Friday December 15th, 2023
Hello all!
The RCLA leadership would like to share some takeaways from the December 4th RCLS board meeting.
1 – The board accidentally revealed themselves to have violated sunshine laws. It’s unclear how many or which members, but they alluded to having met privately in the past. When pressed by RCLA founder Tiffany Fee, they acknowledged they’d held a private meeting to discuss shelving, characterizing it as inconsequential and nothing serious. This is still illegal and indicates the board’s willingness, in whole or in part, to violate the law while conducting library business.
2 – During the November 6th RuCo steering committee meeting, committee members alluded to the RCLS board having come to them first asking for help. When a board member brought this up during the December board meeting and asked if someone on the board had approached the steering committee first, no one would speak up. Whoever went to the steering committee and put the RCLS’s funding in jeopardy not only did so behind the backs of the rest of the board, but refused to take responsibility and allowed the librarians to take the blame. This scapegoating went unchallenged by the rest of the board. We have our suspicions about who may be culpable and we will be investigating further.
3 – We have been reliably informed that the RCLS board wants to find a way to ban RCLA members from speaking at future board meetings, and is planning to spin the narrative that the RCLA is to blame if they lose their funding in January 2024. They have not appreciated our scrutiny. We were asked after the Monday December 4 board meeting to keep quiet “for a few months,” until after the January steering committee, thus allowing them to adopt unconstitutional policies in order to secure their funding, on the assurance that we can fight to get those books reinstated after they have their funding. They’ve also asked Tiffany to apologize to board chair Steve Sullivan to placate him and convince him to see us as less of an adversary. If we don’t comply, we will be scapegoated in the event that they are defunded. It is the opinion of the RCLA leadership that if the RCLS loses their funding, the board will likely attempt to spin this narrative no matter what actions we take. Furthermore, we have not formed this alliance to win in the court of public opinion, but to fight against censorship in our public libraries and protect our constitutional rights. Any fault for the defunding and shuttering of our libraries can be placed squarely on the shoulders of those who have decided to leverage our libraries funding against the first and fourteenth amendment rights of all Rutherford County residents. Therefore, we have decided to stay the course and continue to act with integrity in our mission.
There is a Special Called Library Board Meeting scheduled for next Monday, December 18, 2023 at 5 p.m. It will be located on the second floor of the Historic Rutherford County Courthouse, located on the square in Murfreesboro. Please note that only the doors facing the Puckett’s Grocery side will be unlocked. The doors facing towards the Level 3, Alley on Main side are usually locked. During this meeting the board will attempt to create a plan on how they will require staff to go through all of the system’s existing collection of books to remove anything deemed inappropriate or indecent, as well as requirements and restrictions on any future purchases. They will also be discussing replacing Director of Libraries, Rita Shacklett, who has announced her retirement effective February 29, 2024.
Anyone who wishes to borrow a copy of any of the 4 books already banned from our library system can do so by visiting borobannedbooks.com. The Center For Children’s and Young Adult Literature has also created an online Banned Book Hotline to provide free copies of banned YA books to teens throughout Tennessee upon request. Any teen who wishes to request a free banned YA book can do so by filling out the following online form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfCm0Wrvh985IF-KGKwwiXoFNHautQs4tyfMy_f1O8X0heh2g/viewform
If you would like to donate to RCLA in order to help us continue to fight against censorship in Rutherford County, please do so by visiting: https://www.fundlibraries.org/campaign/208/rutherford-county-library-alliance
Thank you,
Tiffany Fee
Wednesday November 8th, 2023
Dear friends,
After Monday night’s steering committee meeting, I’m writing to update you on where we’re at. The committee chair called on one of our founding members, Keri Lambert, to speak unexpectedly. He did this even though she was not scheduled to speak but had kept her hand raised in his direct line of sight for an hour. Here is the link to watch it for yourself: RCLA founding member speaks after holding her hand up for one hour
Keri spoke after listening to a smear campaign against our library staff, mostly over the book Let’s Talk About It, which is one of the four books now banned in our public library system. The committee threatened to pull funding from the library system, as did City Manager Craig Tindall during the meeting, if any books are purchased or found in the current collection that are deemed inappropriate. They made it clear they do not trust our library staff with purchasing materials and have given the library board 60 days to create a plan on how to correct the purchasing process and cleanse our library collection.
