Librarians raise voices about banned books

You really don’t want to mess with librarians.

They’re smarter than the rest of us. A lot tougher too.

Behind that twee reputation are our soldiers of equity. Then there’s what Connecticut Library Association President Douglas Lord refers to as their “punk-rock, DIY mindset.”

And yet, efforts to ban and restrict books in public and school libraries didn’t just set a new record in 2022; the challenges nearly doubled the high set a year earlier.

Let’s skip the subtext and just judge this issue by its cover: Some conservative groups are trying to censor books with LGBTQ+ and racial themes. They prefer their content as bland as a blank page. And they apparently forgot that librarians not only welcome, but embrace tough conversations.

Librarians aren’t asking us to hush. They want to talk about this.

So the Librarian Revolution advanced in January as Stamford became the first municipality in Connecticut to declare itself as a book sanctuary city. Alice Knapp, chief executive officer of Stamford’s Ferguson Library, wrote an op-ed pledging a commitment to “protecting endangered books, making them accessible to the public, hosting book talks, events, and conversations about diverse characters and stories, and educating others on the history of book banning and burning.”

A few weeks later, a public hearing was held on a broad bill sponsored by Connecticut’s Senate Democratic Caucus that aspires to enhance mental health programming for the children of Connecticut in the wake of the pandemic. It’s hard to conjure a more critical issue. But a minor subplot of the bill is language that calls for support of sanctuary libraries.

The public testimony drew unanimous support from a crowd that notably included many experts in the mental health of children.

Then came the Committee on Children hearing, where everything went by the book we’ve all read before: Every Democrat voted “Yea” and every Republican chose “Nay.”

Republicans skipped the mental health crisis and jumped right on the library issue during the public hearing. It was unclear if some of them had ever been to a library before.

State Rep. Anne Dauphinais, R-Killingly, seems to think there’s a pornography section of the library. State Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, asked for a clarification that libraries use computers. Fairfield Town Librarian Scott Jarzombek retorted by calling the vintage card catalogue system “the original Google.”

Jarzombek and his peers repeatedly explained the nuanced process for content selection. That’s why we have librarians, most of whom have master’s degrees.

“The thing that strikes me as the most funny is when people say, ‘Oh, we know better than you about what belongs on the shelves.’ We know what children should be reading,’ ” Lord says.

Lord may be the current president of the state association, but he calls peers such as Knapp and New Canaan Library Executive Director Lisa Oldham “my personal hero librarians.”

“When Alice is in the room I just shut up and listen to Alice,” he says of Knapp (me too).

I talked to Lord at the C.H. Booth Library in Newtown, where he is the director. Any time I’m in a library I’m reminded that my perennial life goal is to find more reading time (after Lord cites reading as the No. 1 leisure activity, he adds dryly, “I think No. 2 is NASCAR”).

As Lord casually sprinkles in names such as Toni Morrison, John Steinbeck and Dr. Seuss, it feels comforting to be in their presence. That’s not true for everyone, as books by all three authors have been banned.

Sounding like a textbook librarian, Lord’s quiet delivery almost masks that his words have serrated edges.

“If you don’t like a program, don’t go. If you don’t like a book, don’t check it out. But you have no right to tell other people what they can and can’t do,” he says.

Lord is armed for the Librarian Revolution, firing back at cowardly snipes at librarians on social media.

“It’s hard to describe how horrendously hurtful it is,” he says. “These are dedicated librarians who get up every morning thinking they want to improve the world. They want to help children and they’re being called names like groomers and names like pedophiles and they’re being accused of peddling pornography. What are we peddling to kids? Curious George. Peppa Pig.”

Lord is able to retain his sense of humor. Mention of Peppa Pig inspires a passable impersonation of the character’s father, Daddy Pig (whose first name remains a mystery). If Lord were a book, it would come with spare illustrations. He strikes a pose as Rodin’s “The Thinker” and drums his fingers together like Dr. Evil.

He has other causes to champion during this session, including an effort to make electronic books and streaming services more affordable for libraries. Lord points out that the public can purchase eBooks for an average price of $12.77, but libraries are charged $45.75 for the same product. For audio books, those prices translate to $27.28 and $69.76.

And if you bristle at paying fines on overdue books, consider how the libraries get slammed. Publishers require libraries to pay again after an eBook or audio book is borrowed 26 times or two years lapse.

Of course, this is an issue Republicans might embrace, as it would save taxpayer money.

But “sanctuary” has become a triggering word for conservatives.

“We don’t have porn,” Lord says with a sigh.

And folks, the notion of your kids using their library card to seek out porn between the pages is pretty laughable in 2023 … or 1973.

But the far right would rather accuse libraries of peddling smut than talk about what’s really bothering them. They are afraid of kids with identity issues they find threatening becoming empowered through words and art they find at their local library. So they try to bully librarians.

“Librarians have no ego,” Lord observes.

And no one is stronger than the person who lacks hubris.

But there is one thing that librarians are not, and Lord didn’t need to go to Hartford to figure it out: “Librarians are not good politicians.”

Of course, neither are too many politicians.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. jbreunig@scni.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig