The library has or will adopt a written, publicly accessible
library materials challenge policy by which any parent or
guardian of a minor within the library district may dispute or
challenge the library’s age-appropriate designation affixed to
any presentation, event, material, or display in the library, and
the results of any such dispute or challenge shall be disclosed
to the public and published on the library’s website." 

 

 While a new reconsideration form has been added to the website, it would seem fair to grandfather in the older forms that were already out in the community. The new form states, "Please note that incomplete forms will not be processed." Additionally, the new form asks, "Are you the parent or guardian of a minor child (under the age of 18) living within Christian County?" Could this question suppress both parents and those without children from challenging inappropriate materials? Or would it have bearing on how the book challenge is handled by library staff?

The Christian County Library is taxpayer funded and has an annual budget of over $3 million. The library purchased a building next door to the Nixa branch for $2.4 million and will be seeking taxpayer funding for renovating the new building for staff and administration. Currently there are 60 employees of the library. Surely, the staff can respond in a timely and thoughtful manner to book challenges.

 

 

Letter to the Christian County Library

  

Sparta Library Branch

 

(A letter from a Christian County citizen was shared with us, and we were given permission to reprint it here. It is a gentle and truthful expression of what the citizen has encountered at the library while searching the bookshelves.)

To: Renee Brumett, Executive Director, Christian County Library, rbrumett@christiancountylibrary.org 

The Respected Members of the Christian County Library Board, boardinfo@christiancountylibrary.org

We are fairly new to the area and I recently spent some time in the Christian County libraries in Ozark and Sparta. I found the facilities lovely and librarians readily available as well as helpful. I also appreciate the facilities available to the community.

I spent several hours in each library in the younger children’s department and was quite concerned about what I found there. I reviewed over 100 books and titles in the bins between the two libraries and found the lack of Christian-oriented picture and board books in this area quite disappointing. I did not find any in the Sparta library, though I could have missed one, and I can’t say I noticed any in Ozark either. The only books I found with any religious tone were fact books about different types of religions. It is my sincere hope that some were currently out with patrons.

There seemed to be very few classics for parents to share. There were a considerable number of books that advocated for alternative genders, alternative families, or addressed social and racial issues. These often contained content that criticized or vilified those with more traditional and historical views of family, implying them to be wrong or portraying these positions as outside acceptable norms. Several were disrespectful of traditional positions of others if they were not aligned with what was presented. Normalizing without context comes with huge downsides and long-term consequences that do not seem to be recognized or addressed in any way.

Historical estimates of the LGBTQIA+ populations in the US range from 2 to 5% to the current popularity of gender identity fluidity and optimistic 7% of the 2022 Gallup poll.¹ These are self-identified identities that tend to shift with maturity as these identities are most common among young adults who may be influenced by current trends, popularity, and peers. WorldPopulationReview.com indicates that the Missouri population is 3.2% , dated May, 2023.² I would suggest that the 3.2% for the entire state of Missouri is not concentrated in Christian County and believe that they may be over-represented in the materials I viewed.

Many of the books were full of beautiful images but often contained problematic content.  The apparent lack of available material that better reflects the families in our communities is quite concerning. It appears a more balanced or contextual approach to history would be appropriate as well – virtually all the books referencing race were about American slavery with no historical context (i.e., virtually every ethnicity, nation and tribe in the world engaging in it throughout history). There is more historical balance on Wikipedia.³,⁴

According to Census.gov^{5 6} estimates dated July 1, 2022, we have approximately 3.7% Hispanic or Latino population yet I only saw two books in one library in Spanish and am not sure I saw any in the other. Yet with a 1% population of Black or African American most of the books that dealt with race were focused on this population. There may have been one or two that referenced Asian. There may have been one book about Native Americans (First Nations or Aboriginal, as preferred) though Missouri has significant history in the area. The apparent lack of available material that better reflects the families in our communities was quite concerning. It seemed that a more balanced or contextual approach to history would be appropriate as well – virtually all the books referencing race were about American slavery but did not find anything that addressed slavery in a historical manner (i.e., virtually every ethnicity, nation and tribe in the world).

