Undermining Professionalism @ Your Public Library

The book banning playbook as it unfolds over 2 years in Phillips Public Library (WI)

When you tell folks what’s happening at the library when it comes to book bans and censorship, the more you say, the more it sounds as conspiratorial as the rhetoric coming from the banners themselves. There is no way that real people talk about how LGBTQ+ books on public library shelves are seen as proof of indoctrination or the crumbling of community morality.

Unfortunately because it is so absurd, it is successful.

Last week, news broke that the Autauga-Prattville Library–a public library with three locations and over 80,000 items–was now banned from acquiring any LGBTQ+ books for patrons under 17. The library staff also has to now identify every book in the collection that might have LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or content with a red label. All of this came from the board, who lie in the new 53 page policy manual that the decisions were in collaboration with the library director.

The director had no part in it.

It should not be a surprise this is the not only library doing this. What is a surprise is how many have flown under the radar. Indeed, it’s probably far more common than any of us can know.

Phillips Public Library in Phillips, Wisconsin, implemented a sticker to warn parents about LGBTQ+ content in books written for young readers. This came as a compromise following several challenges to books in the collection, alongside several other censorship measures demanded by the library boar. Those included relocating books and inventing a complicated new series of sections within the library to marginalize titles further.

Phillips is a town of 1,516 people as of 2021. The library’s 2023 annual budget was just north of $320,000, some of which is funded by the city and some, the county.

The issue began in May 2022.^ Minutes from that board meeting–and all board meetings prior–are absent from the library and city websites. Per the Price County Review, at the May meeting, 12 people showed up to complain about LGBTQ+ books and “social justice and race themes including critical race theory and Black Lives Matter.” Two board members helped lead the group of book complaints, submitting 29 titles for reconsideration.

Because of the number of complaints, the books would be reviewed over the next several months. At that point, the book titles challenged included the below; bolded titles were those the director reported would be discussed first:

• Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass

• AntiRacist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

• Beauty Woke by NoNieqa Ramos

• Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter by Veronica Chambers

• Calvin by Ronald Martin Ford, Jr.

• Different Can Be Great: All Kinds of Families by Lisa Bullard

• Everything You Say About Me that’s Wonderful is True by Dr. Casey

• From Archie to Zack by Vincent X. Kirsch

• Heather Has Two Mommies by Lesléa Newman

• Introducing Teddy: a Gentle Story About Gender and Friendship by Jessica Walton

• Jack (Not Jackie) by Erica Silverman

• Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah Hoffman

• Julian at the Wedding by Jessica Love

• Love, Violet by Charlotte Sullivan Wild

• Melissa (previously published as George) by Alex Gino

• My Rainbow by Trinity Neal

• Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham

• Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race by Megan Madison

• Papa, Daddy, and Riley by Seamus Kirst

• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders

• Race Cars: A Children’s Book About White Privilege by Jenny Devenny

• Sewing the Rainbow: A Story about Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag by Gayle Pitman

• Stella Brings the Family by Miriam Schiffer

• This Day in June by Gayle Pitman

• Two Grooms on a Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding by Rob Sanders

• Use of Force and the Fight Against Police Brutality by Elliott Smith

• What Are Your Words?: A Book About Pronouns by Katherine Locke

• When We Say Black Lives Matter by Maxine Beneba Clarke

• You Be You!: The Kid’s Guide to Gender, Sexuality, and Family by Jonathan Branfman

I’m sharing excerpts from two years of library board minutes to show how we got from one point to another (they’re available in full here–I’m not cherrypicking in the way book banners are eager to do). To emphasize how a small group of people have undermined the professional expertise of the trained library workers and completely changed the face of the library meant to serve the entirety of their community. They do this through pushing for biased board representation sympathetic to their agenda, if not outright involved with it. In the case of Phillips Public Library, a small contingent of individuals–nearly all of whom are affiliated with local conservative churches–continued to make enough noise consistently that not only did their demands get met, but they were rewarded with more board members who helped in their crusade. Held hostage by it all is a director who has to report to the board in order to keep their job and who, while not complicit in or in agreement with the demands, is forced to make compromises that hurt. Compromises that might look okay to the community but outside the community, sound the alarms.

