This is a story about a librarian doing everything she can to defend the right to read. It’s a story of courage under pressure, and it’s not only ongoing but also looking as though it might end with a librarian losing her job. It’s a story that’s intended to both honor and uphold these efforts, as well as a story intended to remind every library worker–and every library champion–that this is the kind of responsibility required of the field all the time and especially now. The Library Bill of Rights, which serves as the ethical guidelines for the field, requires library workers to uphold the right to read and to speak out against efforts to remove the First Amendment rights of American citizens as they relate to the public library.
This is a story about Luanne James doing just that. It’s a story about how James’s efforts–like the efforts of librarians across the country whose names you may be familiar with (Suzette Baker, Brooky Parks, Terri Lesley, who all successfully won suits against their former employers for wrongful termination for doing their jobs) and those whose names you may be unfamiliar (a host of librarians of color especially, for a myriad reasons)–should inspire similar action by others whose job it is to ensure the right to read.
Rutherford County Library System (RCLS), located southeast of Nashville, Tennessee, has been under fire for years. The board voted to ban all trans books for minors in the library in 2025, and the board of the Lineburgh Public Library–one of their branches–voted to remove “transgenderism” books just weeks before the county’s board made the decision. Months after passing their anti-trans book policy, the RCLS decided to overturn it. That decision was not based on a change of heart but rather fear of litigation. Spend a little time with the board meeting minutes over the last several years, and you’ll see nearly every meeting has started with people asking to stop book bans, those asking for book bans, and the board needing to address whether or not they’d be removing books from the public library…