SHOULD politics be checked out of public libraries? (Shutterstock).
Of all the institutions I was involved with in my youth growing up in Orange County, the one that never disappointed or caused me grief was the local library.
We lived about five blocks from the old building – since replaced with a larger and more modern facility – and it was a fortnightly excursion there for me.
I’ve always been a word guy. Even as I child I probably talked too much and read too much. The first was probably not a virtue, but I like to think the latter was. I loved to learn – higher math excepted – and whatever success I later had in my careers and relationships I owe in part to that.
To me, the library was one part temple and one part (mental) amusement park. Allllll those books and you could take them home and read them, for free! In the hot, sweaty summer before air conditioning and the distraction of impending back-to-school excitement, there was not much else to do to escape boredom and excessive sweating than going to the local branch.
There were few bookstores back then and not enough money in my pocket to make purchases, anyway. To me, a free lending library was as crucial to civilization as paved roads and fire brigades.
On Tuesday, the Huntington Beach City Council will consider two ideas that have library fans a bit nervous. One is the creation of a “community-parent guardian review board for review of procurement of children’s library material,” and the other is authorization of proposals for managed library services for the city’s library system.
It should be a long night on Tuesday, as accusations of censorship and privatization of a public service are made. I’m trying to maintain an open mind on this: there are very few institutions that are so perfect that they can’t be improved.
However, the nagging question remains: what is the intention? Is it to bolster public service or place a political stamp on what should be scrupulously neutral?
And following that is this: what’s next? And will it lead to a time when it’s not worth walking to the library any more?
Categories: Opinion
I have been following this situation. I will side with the parents who don’t want sexual books available to young children. They never were in the past. What has changed is the politics that want all children regardless of age exposed to sexual materials and gender questioning
A shame the library has become a political football so some can make some partisan points. In the big picture it is censorship and in the small picture what entity is going manage the library. Who are going to be the politically appointed people on the oversight board? What is their experience in procurement of library materials?