Massachusetts First

A real-world example of how elementary school librarians allow their political bias to affect book purchases

Editors note: The following reflects the writer’s opinions when the article was written in 2018. She asks that the reader understand her favorable opinion of President Donald Trump has grown exponentially since writing this piece. She has learned a lot and considers him the best President in United States history. She supports him 100 percent and will vote for him without hesitation in 2024.

Names changed for privacy.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

“Smith” Elementary School Library

Small Town, MA

I volunteer at the “Smith” Elementary School Library every Wednesday afternoon. I have been doing so since I left my position as Library Assistant in 2014 due to medical issues. I worked there for three years and volunteered for three years before my employment. Needless to say, I know very well how the library works, what its goal and mission statement are, and how collection development should be handled. I do not hold a Masters of Library Science(MLS) degree. However, that should not preclude me from making judgment statements about the book acquisition process. I received a Certificate in Information Library Science from UMaine Augusta, which included at least two courses dedicated to collection development. I believe, however, that an average citizen with no library education could assess whether book acquisition practices are within the stated objective standard.

On this day, I was thinking about President’s Day and the upcoming February vacation the following week. I remembered that this was the time of year when several classrooms were tasked with reading biographies and writing reports about their topic. This has been the practice for many years, with several grade levels and different projects, usually around this time of year. The library must always be prepared to supply these students with whatever biography they request, within reason. Sometimes, a student will request the biography of a current celebrity or famous athlete, and the library doesn’t have anything on that person. We either suggest alternative people or suggest they look in the local public library or even online for their information. Most of the time, however, the library has a biography book to satisfy students’ needs.

I recalled how, soon after the Inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, several students requested books about the new President. The library didn’t have any books on Donald Trump at that time, not even a general biography. It seemed understandable since not many young students were interested in Donald Trump before he ran for President, so the collection reflected the lack of interest. It was also unremarkable to me that the library had not yet acquired a biography of President Trump because I assumed that no books had yet been published to satisfy a “presidential biography” for an elementary school.

As of Valentine’s Day of 2018, fourteen months since President Trump was inaugurated and sixteen months since he won the election, the library still had no biographies of President Trump. I was willing to allow some wiggle room. Maybe publishers hadn’t printed them yet. Maybe there was no room in the book budget. Maybe the Head Librarian, solely in charge of purchasing books, hadn’t had the time or opportunity. But my instinct told me otherwise.

I used to work there, and I know how it is. The Head Librarian is a very nice person. She knows her stuff. She’s inventive, creative, and funny, and I’ve always held her in high regard. We’ve had many deep, thought-provoking conversations about a million different topics. I’ve always found her to be fair and conscientious in most things. Within the purview of her job description, her top priority has always been to teach students information literacy skills.

I’ve always known her to be a hard-line liberal and a hard-core, old-school feminist. From displaying a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama in the library after both inaugurations to attending #Resist rallies on the Boston Common, her personal politics have never been in question. And she has always known that I am a Constitutional Conservative. That’s what made our conversations so interesting and enjoyable.

I explain this to provide context to what I am about to assert and to prove that I am not some hard-core, right-wing zombie. I didn’t vote for Donald Trump in the primaries, and my vote for him in the general election was mainly anti-Hillary. In the end, I decided that it was a better and more moral choice to vote for the person who represented at least some of my beliefs. I knew for a fact that the other candidate would push an agenda that was antithetical to everything I believed in.

Back to the library.

In the context of students asking for books on President Donald Trump, I wondered how long the Head Librarian had taken to acquire books on previous presidents. I was willing to accept proof that maybe the delay was standard practice. I checked the computer catalog for books on President Obama, using the search term “Barack Obama.”

Three books about the former President were listed. However, only one was published after he was inaugurated, Who Is Barack Obama? (Edwards, 2010). The other two biographies were published in 2006 (Brill) when he was still a senator and in 2008 (Feinstein) when he became a candidate for President.

I looked at the title page of the two older books to see when they were added to the school library collection. The Library Assistant who came before me and trained me would always add the schoolyear date to the title page in pencil. This was common practice in libraries before computer catalogs because it provided a quick reference when weeding out old books during inventories. I wanted to see how long after Obama’s inauguration the books were purchased and added to the shelves.

The dates marked on the title pages of the two books were’ 08-’09, which means the biographies were purchased and added within months of the inauguration, if not before. Obama was elected on November 4, 2008, and sworn in on January 20, 2009. The’ 08-’09 school year ended in June 2009. That means the books must have been added before the end of June; otherwise, the date would have read ’09-’10 for the following school year. So, the Head Librarian didn’t wait for an official presidential biography to be published before ordering two books about the new President.

Okay.

I then searched the catalog for biographies about Obama’s predecessor using the search term “George W. Bush.”

