A Conflict of Interest?

 By Gretchen Garrity

 At the March 26, 2024 Christian County Library Board of Trustees meeting, the board voted, as a matter of course, to renew the Conflict of Interest policy required by the Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC). (See March agenda under New Business.)

The policy states in part:

"Any employee who holds a voting interest in the Board or governing body of any other organization, association, non-for-profit, union, corporation, or government entity that conducts any business, financial or otherwise, with Christian County Library (including Recognized Library Support Organizations such as the Christian County Library Foundation and Friends of the Christian County Library) must disclose that relationship to their Supervisor and shall be disqualified from voting on or participating in any decision making, contract negotiation, or purchasing for or on behalf of Christian County Library related to that organization or entity. "

 

In a striking coincidence, a citizen, Aileena Keen, stood up to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting. In it, she exposes a possible conflict of interest on the part of the library's executive director, Renee Brumett, who is a current board member of MOBIUS, a library consortium that provides access to digital library materials, inter-library loans, and other resources. Watch the short video:

 

From Keen's question, it appears few, if any, members of the board were aware that Brumett is a member of the board of directors of MOBIUS. Library consortiums engage in resource sharing, thereby giving local library members a wider degree of access to materials like books and digital resources. Why would this be a conflict of interest? See the above library policy. MOBIUS is a library consortium of mainly academic libraries that the Missouri State Library is associated with. 

From: MOBIUS Consortium

 

Currently, only four Missouri public libraries, including the Christian County Library, are members of MOBIUS. The other libraries are St. Charles City-County Library, St. Louis County Library, and the Springfield-Green County Library. Additionally, Robin Westphal, the State Librarian, is an ex officio board member of MOBIUS.

In contrast, the Missouri Evergreen Consortium is "an independent association of Missouri Public Libraries. The Consortium is an outgrowth of efforts to improve resource sharing between Missouri’s public libraries." Evergreen is primarily concerned with public libraries. There are currently about 66 member libraries in Evergreen, with 11 applicant libraries pending.

From: Christian County Library

 The question has to be asked, "Does the Christian County Library's membership in MOBIUS, versus Evergreen, have anything to do with Brumett's board membership?" It may not, but the library board should have had knowledge of any potential conflicts.

Additionally, the Christian County Library received a grant from MOBIUS for $1,159.00 to send a staff member to the American Library Association's YALSA Symposium in 2023. 

Looking deeper into MOBIUS, other connections surface, such as with Overdrive. What is Overdrive? You can read about Overdrive HERE in a previous article. From that article, "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."

Overdrive originated the Libby App which public libraries and their patrons can download to access digital materials. You can also read about it at the link, and not only can it be expensive for public libraries, but Libby allows children access to thousands of inappropriate digital materials and books.

If a parent desires only age-appropriate materials for their children on Libby, there is the eReading Room which curates materials designed for children and teens. However, it is not the parent who is able to make the final determination, but something Overdrive and libraries developed. Their understanding of age-appropriate may not be what parents feel is right for their child.

The connections with MOBIUS--including the ALA, the MLA (as an Institutional Member) and Overdrive--all point to the continued association with organizations that have progressive socialist agendas separate from our local community. Local control is not just for government schools. It's also for taxpayer-funded public libraries.

Why would our public library hold membership in a consortium of academic libraries and not one geared to public libraries? What are the respective costs associated with membership, as opposed to membership in Evergreen? When did our library join MOBIUS? What are the advantages, if any?

The RINO in the Room

 

Diversity/Equity/Inclusion from the MLA

By Gretchen Garrity

 At last Saturday's Greene County GOP T.A.R.G.E.T. BBQ in Springfield, Secretary of State John R. "Jay" Ashcroft (candidate for Missouri governor) spoke about his efforts on behalf of taxpayers who are struggling with children having access to obscene and sexually explicit materials in the public libraries.

He shared that although a bill protecting children from such materials did not make it through the legislature, he was "...making sure your taxpayer dollars weren't being used for pornographic and obscene material in our libraries for kids. It didn't get through the legislature so I said, 'Okay, I had the authority, I put forth a rule. I said, 'If you're a public library and you want taxpayer funds from the state or the federal government you've got to put parents in charge, you've gotta rate books and you've gotta keep inappropriate material out of kids hands, because parents are given those kids by God to raise, not petty bureaucrats that think they're in charge."

While Sec. Ashcroft received applause for his statement, here in Christian County taxpayers are still fighting to get obscene materials out of the children's and teen sections of the library. A ratings system was voted down by Christian County Library Board of Trustees in June, and obscene books are still accessible by children. 

