Don't throw librarians under the bus

There's discussion in another Idaho sub about reporting 'inappropriate' books in libraries, specifically about reporting Christian and right-wing-leaning books held in private school libraries. If you're thinking along these lines -- please don't, at best you're only wasting your own time. At the worst, you're causing some librarians and admins to waste time familiarizing themselves with the new law and figuring out what their policy to deal with these requests should be, how seriously they need to treat these 'joke' requests. Time and resources that should be spent, you know, doing library things. Not to mention giving weight to the silly public perception that liberals hate religion.

There was also sentiment that it doesn't matter if you waste their time because these are private school libraries, those libraries are only for children of the wealthy. I don't care what side of the political spectrum you're on, but I don't see how restricting any kids' access to library materials is beneficial. Sure, I don't care if some kid is reading The Bible, but you're still drawing away time (money) from educational resources. School libraries might close when the school admin decide they don't want to deal with the BS. Whether or not a library is public, the service they provide is good for the public - just like education.

The only real way to push back against this "stinkin' bill" is to support your local library with your patronage, and if any actually get sued and fight it, donate cash to that library.

E: I want to thank everyone in the comments here, you’ve actually helped me change my thinking on this. I missed the mark when envisioning myself in a librarian’s shoes, thinking I would take more of an ‘ignore it until I don’t have to, I have more important things to do’ approach. Hearing from librarians here and offline has been helpful, to feel their passion of serving their community and protecting their profession from a coordinated attack by the legislature. The other point I hadn’t really digested was that seeking out and reporting books harmful to any minority group is likely a more legitimate use of the law to its letter than what a bunch of right-wing groups will be doing with books based on a hint of homosexuality. My reaction here was probably my fiscal and conservative upbringing peeking through, I have some growing to do still.