Two results were listed for stand-alone biographies about President Bush,  one published in 2001 (Gormley) and one published in 2004 (Burgan). I happened upon the 2004 book first, simply because it was on the side of the shelf closest to me. I opened the book to the title page to check the date and saw it was added to the catalog in the ’04-’05 school year. I can’t verify the month the book was published or the month it was added, so it could have been purchased soon after publication. I checked the title page of the 2001 book and found an interesting notation. The former Library Assistant had written ’01-’02—Gift. This means that the book was added right after the first inauguration of George W. Bush but was not ordered by the Head Librarian. Rather, it was a donation from someone else.

Those are the facts of the case, as best I can summarize. Now I will offer my interpretation and opinion about what is happening here.

I contend that the Head Librarian is showing personal political bias in how she has handled purchasing presidential biographies for the school library. She alone controls the library collection. Others have input, but the final decision is hers as the final purchaser of materials. She is the gatekeeper, so to speak. Comparing the “book purchased/book added” dates of the three most recent presidents shows, at the very least, an eagerness to add Obama books to the collection. At the same time, a fair bit of “foot-dragging” is evident for Bush and especially for President Donald Trump.

Whether intentional or not, this is not an objective way to handle a library collection. Never before have I questioned the acquisition practices of this Head Librarian because never before have I witnessed such blatant bias. It may seem like a minor issue. What’s a few extra months’ wait for a book? What’s the big deal? It’s only one example!

But is it just this one librarian in this one small school? I checked the online catalogs of the other schools in the district. The two elementary schools with online access showed no Donald Trump biographies. The junior high school had one.

I searched the online catalog for the town library and found no children’s or young adult biographies of Donald Trump. The system-wide catalog showed copies in other town libraries, however.

Adding books to school libraries and public libraries is a balance between customer demand and historical/cultural relevance. Libraries strive to provide information on a myriad of subjects while supplying ample materials to satisfy their particular customer population—a balance between candy and vegetables. Budgets can be tight, making each book purchase an agonizing decision. Some book purchases, although they may be more “vegetable” than “candy,” are vital to the education of our students.

Historically speaking, the election of Barack Obama was an exciting, unique event for the United States. I understand the enthusiasm surrounding his inauguration as the first black President.

For many, the inauguration of President Trump was exciting as well, though some would argue less so. The first person elected President who had never held political office, Trump overcame tremendous odds and stunned many who thought he didn’t have a chance.

The inescapable media frenzy surrounding the 2016 election found its way to the youngest of ears, which caused some students to search for information about the man they kept hearing about. The library’s job is to provide that information. Delaying the purchase of materials to fill a specific, necessary need for no other reason than political bias is shameful and antithetical to the mission statement of school librarians everywhere.

I decided to remedy the situation.

I researched the type of biographies the Head Librarian usually purchases for the school. I compared the different publishers to books purchased by other schools and public libraries. I read several reviews of different books, looking for keywords like “fair” and “unbiased.” I looked for books that listed sources and citations in the back.

I settled on two books, a hardcover with library binding for ages 8-12 (grades 3-4) and a paperback for ages 4-8 (grades preK-3). I’m still searching for a comprehensive biography for grades 4-6.

The school library has other books in the True Book series and books from the Rookie book series, so I felt they would be accepted as accurate and factual, i.e., the Head Librarian would have no valid reason to reject the books.

I brought the books to the library on Wednesday, February 28, 2018, and witnessed the current Library Assistant happily enter them into the catalog, sixteen months after President Trump’s election and fourteen months after his inauguration. As is the custom, the Library Assistant also added a bookplate to each copy that indicated the person who donated the books was me. I was not there to see the books placed on the shelf with the rest of the collection.

Two days later, on Friday, March 2, 2018, I received a text message from the Library Assistant that read:

LA:      She’s already picking on the Trump bios…

Me:      For accuracy? Or personal digs…either way not surprised.

LA:      “There’s a lie on page 6.”

Me:      Do tell! (yes, snarky)

            Fake news! (more snark)

            Is it about Russia? (apologies)

LA:      Page 6 says that Prez Trump learned leadership skills in Military school, but she knows someone who went to school with him claims he was only promoted to leadership because his actions endangered other cadets. Which makes no sense to me.

This exchange completely validated my reasons for suspicion and for taking the initiative to provide these books to the students at SES.

A librarian is responsible for providing accurate, unbiased information. I have heard this librarian give hundreds of lectures about citing sources and checking and double-checking those sources for accuracy. Yet, she was willing to reject a book based on a rumor because she didn’t like President Trump.

I hate to say it, but based on our current culture, reported by many different news outlets, I’m afraid this attitude is not unique. I wonder how many other librarians allow their biases to shape their collections. Most libraries have collection development policies, but it ultimately comes down to the purchaser.

The education of our nation’s children is of utmost importance to the survival of the United States as a Constitutional Republic. They are being willfully or subconsciously denied information and, worse, provided with biased information (by subject or sheer volume). Such unwritten policies violate the librarian’s code of ethics and are antithetical to the ALA’s standards and guidelines.

Postscript (July 7, 2023): Given the increased push of the LGBTQ+ agenda in our schools, many parents have started questioning what materials their children are being exposed to in their school libraries. I challenge parents to see what might be missing. Have you checked your child’s school library collection lately?

by Erin W.