This is a case study in how censorship and discrimination play out in board rooms across the country and how it has been happening for years. As you’ll see, the issues brought up mirror the trends in book crisis acting on the national level: the same talking points, the same nonsense, but here, like in too many other institutions, they’re listened to and taken as a “real” issue.

Stories like this one never got on my radar nor the radars of others who cover and track book banning. It slipped through, even though there is a paper trail.

Imagine the libraries where that trail doesn’t exist or, as is the case here, has been periodically erased to share a different story. As you go through, note that top images under a month are public comments and the following images, board discussion.

While community members and their affiliations are included, know the responsibility for this falls on a board eager to engage with conspiracy and with discrimination.

June 2022

Jason Enderle is a senior pastor at First Baptist in Phillips. He likes a lot of what you’d expect, including Tucker Carlson and others championing these nonsense talking points on the right. Christian Markle is a pastor at Maranatha Baptist, also in Phillips.

Below from the same minutes, it’s worth noting that Bruce is Bruce Marshall, a library board member. He began his tenure in May 2022–yes, right when things began rumbling–and he works as an attorney in Phillips.

Discussion among board members carries on for several pages. But of note is the name Meredith. That would be Meredith Hueckman, who is friends with Jason. Who co-owns Hueckman Auction & Sales with her husband, which employs Sara Enderle. Yes indeed, Sara and Jason are married.

Meredith is, as of 2023, also on the public school board.

July 2022

Joe Fox served on the Phillips school board until last year. He’s involved in the county’s Republican party, too. Digging up information about Lynn Boers is challenging, but she was a chairperson in 2022 of a city-wide “National Day of Prayer” event and is involved in the Health Alliance of Price County.

Here enters discussion by the board of stickering. Not on the outside of books because that could be stigmatizing. But inside the books, to warn people about the content.

Here’s what Demco’s current LGBT stickers look like. This will matter shortly.

In the very same meeting where stickers were a proposed solution, now there’s also a recommendation to create a “parenting section.” It would include any and all puberty books. Helpful for kids who want to look, of course, being placed in a parenting section.

August 2022

The board notes do not include last names this time, but it’s hard not to see what the unifying theme here is. It’s a Christianity of hating thy neighbor.

The stickers to be placed in LGBTQ+ books to warn readers about the content were deemed not inclusive enough. It is clear here the director is trying, but the irony is too much to not point out. Broadart’s stickers look like these on page 109.

September 2022

Patty Nutt is involved with First Baptist Church, where our friend from early Jason Enderle is pastor. Jason Thomas? Pastor at Victory Christian Center in Phillips, which played host to the previously mentioned prayer day events spearheaded by Boers. Janene Ravet is one we’ll come back to, but remember the name. She is a proud Trumper.

More subsections for these books. Again: this is a library with a $320,000 annual budget serving a small town.

October 2022

A highlight of the meetings is that there are people up showing up to defend the library and its books. Know that–but know who is louder and more connected here.

At the end of the September meeting, the board elected to add a second public comment section to their meetings. This would allow folks to comment on public comments from the previous meetings. You read that right. It was implemented since technically, commenting on public comments isn’t allowed.

There was nothing particularly interesting for October, so it’s not included here.

More sections!

A couple of notes here. First, Meredith and Bruce are scared of a picture of a drag queen. Second, it’s not a queer book but has a queer book sticker. Noted. Recall: these are public library board members.

“Whimsical fun children’s books.” “No agenda.” I see the agenda in this statement alone.

November 2022

Barnes’s story here is fascinating, isn’t it? Her kid was sexually abused and a puberty book was “similar but in visual form?” Jackie helps run a Phillips Gun Show, and she is also involved with the county Republican party.

Bringing the chief of police in was a clever move, but it should be unsurprising that said chief has a history of endorsing republicans.

This is the first real time when board member Jenny Markle begins to speak up and recite some of the tired talking points. But who is she? Besides her post on the board, she’s friends with Jason Enderle, and she’s been the one to submit and sign off on board minutes.

