By KATHARINE WEBSTER, InDepthNH.org
The culture wars have come for several public libraries in New Hampshire, turning elections for library trustee into referendums on censorship, parental rights, budget cuts and membership in the American Library Association (ALA).
In Londonderry, a resident took to social media to accuse a candidate for library trustee of “pushing TRANS [sic] activism and LGBTQ+ ideology” on young children because she hosted a pride booth at Old Home Day.
At candidates’ night in Atkinson last week, the library trustee race was by far the most hotly contested, with the moderator saying there were so many written questions from residents “about ratings and pornography and drag queens and who should police what children can see” that he would have to pick and choose.
And in Goffstown, where conservatives could win a majority on the board, public library Director Dianne Hathaway said that could lead to changes in the library’s current policies, including one it updated a few years ago on challenges seeking to ban books, movies and other materials or remove them from the children’s section.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of challenges to books that deal with themes of LGBTQ+ (and) racism,” said Hathaway, who has dealt with four book challenges during her 26 years at the Goffstown library. “And people are challenging a list of 100 books or 10 books, and challenging them all at one time – and no library can handle that many challenges at once.”
The No. 1 target of book ban attempts at libraries across the country in the past few years has been “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe, according to PEN America.
Attempts to ban books and other materials or to reclassify them – move them out of the children’s section or hide them unless parents request them – rarely succeed in New Hampshire because there are strong protections in First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment law and the state constitution for intellectual freedom.
But there are other ways to undermine public libraries and librarians, Hathaway said, including by suing them, cutting their budgets, opposing “Banned Book Week” celebrations and denying them funds for membership in the American Library Association, which opposes censorship of any kind while also offering continuing education, training and information about new offerings.
NEW HAMPSHIRE BOOK BANS – AND WHAT THE LAW SAYS
New Hampshire has seen few challenges to materials at public libraries, especially compared to the number of challenges to school library and classroom books, which have less legal protection because parents are not present on site.
State Rep. Sayra DeVito, R-Danville, who chairs the Rockingham County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative organization that has been active nationally in seeking to remove and reclassify library materials, said in an email that “We only endorse in school board races and we do not get involved in local public library policies.”
Still, challenges have climbed in New Hampshire in recent years. According to the American Library Association’s online database, there were between zero and five attempts annually to challenge books and other library materials through 2020.
Then in 2021, there were eight challenges to a total of 14 titles. In 2022, there were 12 challenges to 41 titles, and in 2023, the latest year for which statistics are posted, there were 13 challenges to 18 titles.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the right to receive information representing a wide range of views at public libraries, as a cornerstone of democracy, said lawyer Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Unless material is clearly obscene, it cannot be removed from the children’s section, nor can libraries place content-based filters on public computer terminals, she said. Instead, case law says they can use less restrictive and more effective means, such as adopting computer use policies that forbid viewing pornography.
“There’s no right to withhold content based on viewpoint,” she said.
A seminal case was Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Texas, where the plaintiffs sought to have two children’s picture books with LGBTQ+ characters, “Heather Has Two Mommies” by Leslea Newman and “Daddy’s Roommate” by Michael Willhoite, removed from the children’s area at the public library.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipal libraries are a public forum that cannot restrict information, including for children and students. The court ordered the library to remove restrictions on the books’ circulation, saying that parents and families can take steps to protect their children from materials they find objectionable without creating barriers to access for others.
PARENTS’ RIGHTS VERSUS PARENTAL CONTROL
Atkinson library trustee candidate Arlene Quaratiello, a former Republican state representative and librarian turned English teacher, introduced a bill in the state Legislature last year that would have required librarians to tell parents of any child under 18 what their children have checked out.
While Quaratiello’s bill failed to get the 60 percent vote needed for passage, a similar bill, House Bill 273, was introduced this year by state Rep. Ross Berry, R-Weare, and was approved along partisan lines by the House Judiciary Committee. It is awaiting action by the House.
New Hampshire privacy law currently prevents librarians from releasing anyone’s library records, Quaratiello noted at candidates’ night.
“If parents are to be the final arbiters of what is appropriate for their children, how can they do that if they don’t have access to the records?” she said.
