By Christine Saxman
originally posted September 14, 2023 on christinesaxman.com
Tonight,
tomorrow morning,
this weekend,
take a moment,
take multiple moments,
and
write a love letter
to a librarian.
Thank them for protecting stories. Thank them for protecting knowledge. Thank them for protecting people.
For a few days now, libraries across Chicagoland have received bomb threats. They coincided with the testimony of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, the state librarian, in the US Senate to defend Illinois’ “right-to-read” legislation.
But these scare tactics are not new. For years now, across the nation, far-right campaigns to target books about race/racism and LGBTQIA+ topics have targeted individual librarians, causing some to leave the profession. Groups like Moms for Liberty, and their Moms for Libraries campaign, look to ban books in schools and privatize public libraries.
Against these forces, librarians stand tall. “Free People Read Freely,” Tracie Hall, executive director of the ALA and Time100 Icon, repeated in her toast at the 2023 Time100 Gala.
Librarians work to keep our democracy free. And they need our support.
Kim Kelly, writing for Fast Company, explored the attack on libraries and library workers and found that: “community support has been a massive help during a frightening wave of censorship and repression.”
So, please write your first letter.
Then another.
Because as Ms. Hall said:
“Stories can transform the way that we see the world. And […] everyone’s—everyone’s—story deserves that opportunity […]. Books that contain those stories should be accessible to the readers that seek them. And that the libraries—the school libraries, the academic libraries, the public libraries, and yes, the prison libraries—that contain the books that contain those transformational stories should always be free and open to the public that they were built to serve.”