They alluded to library board members possibly taking on the purchasing of books themselves. With the exception of 1 of 11 members, none are trained in library sciences or have the experience required for this. Do you know who does? The dozens of librarians employed by RCLS with advanced degrees in library sciences.
There was also talk of creating a body of people to “police” the library shelves. Does this remind you of any time in history, perhaps Germany in the 1930s? I want everyone to sit for a moment and think about this. The committee chair, Craig Harris, discussed the possiblility of a group of people being appointed to “police” our library and remove materials they deem inappropriate. Who would this group be? Board members? Committee members? Police officers? Whoever is in their personal prayer groups at church? We certainly know it won’t be any of us who respect the freedom of ALL members of our community to be represented in the library’s collection.
We have said from the start that this was about control, not particular books. They continue to prove us right again and again.
These book police were mentioned while library board chair Steve Sullivan and library board member Cody York helped the committee smear Director of Libraries Rita Shacklett in front of all of us. They stood there complicity while Craig Tindall and Craig Harris threatened to bankrupt and close our library system, all because they can’t stand to see inclusive books in our community. Let’s not forget, as Keri pointed out in her speech, that Mr. Tindall is one of the defendants in the federal lawsuit the ACLU of Tennessee has brought against the City of Murfreesboro for violating our 1st and 14th Amendment rights because they can’t stand to see queer representation or celebration in our community.
I ask you to please reach out again to our commissioners to make it known we will not stand for their bullying and threats. They know what they’re doing will lead to litigation. We do not want to pay for another lawsuit with our public tax dollars. What they are doing is unconstitutional and instead of backing down when taken to court, they are doubling down and escalating this situation. They are doing this at a time when we already have the eyes of the nation on us with the ACLU lawsuit and also the New York Times podcast from Serial, The Kids of Rutherford County. Many of the commissioners who allowed what’s covered in that podcast are still in office and continue to violate our civil rights.
If you’d like to contribute to helping us fight in Rutherford County, you can Donate Here
You can find us on Tiktok. Look for our website coming soon.
Thank you,
Tiffany Fee
Friday, October 20th,2023
Dear friends,
I want to make you aware of an interview our Director of Libraries, Rita Shacklett, did with WKRN yesterday. She spoke about the new age restrictions affecting anyone 17 and under with a library card in our county beginning January 1, 2024. You can check it out at the link here:
Rutherford County Library implementing new system to restrict what kids can check out
WKRN News Channel 2 has been the local media that has provided the most coverage about what’s happening in our library system. We are very thankful for the attention they’ve kept focused on the decisions being made by the library board.
RCLA has a Facebook group that you can join to stay in the loop. We are also taking donations to help cover the out-of-pocket costs that this fight requires. You can donate here.
Thank you to all of you out there paying attention to what’s happening and helping to spread awareness! We’ll see you at Boro Pride tomorrow from 1-8 pm at the Miller Coliseum in Murfreesboro!
Thanks,
Tiffany Fee
Sunday, October 22nd, 2023
Dear friends,
This past Monday was the October 2023 Library Board Meeting in Rutherford County. We expected an ordinary meeting, as there were no books up for review on the agenda. What transpired instead was truly frightening. Citing an updated Public Library Service Agreement sent from the TN Secretary of State, board members Cody York and Lauren Brandon made their plans concerning even more bans apparent.
Mr. York is pushing for the board to define the term “obscene” for all of Rutherford County. This is something the Supreme Court itself has been unable to do in the past. Ms. Brandon is pushing for the creation of a subcommittee allowing select members of the board to define, for all of us, what is obscene in our community. This would be laughable if it were not so terrifying.
They made known that they expect ALL existing materials in our library collection to be reviewed once they determine what is considered obscene. They plainly stated that adult books will be banned based on their findings, not just juvenile and young adult. They also let our Director of Libraries, Rita Shacklett, know that they expect her to personally review thousands of monthly purchases to ensure all materials purchased do not violate their definition. This task is impossible, not only due to the sheer number of books purchased, but also because the information is unavailable from publishers. It is not possible to look at every word and every picture in every book prior to purchasing them for our libraries. This also gives the board reason to punish Ms. Shacklett as they see fit when she ultimately fails at this impossible task.
