Freedom to Read Nevada, a loose coalition of Washoe County residents who treasure the ever-growing diversity of our small community, urges the Washoe County Library Board of Trustees to fulfill its primary role at its meeting Wednesday, April 17: Support the Library. 

You have heard many of us talk about the importance of public libraries to our personal growth, family lives and the health of our larger community. We have spoken candidly of concrete and formative experiences browsing diverse library shelves, attending inclusive and joyful programming and finding ourselves represented and celebrated by this institution. All our earnest comments and heartfelt stories have one central thing in common: We are here in the spirit of positive growth, committed to making the library better, to bringing more people of all ages through its doors, to getting more books on the shelves and seeing more programs on the calendar.

Your bylaws state that trustee duties include being "attentive to the needs and concerns of library patrons, volunteers, library staff, library administration, county staff, county commissioners and the general public," working "with the Director, library staff and community members to plan for the future of the library system" and "[advocating] for the Washoe County Library System within the community." During the past year or so, this body has been derailed — even hijacked — by a contingent with opposite intentions, most of whom seem bent on dismantling successful library programs, taking books off the shelves and turning community members away from the library they love and depend on.

Why is the board continuing to placate a group that comes here not to make constructive suggestions, not to bring ideas of growth or expansion, not to support you in your role as advocates for a thriving library system, but to do the opposite — to take away, to destroy, to silence?

Wednesday's meeting will be, at least, the third time that Drag Queen Story Hour appears on a board agenda in recent memory. These discussions have been grueling and circular. Nothing gets decided, partially because determining library programming is not actually within the board's purview. Worse than just being unproductive, this time effectively turns into an open mic for bigotry and vitriol.

When board members hear someone reminiscing fondly about visiting the library in the good old days when "we did not have to worry about some homosexual dressed up as a woman parading up and down in front of our children," you have two duties as reasonable, compassionate human beings and as trustees. One, you absolutely need to draw a clear line for everyone in the room that hateful speech such as this, unequivocally intended to harm and exclude specific community members, is unacceptable during meetings that you preside over. Two, you are here in a well-delineated capacity: to ensure that the library succeeds in meeting the needs of the community, and some opinions can be taken at face value.

A comment such as this is not just an off-color way of expressing an old-fashioned love for the library. No. This point of view is declaring, unambiguously, “I don't like it here anymore because you let queer people in.”

Just as this prejudiced point-of-view is plain and simple to those targeted by it, your answer should be plain and simple and should have been plain and simple months ago when this began. Of course, you do not answer comments directly, but your actions, which include discussion and selection of items appearing on the agenda, should be direct and definitive. You should respond simply: “Our community is diverse and the library reflects and celebrates that diversity. There are many books on our shelves you might consider reading to open your heart to those with experiences that differ from your own.”

If your goal is, as Trustee Ann Medaille said at the Nov. 16, 2022, board meeting, where Drag Queen Story Hour was on the agenda, "To see some peace and less division, and [for] the library to be at the center of that peace," then you need to stop validating what I see as prejudice and bigotry thinly veiled as concern. Stop creating a space and a platform where hateful speech feels welcome.

Trustees do not curate library programming. The controversy is not Drag Queen Story Hour or inappropriate books; it is the trustees’ inability to clarify their role in the library system (support successful programs and a growing collection) and to remind the confused and upset among us — over and over again if necessary — that the library is a place of intellectual freedom, a unique place in our society, perhaps the only one where a truly diverse range of views and experiences is authentically represented and where clashing ideas coexist but all are welcome.

I don’t see the voices of prejudice offering a vision for a better, brighter library future. One is inclined to wonder if they care about any future for the library at all. The future that we are working toward is one where we can all get back to business, to ensure a thriving public library for many years to come.

The dark cloud hanging over the library will only grow if Drag Queen Story Hour, one of the brightest, most vibrant and joyful programs I have ever seen the library host, is discontinued. The cloud will also darken if we start censoring books.

Trustees, you have the power and the responsibility to dispel this cloud and do the right thing — which happens to be your job — support the library, its inclusive programming and ever-growing and evolving collection, and serve our diverse community of library users.

Ilya Arbatman is a Ward 3 resident, small- business owner, and community advocate. He sits on the Ward 3 Neighborhood Advisory Board. He is part of Freedom to Read Nevada.

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