The Mayor's Attempt To Take Control Of The Library - Part Of A National Conservative Effort?

I wrote the title before doing some research.  I wasn't sure,  but now it looks like the answer is Yes!!

It was one thing when the new very conservative mayor of Anchorage tried to appoint Sami Graham head librarian despite the fact that she lacked the basic qualifications for that position.  (Like a masters degree in library science and experience as a librarian.)  But seconds after her appointment was rejected by the Anchorage Assembly, he appointed her his chief of staff and said she would also be in charge of libraries.

Why?  I know that Republicans have made a strong effort to elect conservatives to school boards,  We are already seeing conservatives being disruptive at the Anchorage School Board over COVID restrictions.  This isn't just a local effort. but I didn't know about libraries.  But it seemed consistent.  What kinds of things would they like to change?

Well I checked the internet.  Here are some things we might expect:

• Getting rid of books that deal with racism and non-English books ("Critical Race Theory" is the rallying cry)
• Getting rid of libraries' community center functions
• Slashing budgets, cutting back hours

This July 31, 2021 Truthout article relates the story of a conservative takeover of the Niles, Illinois library board.  It begins by highlighting the election of a conservative to the library board along with two other conservative candidates.  There were also some other conservatives already on the board.

"Since their swearing in on May 19, the new board has wasted no time in imposing its agenda. “Their focus is to change the very nature of the library,” Lynch says. “They’ve already slashed the budget from $7.4 to $5.9 million, fired staff or reduced their hours, gone from being open 70 hours a week to being open 54, and eliminated outreach to schools and nursing homes.” In addition, she says, longtime library director Susan Dove Lempke felt she had to resign from her position after clashing with Makula and the other conservatives over the cutbacks."

The Niles-Maine Public Library is not the only program facing draconian cutbacks or a right-wing takeover. In fact, in places ranging from Kootenai County, Idaho, to Ann Arundel County, Maryland, to Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, to the town of Frisco, Texas, local efforts are underway to limit what libraries offer — especially when it comes to promoting racial equity and gender inclusivity.

Some locales are making opposition to critical race theory — either through books or community lectures and discussions — their core focus, but other locations are adding virulent opposition to comprehensive sex education and LGBTQIA+ acceptance in a trio of concerns. What’s more, while most of these opposition groups purport to be homegrown and grassroots, all have access to the support and resources (including model legislation) of numerous national right-wing organizations. These include the Alliance Defending Freedom, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Family Research Council, Family Watch International, the Heritage Foundation and Project Blitz, as well as right-wing media outlets such as Breitbart, Fox News, the Daily Wire, Newsmax and the Washington Free Beacon. All told, NPR reports that as of late June, at least 165 local and national groups are working to “disrupt or block lessons on race and gender,” in both traditional classrooms and public spaces. 

This PBS News Hour article gives some reasons why libraries are under attack from conservatives.  Librarians, it argues, become activists simply by doing their jobs.  

“Libraries Are For Everyone.” That’s the message of a series of images created by Rebecca McCorkindale in the days after President Donald Trump announced the temporary travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. She never expected her signs of inclusion to go further than a handful of libraries.

"But by the time she’d woken up the following day, she had received messages from librarians across the world wanting their languages represented. And libraries across the country — in Illinois, Minnesota, California, Virginia — had begun putting up the images as posters, along with displays about books on Islam, empathy and being a good neighbor.

“Libraries are the heart of a community, for anyone and everyone that lives there, regardless of their background,” she said. “And so we strongly believe that libraries are not neutral. We stand up for human rights.”

The article chronicles the many ways that librarians became more activist during the Trump administration.  

The American Conservative also looks at the activism of librarians from a more critical perspective in ‘Woke’ Librarians Take Their Politics To Another Level.  It begins:

"Everyone knows the old caricature of the local librarian: a white, middle-aged woman, slightly plump, a bit intimidating, shushing patrons while wearing comfortable clothing—cardigans especially—and unflattering shoes. Sadly, a more damaging and likely more accurate moniker has emerged in the age of Google: anachronistic. Internet search has degraded the perceived value of public libraries as their staffs spend their time teaching the elderly how to use the Internet or scrambling around for eclipse glasses that the local news assured “can be picked up at your local library.”

However, librarians today are doing less shushing and more shouting, as the academic social justice movement has penetrated the library stacks."

It's all condescending and sexist.  Theseare the most flattering paragraphs of the article.  

Electric Lit's  contribution to this discussion is entitled "The Real Reason Conservatives Are Scared of Libraries : Easy access to information can show marginalized people that we’re not alone. Not everyone wants us to know that."

Conservatives hide behind taxes to justify shuttering libraries, but demographic data suggests a more sinister intention. Many of those who benefit from libraries are among the nation’s most vulnerable populations. According to a 2016 report by the Pew Research Center, “Library users who take advantage of libraries’ computers and internet connections are more likely to be young, black, female, and lower income.” In the Pew Center’s 2015 study, researchers found that “lower-income Americans, Hispanics and African Americans are more likely to say that libraries impact their lives and communities than other Americans.”

In February [2018], the Trump administration released a budget proposal that would effectively eliminate federal funding of libraries, an institution that serves homeless people, addicts, people of color, immigrants, and those living in poverty. The issue isn’t about the cost of libraries; it’s that conservatives believe some people simply aren’t worth the money. Even more insidiously, it’s that conservatives fear what happens when those people get access to information."

This is not just a US phenomenon.  In a Guardian article entitled  The Tories are savaging libraries – and closing the book on social mobility,  author John Harris first writes passionately about the important community benefits of libraries, and quotes Andrew Carnegie:

“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”

After this lengthy list of how libraries improve society, he offers the sobering news that Britain's libraries are under serious attack:

"But does anyone in government care? Since 2010, at least 478 libraries have closed in England, Wales and Scotland. Over the same period, the number of books held by surviving libraries has dropped by 14m, while librarian numbers have been cut by around 8,000. Statistics released this week by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy show that over the past five years, loans of books have dropped by a quarter, and that spending on libraries by councils fell by £66m in 2016-17 alone."

The fact that Bronson pointedly made Graham in charge of libraries even after the Assembly rejected her as head librarian suggests that taking on these Republican goals for libraries was part of his plan.