@princess-unipeg / princess-unipeg.tumblr.com
It's almost like this "grooming" panic isn't a bunch of silly suburbanites with too much time on their hand but rather a concerted political movement by people who benefit from the status quo to keep their privileged position in an unjust system...
Who'da thunk?
“Under the new bill, Illinois libraries would be required to either issue a statement that they will prohibit banning controversial materials and books or show they follow the ALA Library Bill of Rights, which says “materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
The best part? If they don’t comply, the libraries will NOT be eligible for state grants. [...]
This is so incredibly important and necessary.
As a librarian myself I'm not the biggest fan of it being based on the Ala bill of rights because that thing has some history, but I get that that's a good authority and probably the most easily agreed upon, so it'll do. I'm willing to compromise if it means safety, security, and access of materials.
This matters so much to me. Our library is currently dealing with our board trying to remove the book Gender Queer from our shelves and this would give us the power to fight back.
While I don't like that all this is tied up in grants because I can see it being manipulated against a library in more conservative areas or it ending badly for some libraries (poor leadership should not be the reason a community loses a library, imagine having to fight to get your library back after it loses funding), ultimately it hands a lot of control back to the libraries/library leadership rather than the boards (more on how bad board control of a library can be here). Allowing for that 1 to 1 comparison of intellectual freedom=grants (money) is enough to get a lot of people off our backs. It also definitely motivates libraries to update their policies immediately.
Anyway feelings aside, I'm so happy this is in the works. I hope it passes. I'll do my part to support it as I'm currently living Illinois and working at an Illinois library and this very much directly effects me. (and even if it didn't I would start championing this elsewhere).
And just a reminder: YOUR VOTE AND HOW YOU VOTE MATTERS.
And vote especially in your local elections!
One of our local libraries is in desperate need of a new building. The current one is genuinely dangerous (mold, falling apart, old electrical, structural issues, etc). They managed to get a matching grant, raise a bunch of money, and then needed the town to vote for the final funding required.
And they lost that vote by 53 votes, which has completely scuttled the project for now. They're going to try again, but seriously, your elections--especially the local ones--matter so incredibly much. A few people can make a massive difference.
Please vote.
Oh look, another student crushing the competition to help support LGBTQ+ kids on their school board.
You simply love to see it. :')