Board member Dina Piazza questioned if the purchasing could be slowed down to allow for the thorough review suggested. This is what happens when censorship begins in our library system. It starts with faux outrage over a book or two, and then slowly turns into hampering the purchasing of materials by bogging the process down with bureaucracy.
Mr. York and Ms. Brandon are considering the board becoming involved in what books are and are not purchased for patrons. They are not librarians and do not have the advanced degrees and years of experience that our librarians do. We trust our librarians to pick books for our collection, not self-appointed morality police.
Please email our board members and tell them to stop this attack on our rights. Board members should not be taking over the jobs of our trusted librarians.
Please support us and our continuing fight against censorship and the attack on our rights here in Rutherford County. We can’t do this without your help. The situation here is truly dire. Please donate here.
Thank you,
Tiffany Fee
Monday, October 9th, 2023
Hello, friends!
We have been hard at work behind the scenes building the foundation of Rutherford County Library Alliance. We are asking for any funding you can provide to help us keep the fight going against the book bans in our public library system. We’re currently building a website, scheduling public and private group events and creating this alliance from the ground up.
Many of you have expressed interest in donating financially to help us. Due to these requests, we have created a fundraising campaign on fundlibraries.org. This will help cover the out-of-pocket costs that are quickly adding up. It will also ensure we can continue to fight for the safety of our library staff and the integrity of our library system.
The ACLU of Tennessee has announced a lawsuit challenging the City of Murfreesboro’s decency ordinance. They listed the book bans that resulted from this as part of the reasoning. We are hopeful and excited for the outcome.
Thank you for your continued support,
Tiffany Fee
Tuesday, September 19th,2023
Dear Friends,
Exciting update – our campaign was mentioned in the news this week! You can check out my interview with Maranda Whittington of WKRN News Channel 2 Nashville at the link below. We’re thankful for the attention given to the Rutherford County Library Alliance and the support all of you are helping show our community and library staff!
2 New books could be banned by Rutherford County Library System
The other win we had yesterday was at the September Library Board Meeting. Our board voted against banning either of the books that were on the agenda. Queen Charlotte was complained about due to the wedding night scene. Our board decided to keep it because none of the parties in that scene were children. The wording of some members’ comments has me questioning if there are adult books they may be trying to have removed in the future. We must stay vigilant because this is what happens with censorship. It’s a slippery slope that we have warned them of already.
The second book up for debate was Sex Is A Funny Word. The board voted to reclassify it and move it to the adult section because of the educational material it provides. It will be available in the adult section in October when the new restrictions on youth cards take effect. In October the library will be issuing new cards for juvenile, young adult, and adult patrons. We have no further information at this time on how this will affect existing cards.
Thank all of you for your continued support. None of what we have accomplished would be possible without your support. We have an opportunity now to build on this momentum and bring more people into our movement.
Can you take a moment to tell your friends and family about the article and ask them to join our campaign?
When you share the petition, make sure to tell people why you care about this issue too. People are more likely to sign this petition if they understand why it’s important to you, and your reasons are the best way to convince others to join.
Sunday, September 17th, 2023
Hello, friends!
The September Library Board Meeting is tomorrow at 5 p.m. We need as many of you as possible to show up and help us stand up against the censorship and age discrimination acts our board is partaking in.
Already the board has changed settings for all library cards belonging to people under the age of 18 to deny them the ability to check out any material that is not YA or under. This includes books that are required reading or necessary materials for class work.
They will be voting on whether or not to ban 2 more books, in addition to the 4 they banned last month. One of these is an adult book, “Queen Charlotte” by Julia Quinn and Shonda Rhimes. The other is an award-winning sex-education book: “Sex Is A Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg. Here is a description I was able to find about it:
“A comic book for kids that includes children and families of all makeups, orientations, and gender identities, Sex Is a Funny Word is an essential resource about bodies, gender, and sexuality for children ages 8 to 10 as well as their parents and caregivers. Much more than the “facts of life” or “the birds and the bees,” Sex Is a Funny Word opens up conversations between young people and their caregivers in a way that allows adults to convey their values and beliefs while providing information about boundaries, safety, and joy.”
Please join us tomorrow, 9/18/23, at 5 p.m. at the historic Rutherford County Courthouse on the square in Murfreesboro. The meeting will be held on the second floor.