To the editor:
You’re probably going to vote Yes on Issue 17, the levy for Athens County Public Library needs. Passage of this issue will restore the 30% cut in state funding for libraries that dates from 2008. Funding our Athens County web of libraries represents not only overdue financial support, though. A Yes vote is an affirmation of the public’s need and right to access information and indulge curiosity. Increasing threats of censorship across the country, including here in Ohio, pressure libraries to remove books from the shelves. Ohio’s and Athens County’s refusal to comply with this bullying deserves our special appreciation.
Our county’s public library history goes back to 1935, when its books were housed in one room of the school in Nelsonville. The institution now has seven locations. The system houses 300,000 items.
When I walk into the Athens library on Home St., the first thing I do is grab a walker, which helps me get around easily and safely. I’m sometimes headed for the small meeting room to have a session with a writing group around the table. I’ve attended a good number of presentations in the large meeting room as well. I’ve had tech instruction to conquer an electronic device. I sometimes sit at a table using the library’s WIFI to do work. I’ve printed things on the library patrons’ printer.
I’ve hardly begun to explore the ways our small library serves the community. Of course, you can borrow, but not just books; and audiobooks or eBooks; and magazines or newspapers; and music or movies. You can also borrow tools—need a leaf rake this fall?—or games or exercise equipment. There are ongoing events, like a Spanish conversation class, a book club, a poetry group meeting. There are technology classes. One valuable service that is a feature of modern libraries, including ours, is interlibrary loans. If the library doesn’t have the book you want, you can request it from another library.
When you open any public library’s door and enter, you come into a world of stored and sorted information and imaginings. It’s a place for exploration. Unfortunately, the American Library Association reports more attempts to ban books in 2023—the most current complete tally—than ever, with almost half of these targeting public library collections. This is an increase of 92% over the previous year. Most of the targeted books are about sex, gender, or race, including the history of race in America. Books of political analysis have also been targeted.
These are challenging topic areas. We readers should not be denied the challenge.
Funds for public libraries could be threatened by the outcome of legislation introduced last June, Ohio House Bill 622, which seeks to defund any library that shelves material “harmful to juveniles”, including teenagers. That means information about or positive stance toward queer identities or even simply sexuality.
In 2023, four titles of children’s books were challenged in the Columbus Metropolitan Library. Happily, all are still on the shelves. In Athens, our library stood up to challenges of a Pride Month exhibit and to a children’s picture book. We can be grateful that Ohio’s librarians are resisting censorship on our behalf. Thank you, librarians.
As you make your ballot choices think what your selections besides a Yes on Issue 17 might mean for access to reliable information and unconventional opinion as the winning candidates for the legislature and the state’s Supreme Court engage in their work of making law and judging lawfulness. Vote to keep the door open.
Birch Moonwoman
Nelsonville, Ohio
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