„Ich werde nicht nachkommen“: Bibliothekar aus Tennessee weigert sich, LGBTQ+-Bücher zu verschieben

Well, I guess there are still a few backbones in this country.

Her inner voice is saying, “There are four lights!”

Juanne James has my best wishes and total respect, but puritan activists just steal the books and the library can’t afford to replace them.

there needs to be some kind of digital loan system in place to prevent these modern day book burners

Sick of seeing blatantly unconstitutional book bans go unchallenged. Very blatant violation of our 1st amendment rights.

If there’s anything I know from my many years in academia it’s that librarians are NOT to be messed with. They are smarter than you, more resourceful than you, and understand history.

I was asked at my HS library to put a book at the circulation desk instead of on the shelves because we were going through a book challenge 

I complied.

I also put up big signs that said „want to check me out? Talk to the circulation desk“

Circulation skyrocketed.

I bought 6 more copies lol

This is bold civil disobedience but I think the better approach is to continually ask for clarification. These apartheid Jim crow laws are so vague that they are hinged on the librarian interpreting them.

 Don’t interpret vague laws. Never do this. It is the job of legislators to write laws that can’t be misinterpreted.

Hint: all laws are constitutionally vague and can be misinterpreted.

If you are ordered to do anything then always ask for clarification in writing. And then cast doubt on the clarity of the order. Don’t refuse to obey a vague order because that implied the order was clear enough to obey. Ask for clarification…. forever…. Just keep asking for clarification. None of these laws are clear and the puritans writing them aren’t smart enough to give clear instructions. 

Ignore vague laws and just keep asking for clarification. There are billions of words in a library so just say you are reviewing the text for the next 200 years and will make your decision in 2226.

(This was not a „law“, actually, but a decision by the library board, but it’s still an order that carries the weight of termination so they are ordering her to relocate books but the challenge is to cast doubt on the order. Challenge the board to be more clear and to clarify their reasoning behind each title. Then challenge the exactness of the request. Challenge the location. Challenge the code number. Ask for clarification about the identity of the board members. It’s infinite. If you get fired for asking for clarification then you have a wrongful termination suit. If you get fired for disobedience then it’s hard to challenge in court.)

In a nation full of cowards these people stand out.

Can’t library patrons simply opt to not check those books out? Nobody is forcing them to.

Librarians and archivists, they are a tough breed. My people.