Why would anyone want to be on a library board if they hate the library and all it stands for? That’s the question worth asking about the Talcott Public Library’s board, which has been both aiding and abetting insults and crude accusations about the library’s staff for several years. What’s happening in Talcott mirrors what’s happening on the national level from a small group of people who wish that public libraries, which serve the whole range of people within a community, wouldn’t exist at all.
Library users and Rockton community members may not know the cruel things that folks attending monthly board meetings are calling the staff members of your library. The director has been accused of “grooming” young people. Why? For providing access to LGBTQ+ books. Talcott’s collection contains less than 1% of titles that’d fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella–this, despite the openly LGBTQ+ population of the United States being close to 10%.
The board has told the director and staff they can’t and won’t do anything about public comments that bull and name-call staff. Public records show that at least one board member has been party to coordinating these accusations…