Tensions were high at the Bloomington Public Library. Megaphones and shouts began the regular meeting. Two officers were called on about three attendees who did not comply with the mask mandate.
“Why are you so concerned with my face and what I put on it? You all are (gesturing to the Bloomington Public Library board of trustees) in here selling private parts to kids,” said one mask less attendee.
The public comments all surrounded the pornographic nature of books on a display shelf feet away from the Children’s Services section that housed books like Patience & Esther and Dr. Suess Green Eggs & Ham.
“It’s sad and I actually feel sorry for these people that they just lean into this fear-mongering and lies that are told to try and get people worked up to come in here and make all of your lives more difficult,” said Krystle Able. “In a free society individuals are free to determine for themselves what they wish to read, and each group is free to determine what it will recommend to its freely associated member, but no group has the right to take the law into its own hands and compose its own concept of politics or morality upon members of a democratic society. Freedom is no freedom if it is only accorded to the accepted and the inoffensive.”
Mary Carlisle, a public commenter, said the employees of the library have demonstrated an inability to properly discern what is and what is not inappropriate material for young children.
“Whatever their motivation for doing so is irresponsible and reckless. The security cameras in the library will assist in identifying the employees responsible in building this display. Why has any of our taxpayer money or private library donations gone towards the purchase of pornography. A taxpayer funded public library is most assuredly not the place for pornographic books or displays. People who consume pornography have countless other avenues to pursue what they want. We the taxpayer have no responsibility, no moral or ethical duty whatsoever to supply it to them,” said Carlisle.
The Director Jeanne Hamilton told Cities she would make the hiring and firing decisions and disciplinary decisions, but the library does have a union contract.
“We would definitely follow those contract’s specifications,” said Hamilton.
Board president Julian Westerhout said the placement of the books was unintentional and a mistake.
“We recognize the concern that these sorts of materials, not these materials specifically, any age inappropriate materials. There’s an enormous amount there, that most parents wouldn’t want to sort of filter before letting your kids look at it. We’re going to be mindful of that. Should somebody be fired, because they weren’t thinking about putting something 10 feet the children’s area? Some might think that. Personally, I would say he who lives in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones,” said Westerhout.
Jesse Simmons said the books were all cartoon picture books attractive to children.
“There were an estimated 40 picture books of adult nature on these shelves. I personally took the time to thumb through these 40 books. These books contained thousands of pages of explicit scenes of pornography, hard core pornography, intense murder and killing themes some involving children. Promotion of extreme drug use, extreme profanity, hate speech towards certain groups of people, blasphemy of religion, and the practice of the occult,” said Simmons.
Simmons said the library may have broken state and federal law, which makes it illegal to distribute obscene and harmful materials to minors.
Obscenity law is a category of speech unprotected by the First Amendment. Obscenity laws are concerned with prohibiting lewd, filthy, or disgusting words or pictures.
“I’m not asking for books to be banned. I’m asking the library to implement policies that reasonably restrict minors from accessing, viewing, and checking out obscene and harmful materials. Your current policy that pushes responsibility to the parents is contradicted by making these materials directly available to children via a display without warning,” said Jesse Simmons.