A cursory search for churches⁷ in Christian County yielded a count of 97 churches, searching Ozark, Nixa, Sparta, Clever, Billings, Highlandville and Republic. This number did not include 2 churches I am personally aware of (both with 50-100 regulars). Yet there seemed to be a complete lack of anything modern or traditional regarding two parent families or Christian-based. Given the statistics of Christian County, this imbalance in available books is concerning to me as it does not accurately reflect our county and local communities nor does it seem to meet the standard set by the American Library Association of inclusion regarding audience:

“Articles I and II of the Library Bill of Rights are clearly inclusive regarding audience (“allpeople of the community the library serves”) and materials (“all points of view on current and historical issues”). This includes both fiction and non-fiction materials regardless of format.”⁸

I am not advocating for banning material though I considered some not quite age appropriate or in an incorrect location. I believe that there is quality material available that could address these surprising lacks in the collections I viewed. A cursory look in the YA (Young Adult/Teen) section suggested that this section also had similar issues in the available materials. The Public Libraries are to reflect the communities they serve and appear to be using taxpayers money to normalize agendas that do not.

I appreciate the time and effort that the Librarians and the Library Board devote to our libraries and hope that these imbalances will be addressed in the near future.

Sincerely,

R.D.

___________________________________________________________

Sources I am sure you are aware of include: 

Brave Books

Tuttle Twins

Zondervan

https://learnourhistory.com/

Answers in Genesis – from board books to science

Institute of Creation Research for Science

There are any number of series that focus on character rather than preference 

____________________________________________________________________________

1 https://news.gallup.com/poll/470708/lgbt-identification-steady.aspx

2 https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gay-population-by-state

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery

5 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/christiancountymissouri

6 https://www.christiancountymo.gov/about-us/county-statistics/ 

7 https://www.churchfinder.com/churches/mo/ozark etc. 

8 "Religion in American Libraries: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights",American Library Assoc., October 4, 2016

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/religion (Accessed July 25, 2023) 

Document ID: e40c0dfd-70f5-40e4-3d4c-14317cefa0b9

What Would Your Answer Be?

 

 A local citizen asks the Christian County Library Board of Trustees a question regarding two sexually explicit books that children have access to in the library.

What About the Libby App for Local Libraries? UPDATE!

 

From the Christian County Library website

 

By Gretchen Garrity

Libby is a library app that allows public libraries to offer cardholders digital materials like audiobooks, ebooks, magazines and videos. Download the Libby app on your phone or tablet, and voila, a wide world of literature is at your fingertips.

Any Christian County Library cardholder--including children--can download the Libby app. Libby is owned by a company named OverDrive (Steve Potash is the founder and CEO), one of the largest purveyor of ebooks and audiobooks in the business. According to an archived New Yorker article, An App Called Libby and the Surprisingly Big Business of Library E-Books, "It is the company behind the popular app Libby, which, as the Apple App Store puts it, “...lets you log in to your local library to access ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines, all for the reasonable price of free.”

OverDrive also offers Sora, a program geared toward students and available at participating schools.

One of Libby’s recent tweets helps promote the app through a Barbie film meme.

Another tweet explains that library cardholders can “stop paying for books and just download Libby.” But is that true for taxpaying citizens, even if they are cardholders? The axiom ‘There are no free rides’ may apply here, since taxpayers who fund the local public library are paying for the Libby app. For some public libraries, it can be quite an expense.

According to Daniel A. Gross, author of the New Yorker article, “To illustrate the economics of e-book lending, the N.Y.P.L. sent me its January, 2021, figures for “A Promised Land,” the memoir by Barack Obama that had been published a few months earlier by Penguin Random House. At that point, the library system had purchased three hundred and ten perpetual audiobook licenses at ninety-five dollars each, for a total of $29,450, and had bought six hundred and thirty-nine one- and two-year licenses for the e-book, for a total of $22,512. Taken together, these digital rights cost about as much as three thousand copies of the consumer e-book, which sells for about eighteen dollars per copy. As of August, 2021, the library has spent less than ten thousand dollars on two hundred and twenty-six copies of the hardcover edition, which has a list price of forty-five dollars but sells for $23.23 on Amazon.”

Looking at the license cost of $95 each, when a physical copy of the book costs $23 and change, one can see that a significant chunk of the budget for library collections can be spent on ebooks and audiobooks that are free to cardholders, but ultimately paid for by taxpayers.

