My Experience As a Conservative Library Board Member In a Blue County
I feel a little uneasy and out of place as I enter an unfamiliar branch. My home branch that I can be found in every week is quaint and homey compared to this one. I am about to attend my first library board meeting, this time as a member of the public, but soon as a full-fledged appointed member. It isn't long before I encounter my first (of many) obstacles: a locked door.
The door can only be opened with an employee key card. I knock awkwardly on it unsure if I'm even in the right place. There are no signs, or anything else to let me know. I'm buzzed in and I sheepishly ask about the meeting, which is indeed in a room on the inside. The room has a big table in the center and a few extra chairs pushed up against the wall. I am the only member of the public attending, and it becomes all too clear that constituents are a very rare site. The message is clear from the get-go: you aren't part of our club.
The meetings always follow the same sort of ritual. Staff give a presentation, the director gives some updates, and each board member has an opportunity to speak.
I didn't have any experience in the local political theater before this, so my expectations were certainly romanticized. I pictured passionate men and women debating library policy and action. I fantasized about joining their ranks and working together through respectful debate to best utilize tax payer money. I was wrong.
When we finally reached the end of the meeting, I was so excited. I eagerly awaited to know what each board member would use their time to bring up. What flaw in the system was most pressing to them? What ideas had they been toying with? My anticipation faded to disappointment as each of them thanked the staff member for their presentation before ceding the floor to the next member. Maybe this was just a fluke? Nope.
Sometimes, a member will use this opportunity to promote a leftwing political cause or the work of their nonprofit, but that's all the variety I get. You hear the same vapid sentiments over and over. They tell the board how happy they are to "support" the library, especially during "these times" (whatever that means).
Is the job of a library board member to support the library? I certainly don't think so. Our job is to support the taxpayer, specifically the voting taxpayer who elected the official who then appointed us. Am I supposed to be supporting the director? No, I'm supposed to be making sure he doesn't run amok with money that he didn't earn. I'm supposed to hold the library accountable. I suppose I am alone in that sentiment, at least from where I sit.
I was expecting the director to separate politics from his working life, but I was wrong about that too. I naively thought that it would be unprofessional for the director to allow his political stances to spill into his work. Not only does it "spill into" his work, it is an inseparable part of his work. Every meeting, the director gives a "legislative update." This update is pitched as an opportunity for him to update us on bills at the state and federal level how they may affect the system. He uses this segment to complain about our state's extremely popular conservative government and boasts about work he does with the state's ALA chapter to thwart bills he doesn't like. The other members laugh and mock along with him while I sit in silence.
Of course, none of this rhetoric makes it into the meeting minutes. With no public there to hold these people accountable, they feel more than comfortable throwing professionalism out the window.
After doing some research (and reading Dan's blog), I've come to understand that the American Library Association does not only encourage library professionals to use their profession as a vehicle for leftist activism, they condemn those professionals that do not do so enthusiastically.
My experiences on the board are often depressing. I often feel like everyone hates me, and accountability for unelected bureaucrats is a distant unreachable fantasy. I keep showing up because I know it is important. I know that many of these people have no contact with anyone else who doesn't share their views, and that I have to represent people like me.
There are many people like me who are hurting from government overspending, and who are appalled by inappropriate books littering the children's section of their library. These people don't necessarily have the time to go to a government meeting smack dab in the middle of the work day.
If you have the time, even just to write a letter, it would be invaluable. Government accountability starts with all of us. People like me need your support.
### –30– ###
The above was submitted to me for anonymous publication for obvious reasons. Others are welcome to provide me with information to publish anonymously or as yourselves.
—
Join World Library Association:
WorldLibraryAssociation.org
Legal Defense for SLAPP Suits Against Free Speech
URL of this page:
Join World Library Association:
WorldLibraryAssociation.org
Legal Defense for SLAPP Suits Against Free Speech
