Letter to the Editor Rockton: Your Library Deserves Better

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. 

This is the antithesis of what a library board does. It’s the antithesis of what a library board should do. These are unpaid but crucial roles in the wheels of democracy and yet, several members of the Talcott board would rather bend these institutions to their will, ignoring the needs of the broader community who entrusts them to do better. Who elected them to serve at the behest of the whole community, not just the part that looks or sounds like them.

If you care about public libraries and if you care about ensuring that your public library remains a place where all people are welcome, where all people can find themselves, and where all people can learn about the beautifully diverse world around them, then it’s important to know what’s happening right here, in your home town. Your library needs you to speak up for it and to counter those accusations being lodged against the people you grocery shop with, whose kids attend the schools your kids attend, who attend your church services, and who love their town. Your fellow community members working at the library are still showing up every day, doing their best to serve Rockton, despite the targets on them and despite the people who swore to support them choosing to shoot the first arrows. 

There are four library board seats up for election next year. Consider whether or not you can run. Even if you can’t, consider showing up to a board meeting and/or writing a letter in support of what Talcott Public Library is: a place where anyone and everyone can and should feel comfortable, seen, and supported.

Your community deserves better. 

Kelly Jensen, former librarian in Roscoe and current national advocate for libraries

The Talcott Free Library Board of Trustees meets at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month.  All meetings are open to the public.