Her husband is Christian, who you might remember is pastor of Maranatha Baptist.

January 2023–Meeting one

There was no board meeting in December, so things pick back up again in 2023. Recall so far that the library has put LGBTQ+ stickers inside of children’s books that contain any LGBTQ+ content or that might possibly bother parents who hate queer people, even if there is on actual queer content. The library has also created several new shelving and categorization systems.

Something that pops up in May of 2022 is this idea of expanding the library board. The discussions included picking a name out of a hat from applicants, then that was tabled in favor of seeing what the actual statutes were for how to go about this. The discussions happened at most board meetings from there on through the end of the year.

At the first January board meeting of the year, the city’s County Board of Supervisors chair appointed a member named Beth Tenut–with the note that he might choose to appoint two more members as well.

Beth is married to the pastor of Anchor of Truth church in Phillips.

Oh, and in November, a board discussion got heated when Meredith Hueckman’s husband decided to go on a Facebook crusade against the library director.

January 2023–Meeting two

There were no public comments in this meeting. There was, however, a new board appointment from the mayor. That appointment was Marc Peterson. He was appointed as the school proxy and teaches science in the school district.

It’s wild to think of other “difficult topics” like divorce–which applies to have of couples at this point–needs to be under the “family discussion section.” What subsection does that belong in within that section, do you think?

Later in the year, a local news story on book banning in northern Wisconsin quotes the Phillips director as stating the “parental guidance” section includes books on gender, death, puberty, illness, incarceration, gun control, safety, and race. The same story has the director noting that despite some comments on the LGBTQ+ stickers, she thought it a fair compromise.

It’s farcical out of context. But with context, this is a director doing her damnedest to not only appease the board but to avoid book banning, too.

To keep her job and her sanity.

February 2023

Absolutely no discussion of challenged books or new library subsections happened.

Don’t get comfortable, though.

March 2023

Our pastor is back and undermining the professional expertise, knowledge, and experience of the library director. Bonus comments on seeking book bans and refusing to accept the label of “book banner.”

More importantly though, note that a book lent through the cooperative lending system of which Phillips Public Library is a part had one of those LGBTQ+ stickers. The library director was asked about it by the system and was bothered–perhaps it never occurred to anyone involved that this “solution” was not only not a solution but would cause those outside of the community to begin raising questions.

May 2023–Meeting one

The April meeting happened in early May.

Beth Tenut was officially given a role as a board member alongside two new people: Kristi Speer and Brian Ernst. Shirley Smith, a community member whose name is likely familiar because she’s been pushing back against the book bans at these meetings, raised concerns in this meeting about the three new members.

Ernst loves to post right-wing memes on his Facebook page, including one about how messed up it is a song with vulgarities can be nominated for song of the year while Dr. Seuss is being banned (sigh). Speer is a local lawyer. There is not a lot more information about her. Yet.

May 2023–Meeting two

If you thought things were getting quiet, that’s because the new plan was brewing. Just weeks before I covered Kirk Cameron’s forthcoming country-wide library event and in the aftermath of a librarian in Tennessee being fired for resisting Cameron’s appearance at the library, Brave Books enters the discourse at Phillips Public Library.

The presenter is Janene Ravet. Remember her?

Norma felt the library was not a safe place a few months prior. She is a proud Trumper.

The topic of the requested Brave Books subscription will happen in the coming meeting. The emphasis that this is of interest to the community–and not the priority of one person coming to the meeting to publicize the nonsense–is noteworthy, especially as in this same meeting, the board talked about circulation numbers for children’s books decreasing and it might be worth adjusting the budget accordingly.

June 2023

We know this roster by now. Did you know that Separation of Church and State is not part of the Constitution? Boers is correct those words are not written that way but that is what the words that are used mean.

They’re going to need a new donation policy to address donations made at board meetings. Why? Because of the Brave Books donation. Speaking of…

Of course those who have connections to the religious folks in town would want to help their friends out and get these books on shelves. But this section is important for everyone to take time with. This is where we see why libraries need good policies and why librarians are the experts and professionals–not the random folks on a board. If some right-wing nonsense books are what they think get people to come back to the library, there’s a huge misunderstanding of who the library serves.