The taxpayer funding was never really withheld either, (see here). This is how the political machine in Jefferson City works. Politicians say one thing in public, but the status quo almost always prevails.

From the link:

"Noticeably missing from Sec. Ashcroft's letter was any mention of the Missouri Library Association (a chapter of the ALA), and the Missouri State Librarian's ties with it. Robin Westphal is the state librarian, and here she is quoted in a January 2023 article from American Libraries Magazine: "As a state librarian, Westphal connects the 160 libraries that are part of the Missouri Library Association (MLA) with needed resources."

The MLA protesting on the ALA website

 

According to the April 28, 2023 meeting notes of the  Secretary's Council on Library Development, "Vincent states that the state aid budget the House cut has been restored by the Senate. Vincent believes this money should stay. Vincent also reinstates [sic] that the new rule is at a local level and that it is up to the community and board to determine what goes in the libraries [sic] policies. She also wanted to mention that if the library has a room that is open to the public for event rental that there needs to be a sign posted with a rating. If the event is adult only, for children, members only, etc. it just needs to state that on the advertisement."

Trish Vincent is the Executive Deputy Secretary of State/Chief of Staff for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. Again, according to the meeting notes, the new rule is "at a local level, and that it is up to the community and board to decide what goes in the libraries[sic] policies."

The rule, apparently, has no teeth. But it did give Sec. Ashcroft an opportunity to score points with unsuspecting Republicans who trust without verifying.

Additionally, while Sec. Ashcroft has withdrawn funding from the American Library Association over its attempts to discriminate against Christian story hours at public libraries, there is the question of the Missouri Library Association, which is a chapter of the ALA. Do any state funds flow to the MLA? Does taxpayer money pay for memberships in the MLA? Is the secretary aware that the same kind of ALA socialist agenda is present in the MLA?

According to MLA President Otter Bowman, in her March 2023 newsletter column, "President Elect Kimberly Moeller and I attended the Secretary of State’s budget hearing that morning [Feb. 7], and we were relieved that Secretary Ashcroft continued to advocate for funding our libraries, even as he engaged in some heated discussion with committee members regarding his proposed rule. As of this writing, an updated version of his proposal is headed to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules for their consideration."

Here is part of an email to members of the MLA (received through Missouri's Sunshine Law for the Christian County Library) from Amigos Library Services, one of a myriad of "charitable" groups that push socialist agendas into our public libraries. Amigos works closely with the MLA. This is the type of "training" that our library staff is exposed to on a frequent basis. This is why our libraries have become vectors for socialist indoctrination.

Click for clearer image

It is well documented that sexualizing children is part of the ALA/MLA socialist agenda. If Sec. Ashcroft is serious about stopping such indoctrination in Missouri's public libraries, surely he will also withdraw any state taxpayer money from being spent on membership with the MLA and our State Librarian Robin Westphal from supporting membership in the MLA.

From the March 2023 MLA newsletter

 

And it must be noted again that the MLA is having ALA President Emily Drabinski as its keynote speaker at their annual conference in early October. It has been publicly known since at least March 2023 that Drabinski would be the keynote speaker at the October conference. Here is the latest from Madam Drabinski courtesy of journalist Karlyn Borysenko:

Additionally, there is ample evidence of the socialist agenda in the MLA's bi-monthly newsletters. Classes and seminars with titles like "Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in cataloging & Technical Services," or "Developing Collections on Gender Relations and Feminism in the Twenty-First Century," and "Sustainability 101," are common themes being funneled to public library staff at taxpayer expense.

Queering the MLA: Emily Drabinski is Keynote Speaker at Upcoming Conference

 

 By Gretchen Garrity

Just as citizens are finding out their local school districts are run in a top-down manner, so public libraries are also the victims of pressure from state and even national organizations like the American Library Association and its chapter, the Missouri Library Association.

Currently in the Christian County Library

 These organizations, many of which receive taxpayer funding, are pushing agendas whose aim is to  indoctrinate children into sexual and political agendas that are often contrary to parents' and the community's values. Emily Drabinski, the current president of the ALA, has spoken about an encounter with a library book at age 14, in which two of the characters engaged in "fantastic queer sex." She says, "...my body told me I was probably whatever that was!"

Drabinski is slated to be the keynote speaker at the Missouri Library Association's annual conference in October.

You can read about her introduction to queer sex and more in this report from the American Accountability Foundation. 

