I am the product of libraries. Who I am as a person, poet and public speaker are due to those scared buildings where one with small hands and a massive curiosity could wander the towering shelves. My parents could never have afforded all the books I desired, especially during the Summer Reading Challenge. And though libraries have transformed over recent decades, there are core values they have adhered to for millennia.
Two being, they have always been a source of knowledge and a refuge for all. There are no membership dues, qualifications, stipulations, dress codes, minimal education level or connections required. On this sacred ground all are welcome. Every race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation and social economic class. Not just permitted or allowed. Welcomed.
But often the sacred is perceived as profane by those with differing or opposing values. Their skewed, misconstrued, and frankly hollow opinions must not be allowed to tarnish or damage this sanctuary. And though I am willing to attend every book challenge meeting to play the part of Elijah and call down fire from heaven to consume, I would prefer we plan a defense. For our libraries, our communities, our future generations.
We must ask our local library systems where they stand. Ambiguity is not a option. There is no neutral ground. For example, there is a bill that was passed in the Georgia Senate that will prevent public libraries from being members of the American Library Association and also remove the requirement for librarians to graduate from a ALA-accredited university. This would remove the standard for this field on a state level and allowing anyone to serve in the library system and, by proxy, decide what books are on the shelves and what tomes of wisdom to present to our communities. Basically, it is bypassing the step of book challenging and allowing individuals to infiltrate from the inside. Don’t believe it effects you? As recently as 2022 there was a challenge to remove “To Kill A Mockingbird” from Columbia County high schools. It isn’t coming for your library. The battle is already here.
To encapsulate all of this into a axiom or mantra: all knowledge for all people.
James Aaron Snow
Augusta