Recently, OverDrive has been offering a program called OverDrive Max, which offers bundles and other perks for libraries, in order to help libraries with the cost of ebooks. And in June, OverDrive presented the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual meeting a preview of the data it has been assiduously gathering “...to uncover best practices for lending efficiency. These include the utilization of multiple content access models and curation practices and their impact on reader engagement," said Susan Gross Ph.D., OverDrive's lead researcher.

It Gets Much Worse

But the costs associated with the Libby app are not the only issues. Children who have a library card in the Christian County Library system have what is termed an “all access” card. Like adults, minor cardholders have access to all materials in the library. As the library policy manual states, “We support the Library Bill of Rights and the Freedom to Read Statement in providing free and open access to our materials for all age groups. Children are not restricted to particular areas of the Library. Our staff does not monitor the materials that children choose. The responsibility for the reading or viewing choices of children rests entirely with parents or legal guardians. For more information, see Youth and the Library.”

Further, the policy manual states, “The Library cannot overrule the rights and responsibilities of individuals by deciding who does or doesn't have access to Library materials. Decisions about what materials are suitable for particular children should be made by the people who know them best -- their parents or guardians. Updated June 2023”

Under the Circulation Policy in the manual, “Patrons 17 years old or younger will be issued a Youth All-Access Library Card. A parent or guardian must agree to accept financial responsibility for the care and return of Library materials checked out to the child.” Parents must accept financial responsibility for library materials, but the library bears no responsibility of any kind as to what materials a child may view while in the library.

But let’s get back to Libby. What does it mean that a child can download and access the Libby app on their phone? Beautiful card stock advertisements are available at the check-out of the library and its branches, and Libby is advertised on the Christian County Library's website.

From the Christian County Library

A child can download the Libby app on their phone or tablet and then connect with the local library through Missouri Libraries 2 Go. A new world of digital books, magazines and information is opened to them. There are audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, even videos.

And just as sexually explicit and agenda-driven physical books are seeded throughout the children’s and teen sections of the library, so there are audiobook versions, and some ebook versions of the same books. Also many magazines are online for young eyes to see, like Cosmopolitan, a magazine that is known for its sex-driven articles.

And It Keeps Getting Worse

But that’s not all. The Libby app allows users to erase all evidence of their searches, including accessed books, videos, and magazines. Even tags can be erased. This is also true for the online COOLcat.org’s Consortium of Ozarks Libraries Catalog.

Libby offers monthly webinars that help patrons learn their way around the Libby app and all its features. Before June’s “Pride Month,” Libby featured LGBTQ books and materials. They have even promoted a preview for  “LGBTQ+ books for kids: Be In the Know with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.” Here is a 2022 promotion for audiobooks. And here is a promotion for diversity and inclusion indieflixs during this year’s Pride Month.

From OverDrive's website

 As a company OverDrive is typically Woke, aligned with the ALA, and prominently promotes social justice issues on its blog and for book recommendations. The ALA’s “Right to Read” statement is promoted here and here; while Social Emotional Learning is promoted here.

It isn’t only library bookshelves that are presenting a danger to childhood innocence, it is online and digital apps promoted by public libraries, and paid for by taxpayers. Using her minor child's library card, a local mom was able to download the Libby app and access books like "Thirteen Reasons Why," "Spin with Me," "Where the Crawdads Sing," and "Queerly Autistic." Over 43,000 titles were immediately available.

Hillary Clinton popularized the phrase, “It takes a village.” Apparently that is so, until you get to the library. Then parents are on their own, trying to navigate through a minefield of materials that seek to indoctrinate children into gender ideology and early sexualization.

If children under the age of 18 were given library cards that prevented access to view, read, and check out obscene and pornographic materials, one could make the argument that the village library is a safe place for kids. But right now, it’s a jungle out there, both for children and the parents who seek to protect them.

UPDATE: The State of Mississippi has now banned popular library apps for those under age 18! Read about it here. The article, of course, is slanted hard left, but it is heartening to see that citizens and legislators are not going to put up with the continued sexualization of minor children. Also, here's another article that addresses the issues with ebooks in our libraries.

