Submitted Written Statement to Cass County Library Board

I just got back from an 8 hr round-trip to Harrisonville to respond to the article in the image attached to this post. It worries me that this article reflects a general distain that some members of the board and community have for their own institution. As one of the folks who got to speak tonight put it “If you think that, why are you here?”

Here’s the statement I submitted in writing:

Greetings Board Members,

My name is Joe Kohlburn, I have worked in libraries since 2005. In all that time, I have come to appreciate what libraries mean as places of learning, and as centers for access.  This year, I am the Chair of MLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. I’m here today because I am concerned about an article I read in the local newspaper that maps out a terrible path that might be taken by the board in the face of legal advice to the contrary, and what I can only assume must be the frequent protests of staff at Cass County. Simply put, this library board should not be helping to remove or censor books in the library collection. This board should support the professionals who work in the library, and defer to them on matters of librarianship, selection, and collection development.

As librarians, we put aside our personal political beliefs in the service of the public good. This means we provide access to as wide a range of viewpoints as possible, some of which we ourselves might find objectionable. Librarians and library boards are not here to control what the public reads, we are here to ensure that the public has access to as wide a variety of materials as possible.  We are here to support the library as an institution, and to support the long-term interests of the library by maintaining the general public’s trust that the library is for everyone. 

This year in particular, libraries are under assault from those who would curtail the intellectual freedom of the general public. Librarians have been called pornographers, pedophiles and other slanderous and repulsive names that undermine not only the highly ethical and important work of librarians in general, but further exacerbate the considerable stress most of us have been feeling over the pandemic. Not only are we on the front lines trying to meet the considerable needs of communities during these turbulent times, but we are slandered as we do so. This must stop. There are those who would take advantage of our dedication to the public good, and use us- use libraries, as sacrificial scapegoats in the culture wars.

We are not here to be pawns in petty political games. As librarians, we believe that libraries are foundational institutions for democracy. We believe in intellectual freedom. We believe in reader agency, and in the necessity for free inquiry for our users. We think that users have the right to come to their own conclusions about controversial topics from an informed perspective, rather than having their reading options determined for them by politicians.  We know the importance of community trust. Trust that coming to the library means stepping foot into a public space that has a wide and inclusive collection representing a variety of viewpoints. We know, and research has shown, that when libraries present limited viewpoints in their collections, they alienate readers and undermine their own legitimacy. Readers are not stupid, they can tell when someone is trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Unless undermining the legitimacy of this library is your goal- I implore you to continue to support staff decisions not to remove, censor, or relocate items in your collection- and to support intellectual freedom in your institution.