The Expose' that is West Bend

Last night the city council of West Bend WI made it very clear who actually controls the public libraries in this country: the politicians. Despite a century spent constructing delicate laws and procedures designed to protect the intellectual independence of libraries, and public libraries in particular, the alderman of West Bend have cut through any delusion we may have maintained about free access to information in the United States.

We can thank them for their honesty, if nothing else.

For those unfamiliar with the West Bend debacle, it is a result of information dissemination, censorship pressures and political positioning. A YA librarian created a YA reading list addressing GLBTQ issues for teens, and a pair of christian protesters are now leading the charge to expunge "sexual content" from the local public library. The challenge has resulted in the failure -- and failure is the correct word -- of the local council to reappoint public library board members on ideological grounds. All but two of the councilmen have aligned themselves with the christian right; one of the those two is a member of the board who was not reappointed, which leaves one councilman with some integrity in the land of electric appliances.

But, West Bend is simply a raw example of what goes on in communities throughout the country when it comes to public libraries: political control of collection content, political control of staffing, political control of who may access the library, political control of what automated system the library can buy -- without even beginning to discuss the political control of funds for the library. If the library director, or the board of trustees fail to follow the political agenda, they are discredited, or released, or hamstrung through the withholding of funds.

None of this is supposed to be possible. There are protections built into federal and state laws designed to ensure that public libraries can function as agents of intellectual freedom in a country the politicians themselves characterize as a democracy. But we all know what politicians think of laws. George Bush was clear about it: do what you want until they make you stop. There is no one to stop the West Bend city council.

Librarians learn early in their education as professionals that the library has been developed as a cornerstone to democracy in this country. They have been historically skewered whenever they failed to advance intellectual freedom in the past; now they are skewered when they stand up for it.

For those who believe it is only West Bend, or places like Topeka, don't forget the mayor of Boston chasing his head librarian out of town for not doing what he thought the library director should do. It is galling to any politician to allow librarians to function as the independent agents they are taught and trained to be. The time for delusion is over. Public librarians are not free to function as intellectual touchstones in their communities, as community leaders or visionaries. No politician wants any kind of controversy, whether it is about "sexy" books, or "rowdy" Latino kids, or ADA access to buildings. They want to deal with the serious stuff, like what kinds of trees to plant along the entrance to the new stadium.

Serious stuff.