As Local Public Libraries Become Politicized, a Simple Question Emerges
We're asking county judge executives and magistrates: What are your favorite books?
In case it hasn’t become glaringly obvious by this point, we’re big fans of libraries—especially Kentucky’s public libraries—here on The Goldenrod. Where else can you take a taekwondo class, help your preschooler learn phonics, check out an obscure sci-fi novella, and learn to knit all in the same space for free? Free! Public libraries are a last bastion of community third spaces that aren’t driven by a need to purchase something, sell something or convert to something. They’re accessible, equitable treasures, particularly for our rural counties, and when someone tries to mess with libraries? Well, those are fighting words.
Late last week—in a show of policymaking-hustle theretofore unseen this session—the Kentucky House of Representatives revived already-dead-and-buried Senate Bill 167 from the grave, Lazarus-style, and passed it in a true buzzer-beating squeaker of a vote. We’ve discussed this now-future-law many times over the past few months, so I won’t go back into details (find those here and here), but the essence of the bill is that pretty much all power and oversight when it comes to local library boards—and, in turn, all the content and activities inside libraries—will now be given to the county judge executive and magistrates.
Politicians controlling objectively neutral, keystone community resources—what could go wrong? (Let’s just say I’m still recovering from when Sen. Wheeler called our public libraries “un-American.”)
In an effort to learn more about the new overlords who will be making major decisions for county libraries, we’re bringing back a question I asked half-jokingly in February as a serious call-to-action: What are the favorite books of these local elected officials?
If magistrates and county judge executives are going to be the decision-makers for library funding and resource distribution, it’s only fair that constituents know their favorite book(s). After all, why would you want to control local libraries if you don’t have a burning passion for the written word? I can’t think of a single good reason.
(Pulaski County Public Library)
We’ll be reaching out to magistrates over the next month and compiling their answers here on The Goldenrod—but this is a community effort. If you’re interested in helping us gather this fascinating data in your county, we’d love to have assistance. (Putting the “community” in community journalism, for real.) Here’s a short script you can use when calling their offices:
Hi there, my name is [YOUR NAME HERE] and I’m a resident of [YOUR COUNTY HERE]. In light of Senate Bill 167, which gives your position as [THEIR POSITION HERE] immense power over local libraries, I was wondering: What is your favorite book?
If you want to ask any follow-up questions about why it’s their favorite, feel free to ad lib…but don’t be surprised when you catch your local government leader off-guard with this extremely simple question and they flummox around for a single title.
Because the question is simple, yes, but deeply important: Few getting-to-know-you factoids reveal more about a person’s thoughts, beliefs and inner-workings than knowing their favorite book. And if these magistrates don’t have a favorite book? If they don’t like books? Well, that’s need-to-know information, too.
There’s no end date for this ongoing project, but we’d like to get answers from at least one magistrate in 20-30 counties around our coverage area over the course of the next couple of weeks. I strongly recommend calling their offices over e-mailing, which is basically like sending a paper airplane into a deep, dark cave.
Send any answers you suss out—or any questions!—to: thegoldenrodnews@gmail.com
Additional Reading:
Yoga, zumba, narcan: check out your local library (My story from a couple of years ago for Pew Center’s Stateline)
Censorship battles’ new frontier: your public library (Washington Post piece from over the weekend on how politicizing libraries is now a national trend)
Local politicians want control of Ky. public libraries. What will be lost if they get it?
(Great piece from John Cheeves that fleshes out the seriously shady motivations behind Senate Bill 167)
We’ll be back Thursday with more on the importance of libraries for rural Kentuckians from a data-driven perspective. If you feel so inclined, why not share with a book-loving friend?