Jill Ottow, current chair of Kimball Library’s Board of Trustees, said that in Atkinson, parents do have access to their children’s records until they are 16. That’s because to get a library card, a patron must submit an email and phone number and show a picture ID that confirms town residency.
Until they turn 16 and get a driver’s license, children must apply for a library card with their parent’s or guardian’s ID and contact information, which the parents can use to look up their children’s borrowing records online.
“Parents have 24/7 access to their children’s library records,” Ottow said.
Marion Stanley, who is running alongside Quaratiello, said she thought the library should adopt a rating system like those for movies.
Kane Guthrie, who is running alongside Ottow, said he trusts the town’s librarians, who, under New Hampshire law, have responsibility for selecting library materials. They also organize them by reading level, not content, because different families think different books are appropriate for their children, he said.
“There are no harmful materials at our library, and certainly not in the children’s section. I know, because I have been through every shelf with my daughter as she has progressed in her reading abilities,” said Guthrie, who is PTA secretary for the town’s elementary school.
“Parents should never outsource what is right for our children to some outside group, elected official or government agency.”
FREEDOM TO READ: A PARTISAN ISSUE?
Although in Atkinson the candidates have divided along party lines for what are supposed to be nonpartisan offices, many Republicans support “freedom to read” policies.
Jordan Willow Evans, who is running for library trustee in Goffstown and is currently assistant chair of the board, is both a transgender woman and registered Republican with strong Libertarian and local control views.
She thinks that libraries should serve everyone in the community, including subgroups that include conservative Christian homeschooling parents and LGBTQ+ patrons.
“I want the library to be as inclusive as possible; I want the materials here to be rich and vibrant, like the world that we live in,” she says. “Not everything in the library is tailormade for you, but that’s OK, because that’s just another opportunity to learn something new.”
Likewise, in Londonderry, library trustee Liz Thomas – a pillar of the local, county and state Republican parties and wife of Republican state Rep. Doug Thomas – recommended that Beth Marrocco be appointed to a temporary vacancy on the board.
The person posting on Granite Grok under a pseudonym who had called Marrocco a “DEI/Trans-LGBTQ groomer” asked why Thomas had recommended a “leftist Marxist DEI proponent” when more conservative candidates had already been suggested.
Fortunately, the post didn’t get much traction, says Erica Laue, another candidate for library trustee in Londonderry, where eight people are running for three open seats. However, the temporary vacancy was left unfilled.
“The emphasis on parents’ rights is more about control than about children’s wellbeing,” she says.
BUDGET CUTS AND ATTACKS ON ALA MEMBERSHIP
Libraries are also under attack on the budget front. Some of those attacks are coming from within, from trustees who are running or were elected on fiscally conservative platforms.
In Goffstown, one member of the budget committee tried to cut a staff position, which would have led to cuts in programs and hours, Hathaway said.
Another budget committee member, Brian Mazur, made an unsuccessful motion to cut out library dues to the ALA, the New Hampshire Library Association and the New Hampshire Library Trustees Association, because they have lobbyists, Hathaway said.
Mazur is the husband of state Rep. Lisa Mazur, R-Goffstown, a library trustee who doesn’t have a library card and opposed the release of that information. Lisa Mazur has said she thinks the library should be staffed by volunteers, which is not allowed under state law, Hathaway said.
“We’re in dangerous times here,” Hathaway said. “The law doesn’t seem to matter.”
Rep. Mazur did not respond to emails requesting comment.
In Atkinson, town budget committee member Peter Torosian, a former state representative who is now running for select board, succeeded in his motion to cut the exact amount of ALA dues from the library’s budget. The money was restored by voters at the town deliberative session last year.
But Atkinson has been operating under a default budget for the past two years. The library was the only town department asked to “give back” $25,000 in one of those years, and last year, all departments had to trim their spending further, despite rising costs.
That’s led to an effective 10 percent cut in the library’s operating budget and led it to restrict how many ebooks, audiobooks and digital movies patrons can access each month. There’s no fat in Kimball Library’s budget, Guthrie said.
“Last year, they cut the public water fountain, cut the printer – and these cuts make the library less welcoming to our community,” he said.