The Missouri Library Association put out a statement in February regarding Missouri Code of Regulations 15 § 30-200.015, "The Missouri Library Association continues to oppose 15 CSR 30-200.015 Library Certification Requirement for the Protection of Minors and now opposes the HB 1159 filed in the House of Representatives on 2/15/2023. While the final version of the Secretary of State’s proposed rule reduces potential for frivolous challenges to library collections from any individual, it remains vague and continues to engender strife between the library and its community. The newly filed HB1159, however, makes no such distinction on who may challenge the library's collection. It goes beyond the rule to institute punitive damages against libraries and librarians for merely doing the work of the library, providing access to information resources."

The MLA asserts, "Of course, providing minors with obscene materials is already both illegal and against library ethics and standards, so the rule seems to be based on personal interpretations of what materials, displays, and programs are ‘age appropriate." 

However, they do not explicitly deny that such materials are present in the children's sections of Missouri libraries. 

Books like Gender Queer and All Boys Aren't Blue are currently in the Christian County Library and available to minors in the teen section, or as the library titles it, the "Young Adult" section, which is geared toward ages 12-17.

From Gender Queer

 

And while this Federalist article says the State of Missouri has cut ties with the ALA, what has publicly occurred is that Secretary of State John R. Ashcroft sent a letter withholding any future funding of the ALA. Ashcroft stated, "Therefore, I have instructed my staff to discontinue any future financial payments to the American Library Association. My hope is that you reconsider this blatantly political stance, abide by your own principles, and protect the right of Missourians." Ashcroft is specifically referring to the kerfuffle that happened when it was found the ALA was flirting with denying Kirk Cameron's Brave Books events meeting spaces in public libraries. 

Ashcroft said, "The American Library Association Library Bill of Rights states in Article VI, "Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affirmations of individuals or groups requesting their use."

May this be similar to when Missouri lawmakers threatened to withhold funding from public libraries in March of 2023, but by April 2023 the Missouri Senate had restored that funding?

Here are the April meeting minutes of the Secretary’s Council on Library Development, “Secretary of State Office Update; Trish Vincent: Vincent states that the state aid budget the House cut has been restored by the Senate. Vincent believes this money should stay.” Who is Trish Vincent? She is the Executive Deputy Secretary of State/Chief of Staff for Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

From the ALA's website

 

Has there been a formal withdrawal from membership with the ALA, or just a withdrawal of support? Even the headline of a July press release from the Secretary of State mentions the word "admonishes" but not an actual divorce.

To illustrate how this works, ALA President Emily Drabinski is the keynote speaker at the upcoming October 2023 MLA state conference. Is the MLA continuing their relationship with the ALA until next year's membership funds are due? Will the MLA use private funds to continue their membership with the ALA?  Since it is a chapter of the ALA, has the secretary of state also withdrawn support from the MLA?

Drabinski the keynote speaker at the MLA Conference

 

Noticeably missing from Sec. Ashcroft's letter was any mention of the Missouri Library Association (a chapter of the ALA), and the Missouri State Librarian's ties with it. Robin Westphal is the state librarian, and here she is quoted in a January 2023 article from American Libraries Magazine: "As a state librarian, Westphal connects the 160 libraries that are part of the Missouri Library Association (MLA) with needed resources. Most MLA members are rural libraries, she said, and they are seeking to “evolve and adapt” services provided to their communities. 'Sometimes the best stories come from small towns,' Westphal said."

Here is a screenshot from Westphal's appearance at the MLA's "Library Advocacy Day":

Westphal speaking at the MLA in February 2023

And here is Sec. Ashcroft speaking with the MLA in February:

How is the MLA not accountable for its current membership in the ALA? The connections are clear as seen in the MLA handbook and its Intellectual Freedom page. 

As long as our taxpayer-funded libraries continue to walk hand-in-hand with organizations like the MLA, the indoctrination of children into sexualized and politicized agendas will continue. Local public libraries who retain membership in these organizations will continue to be pressured to implement policies and agendas that are not in consonance with the values of their communities.

Again, ALA President Emily Drabinski is the keynote speaker at this year's MLA annual conference. Ponder that.

And just in case you think of the MLA as library professionals fighting valiantly for free speech, here is a short video clip from a post the MLA featured on their Facebook page, detailing a fundraiser for the MLA by Rude Revue's Booklover's Burleque: Kansas City Edition. 

MLA representative, Brian McCann detailed the August 26 show, explaining that the adult performance was all in good fun to raise funds for a beleaguered MLA trying to stop censorship. There's lots more at Rude Revue's Facebook page about the August 26 show, including another video clip with McCann.

Protecting vulnerable children and youth from sexually explicit books does not mean censoring adult entertainment--however vulgar; but the MLA is apparently fine with making that false connection.