Libraries as bad guys?

Hillsborough County’s fast-growing suburbs face many problems. A rogue library system isn’t among them. We’re not sure where Michael Owen, a newly-elected Republican county commissioner, is going with this campaign. But no one should want Hillsborough to reprise an ugly chapter by entangling itself anew in America’s culture wars.

Owen said last week that he wants parents to know what their kids are reading at the public library. He wants to give parents the opportunity to prevent their youngsters from accessing material in the adults section and from checking out “controversial books dealing with sexuality.” Parents, he said, are entitled to “trust their children are not getting fed garbage, basically.”

To parents who want to be more involved with their child, we say more power to you. Many library patrons would be thrilled to see more parents accompanying children to the library. But does Owen have any evidence that Hillsborough libraries are feeding “garbage” to children? Or is that just a driveby smear meant to create a boogeyman and justify a political talking point?

At a time when government, civic institutions and even facts themselves have come under withering partisan attack, our libraries have become more important than ever. Their solemn place as safe spaces for truth and learning help nurture our kids, making for stronger citizens, stronger families and stronger communities. There are few better places for a child to spend time, and fewer worse places to make a political scapegoat.

We’ll see how this plays out, but it’s a slippery slope when politicians start questioning the content of libraries and access to them. It revives memories from the dark days when another Republican commissioner from east Hillsborough raised concerns in 2005 over a gay pride display at a regional library, sparking years of bitterness in this community, and damaging the image and functioning of county government. Returning to those times is not anything anyone needs.