Klamath County officials are ending library programming that could be considered political.
Shaden.student pn via Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this month, a Klamath County book club was canceled after complaints from residents about a book it featured, “No More Cops: A Case for Abolition.”
“We chose a book each month that would stimulate discussion about current social justice issues,” said Charla Oppenlander, assistant library director for the Klamath County Library Service District.
In addition to the book on police abolition, the club included other titles such as “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City” that addressed income inequality and other social issues. The book club hosted between five and eight members of the community, according to Oppenlander.
In the a meeting on May 3, the Klamath County Board of Commissioners instructed the library to ensure that programming does not create the perception of endorsing or sponsoring a political position.
“I don’t mean to ban books, ever,” commission chairman Derrick DeGroot said at the meeting. But, he added, “We don’t have political discussions in our library, it’s a safe place for people to really get away from the noise.”
As a result, library officials canceled programming that could be construed as political, including the book club.
Another discussion group that had been running for about 20 years called “Big Decisions” was also brought up at the meeting. Commissioner Kelley Minty noted that she was concerned about affecting “big decisions” because it has been in operation for many years and “hasn’t been an issue in the past.” But library officials said they would stop offering “Big Decisions” as it focuses on international affairs.
Library officials added that yes worried about the future of other educational and civic events. Some residents also worry about the precedent set by the decision to suppress other speech.
“The ‘Battle of the Books,’ it’s an Oregon thing for kids, it tackles some tough topics,” said Lois Taysom, a Merrill resident and member of the County Library’s advisory board. Klamath. “If it’s something that upsets someone and they can complain and say it’s political, it can be canceled.”
The competition is held statewide and includes a list of books for students to read and answer “Jeopardy”-like trivia questions about them. Books in the past have dealt with topics like poverty and the caste system.
Questions remain about how to move forward with it and which titles might be considered problematic based on their content.
“I’m not sure I have the most perfect definition of what is political and what isn’t,” Minty said. “For me, I think the point where we’re at now is that we have to get to problem solving.”
Oppenlander, Taysom and Minty spoke with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller about this topic. Click play to hear the entire conversation:
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