Putting those books with the divorce and LGBTQ+ books in the family section also seems prime for more complaints.

Now that there are concerns about the stickers, the stickers will be readdressed.

July 2023 & August 2023

The meeting minutes from July are missing, and the August meeting was rescheduled for September.

September 2023–Meeting one

This community is unbelievably lucky to have Shirley who has been a crucial voice again and again. Elephants Are Not Birds is a Brave Books title. This is not Shirley challenging it formally but making a comparison.

September 2023–Meeting two

Same people. This time, Flamer.

Looks like Speer is on board with the book banning agenda. “Other dirt” is an interesting phrasing here about a book related to a bullied queer kid. That Bruce is motioning for the removal of the book due to “obscenity” is interesting, given it doesn’t meet the legal definition. Again, Bruce is on the board of a public library and should be familiar with what censorship is and more importantly, legally defining characteristics of obscenity.

Fortunately, the motion failed.

November 2023–Meeting one

There was no October meeting. Instead, there was an early meeting in November.

It is almost like what Boers’s claims about her words is actually what she is doing to these books.

More sections to this small library are coming. This time, “inspiration.” What even does the comment from Jenny’s daughter mean? That these are clean books?

So even though there was no October board meeting, there was certainly some work being done behind the scenes. On their Facebook page, Phillips Public Library posted about Banned Books Week, including their big display.

Jackie Barnes–remember, her kid was sexually abused–wonders why the library is following the American Library Association at all. Recall the push for libraries and states to leave the largest professional organization for library workers began that summer.

November 2023–Meeting two

There was no public comment and no discussion of book challenges. This is the final meeting of 2023.

Today

Two meetings in January 2024 have not posted their minutes, though it appears from the agendas that nothing of note happened in either.

But let’s pop back to July 2023 for a moment. This was the meeting where the minutes are mysteriously missing from the board’s website. It also happens to be the meeting where the director approved of accepting the 10 Brave Books titles donated by the group of book banners, even though she believed they did not meet the standards of the library’s selection policy.

Even though she did not think the books met the collection development standards, she elected to put the book donations on shelf. It’s probably not because she was eager to. Imagine the pressure–she’s been intimidated by these same people for two years and because she reports to the board, she has to make decisions that under ordinary circumstances, she wouldn’t.** When you’re worn down, underpaid, and no one is showing up at these meetings to shout about the good work you’re doing, your brain cannot make a real decision.

It needs to preserve itself.

Further, are voices like Shirley's and other dissenting opinions being given the consideration they deserve and the same weight as those in alignment with the board's own agenda? This is, after all, a public library.

Almost all of the Brave Books donations are conveniently checked out as of writing. It’s impossible to not think this is on purpose. That it’s a clever ploy by the book banners to inflate circulation rates of specific titles, especially in light of how much discussion happened in board meetings about the decrease in circulation of children’s materials during their book banning crusade.

Do you suppose those books have a label inside the cover warning about them being “Inspirational,” or is it only LGBTQ+ books that will ever get that advisory?

We know the answer, and this library and its community deserve better.

This story is also probably not an outlier.

You can catch the entire update list of book challenges in the library and their outcomes on the library board’s website.

Notes:

^It also appears that “CRT”–the Rufo-manufactured crisis–hit Phillips Public Library prior to May 2022. This information is not on their website because, again, they lack the full roster of board minutes prior to June 2022.

*The majority of images embedded here do not include alt-text. This is because the alt-text would be the same on each one and because of the bandwidth the text and images of this article alone are taking on substack. I’m electing, imperfectly, to note here that *every image* which is not given alt text should be given alt-text that reads the image is a screen shot of library board meeting minutes of the month labeled above it.

** This would be a prime opportunity to remember how much trauma is wrapped up in this. It would be a space for showing more support for directors in this type of position, as well as the staff of these libraries. Here are some resources on trauma and mental health in the library.