An Early Start

 

 

By Gretchen Garrity

 

Many parents have no idea of the books that are being marketed to even very young children in today’s public libraries. Books like Julian is a Mermaid, All are Welcome, Welcome Back, Pink is for Boys, Mommy, Mama, and Me, I Am Jazz, It Feels Good To Be Yourself, Love Makes a Family, Plenty of Hugs, and the “classic” Heather Has Two Mommies are all titles that are in the Christian County Library system. Many of the above books are located in the Sparta branch library. Suggested reading ages are anywhere from three years of age and under to four-to-eight years of age.

 

Sparta book display

 

While these particular books are not overtly sexualized, they do set up—as normal—the idea that a boy can be a girl, that a loving parent or grandparent would encourage gender fluidity, or that a family can be comprised of two moms, etc. The indoctrination starts early. And when a child reaches age 10 or 12, there is a plethora of other, more explicitly sexual books written just for them. By the time a child reaches the teen years, they have been “positively” exposed to significant amounts of sexualization that would have been unheard of in previous generations.

Why are such books being heavily marketed to very young children?

Back in the 1970s, radical activists and librarians began the process of deconstructing how books are cataloged. The goal was to move the classification of homosexual-themed books out of the traditional subject headings and into an ever-growing variety of classifications. Later, the library activists branched out to Queer Theory as it pertains to the normalization and dissemination of any kind of sexuality. The targeting of children at ever younger ages is also a feature of cultural Marxism, a move to sexualize children in an effort to destabilize families and society.

 

Pronoun buttons in the teen section at Sparta

In a scholastic paper titled, “Queering the Catalog,” incoming American Library Association President, Emily Drabinski, writes, “Works about religion in the Dewey Decimal System are overwhelmingly Christian (Berman [1971] 1993. 70); works about heterosexuality are barely named as such in LCSH* [Link added] (Christensen 2008, 233-34). As a result of these failures, biased ideological stories continue to be “told” by the organizational systems. As users interact with these structures to browse and retrieve materials, they inevitably learn negative stereotypes about race, gender, class, and other social identities...Similarly, they “learn” that heterosexuality in normative, that gay and lesbian sexuality is the only sexual identity to be examined, and that queer sexuality is inherently deviant.”

Just scratching the surface, what extremist activists have been busy doing is to make classifying books about sexuality, particularly any sexuality that is not heterosexual, so fluid that these books can be organized under just about any classification and placed on just about any shelf in the library. This, of course, has been going on with school textbooks for some time, with subversive ideologies being embedded within the curriculum and basically unavoidable.

For a primer on why schools, libraries, and mass media are sexualizing children, watch James Lindsay. In just over an hour, he details the Marxist Queer Theory underpinnings of overturning the existing order of society through corrupting the innocence of children.

 

This destablization is purposeful and militant and ongoing, whether the Christian County library staff and board of trustees are fully aware or not. If they are not already aware, they should be made aware.

 

 

*Library of Congress Subject Headings

New Library Board of Trustees Appointed

 

 

By Gretchen Garrity

The Christian County Commission has appointed two new members to the county library board of trustees.

Echo Alexander of Highlandville was appointed to replace Treasurer Paula Bishop for the South County area, while attorney Diana P. Brazeale of Ozark has been appointed in place of current President Matthew Suarez for the Ozark area. 

Echo Alexander

The Commission took a more direct role over the appointment process after the library's executive director and board of trustees had experienced months of contention with local citizens regarding the placement of sexually explicit books in the children's section of the library.

Parents and citizens have been working to implement a ratings system for books in the children's and teen (ages 12-17) sections. While the current board unanimously voted down the idea at their June 20, 2023 monthly meeting, citizens had also approached the county commission, asking about the appointment process.

Diana P. Brazeale

Many county boards are self-perpetuating in that they find and present board members to the county commission for appointment or reappointment. Such appointments are routinely approved by the commission, however, in the case of the library board of trustees, the commission decided to take a more active role in vetting candidates.

Matthew Suarez

 

Ultimately, the commission received 24 applications for the two appointments. After narrowing down the field to a handful of candidates, the commissioners interviewed them individually, asking the same questions and using a point system to determine who would be appointed.

The appointments were announced and voted on at the July 3, 2023 Christian County Commission meeting.

Paula Bishop

The library board of trustees is an unpaid position. The next position to be up for appointment or reappointment will be in 2024 for the West County area that includes Clever. Board of Trustee Stephanie Sekscinski (Member-at-Large) is the current appointee.

 Applications for the position are available here.

The new trustees will attend their first public meeting as trustees on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.