Iowa library closed after endless complaints about LGBTQ staff & theft of books / LGBTQ Nation
By: John Russell
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
An Iowa library will re-open for limited hours of operation after a temporary closing due to ceaseless community complaints over LGBTQ books and staff members during the ongoing national debate over content in libraries and schools.
Over the past two years, the Vinton Public Library has seen two library directors leave their positions after facing criticism for Pride displays and other books that some in the community consider inappropriate or overly partisan. In early July, the library was forced to close after the departure of out gay interim director Colton Neely, who had taken over in June. The library will reopen Monday for limited hours with the help of part-time staff.
Some residents of Vinton, a small town northeast of Des Moines, accused the library of enacting a liberal agenda due to hiring openly LGBTQ staff and displaying LGBTQ books, according to Iowa independent newspaper The Gazette. Previous directors also faced criticism that library collection included books about President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and not enough books about former president Donald Trump.
At a meeting in March, Vinton resident Brooke Kruckenberg argued that, "It appears that there is a slow, quiet agenda moving into our local library culture through the staff hiring decisions and the books that have crept in our children's section of the library. I don't believe the library is representing our town well with hiring a majority of staff who are openly a part of the LGBTQ community."
Neely, who is gay, is just the latest Vinton Library employee to resign in the face of the controversy. Janette McMahon who left her position as library director in 2021 said that, "Not everyone was as supportive as others when the library needed to stand up for inclusion and diversity in its materials."
McMahon claims that during her tenure people would check out books they found objectionable and simply not return them. "Which is theft of materials," she said. "We know the folks that had them out had been making complaints to other city officials and people around me without going through an actual process."
McMahon says she found the situation in Vinton so intolerable that she left the community entirely. "When I had had enough, we couldn't function correctly as a library, so I decided to find a community that better fit me as a librarian and my standards for library ethics."
Renee Greenlee faced similar backlash during her six-months as library director following McMahon's departure.
Neely struck a note of optimism in June. "I think we got over the mountain of people accusing everyone on the staff for being on a liberal agenda," he said at the time.
But while he considered applying for the director position, he opted instead to leave the library altogether due to the pressure he and his partner were facing.
He says the vitriol has worn him down. "I felt like nobody was really giving me that support," Neely told the Des Moines Register following his resignation.
Though the Vinton library's board of trustees has reiterated its commitment to diversity, longtime librarian Molly Rach sounded a note of warning at a recent public meeting.
"This community has now run out two highly qualified, highly credentialed library directors in less than two years," she said. "This library is indeed going to suffer, but not because of diverse books or staff members who identify as LGBTQIA+, but because you are going to have a hard time finding anyone who's willing to put up with being targeted by community members for simply doing their job."
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Why do gay people seem to scare the crap out of conservative people...
Perhaps because they are afraid that they will be outed, can't have that in Corncob Iowa.
Always amazes me that people can be so insecure in their own sexuality.
you're surrounded where you live...
Therefore, if you hire openly straight people and display openly straight books, you are enacting a conservative straight agenda.
Did any straight people bother to apply?
So, there’s your conservative agenda. Dishonesty and theft. Something to be proud of, eh?
These are the same people that would probably disown their own children if they found out they were gay.
Better question is were any straight people considered?
Sounds like the library's board is to the left of some of the community it serves. What are the chances of it hiring two LQBQT+ directors in a row?
As for the idiots stealing books and harassing staff; they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Don't like the way the library is run? Then don't go to it; or allow your kids to go to it. Limited foot traffic will shut down the library very quickly. Tell your local politicians you don't support the library in it's current form; and if they don't change it you will vote them out. If you have the numbers of support you think you do- the politicians will cave- or they will be gone. That is the way the system is supposed to work.
Also, if these defenders of public integrity were really that concerned they would get their church to open a library. One that they could run; and completely dictate what materials were available to read. Let the two libraries compete for customers. The better library will win out.
Why is that a better question? No one has alleged that straight people were refused employment in this specific instance. And on a broader scale, there is a much more substantial history of LGBT people being refused employment than of straight people over not.
I’m surprised that such a small town had a library of that size.
Well, the number of books appears to be shrinking...
Yes, someone was stealing them. It shouldn’t be hard to identify the thief.
This is part of the reactionaries' war on knowledge and education.