Kangaroo Court: Anchorage Library Advisory Board goes rogue, bypasses book review policy & sends teen book to city attorney
It appears that someone may have successfully influenced Doug Weimann, a member of the Library Advisory Board (LAB), to demand an immediate review of the book 'Let's Talk About It' by city attorneys. According to Weimann, the purpose of such a review would be to determine whether the Anchorage Public Library (APL) violates any state or municipal laws by having the book available to members of the public who are "under eighteen years of age."
Weimann, who said he "personally sent a letter" to the advisory board and the municipal attorney, made his motion at this week's March 15 LAB meeting. The municipality is in the process of responding to my records request, which seeks the letter.
The book, now under scrutiny by LAB, sparked a recent controversy fueled by baseless allegations from Jay McDonald, an Anchorage activist who has waged a primarily one-person war against the Anchorage School District (ASD) over 'controversial' educational and instructional material.
Last month McDonald, a former political candidate and current member of the far-right Save Anchorage Facebook group, falsely claimed that the book was available to Anchorage School District (ASD) students. This false assertion was picked up by Fox News, which spread misinformation about the book resulting in ASD Board members being bombarded with death threats and menacing emails from individuals who threatened to find their homes and families.
At the LAB meeting, Weimann expressed concern that the book may violate AS 11.41.455 - Unlawful Exploitation of a Minor and/or Municipal Code 8.50.010 - Performances and exhibitions harmful to minors.
"It seems pretty clear to me that we're breaking the law by having that book available to anyone who's under eighteen years of age," said Weimann, who is not a lawyer.
Far-right individuals and groups seeking to ban books in schools and public libraries across the country often claim that LGBTQ+ and sexual education material breaks obscenity laws. This, along with citing pornography and child exploitation laws, is the justification being cited in both formal and informal book complaints and is nearly identical to tactics promoted in social media "parental rights" groups.
During the meeting, Weimann regurgitated the demonstrably false claim that 'Let's Talk About It' had been "in circulation" at ASD and claimed that the school district held an emergency meeting about the book last Friday.
An email sent to ASD seeking confirmation of the emergency meeting Weimann claims the district held was not responded to by deadline. An ASD employee, not wanting to be identified, said there was no such emergency meeting but that recent discussions had taken place regarding how the district could support teachers, librarians, and principals who had been unfairly targeted and vilified by right-wing blog Alaska Watchman, who accused the school employees of supporting "graphic sex books in schools."
Wednesday's LAB meeting was marred by confusion regarding the Board's authority to refer the book to city attorneys for review lacking a formal request for reconsideration.
APL Director Virginia McClure, who serves as LAB's secretary, weighed in, saying she thought one of LAB's own members should go through the process of submitting their request for reconsideration and follow the Board's own stated process.
"Honoring the collection development policy, I think, would be appropriate," said McClure.
In the end, with its Bronson-installed conservative majority, LAB voted 3-2 to refer the book to city attorneys.
In response to an emailed request for comment about LAB's vote, McClure said that the library owns one copy of 'Let's Talk About It,' and that it was checked out through their consortium, fulfilling a hold in Ketchikan and that two days ago the book was transferred to Palmer to fulfill another hold request.
"As soon as the library has a copy, it will be submitted to legal in accordance with the directive from LAB," wrote McClure.
'Let’s Talk About It' was published in March 2021 and added to library collections across the state shortly after that. In the time it has been in APL’s collection, there have not been any formal requests for reconsideration filed against the book.
It's unclear why LAB's conservative Board members haven't also referred the Bible, with its spicy and saucy passages, to city attorneys for review. 🍆
Erroneous information provided by the Anchorage Public Library about the length of time 'Let's Talk About It' has been in APL's catalog has been updated.
