Report: “Librarians Take on MAGA in California Beach Town”

In this well-to-do enclave [Huntington Beach, CA] known equally for its nickname of “Surf City” and its far-right politics, progressive activists and book lovers have joined forces behind a pair of charter amendments that would wrest control of the local public library system away from a MAGA-aligned city council playing an increasingly active role in managing its affairs.

“Our public library is one of the most loved institutions in the city,” said Carol Daus, a longtime library volunteer who has gotten involved in the campaign. “Nothing needed to be fixed.”

Library defenders in Huntington Beach are taking their fight to the ballot as public libraries have become a conservative culture-war target across the country. In statehouses, on local ballots and even at the Library of Congress, Republican politicians are working to cut funding, remove controversial books and fire or even seek criminal charges for librarians who provide certain content to children.

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“We’re watching Huntington Beach closely,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “We’ve traditionally looked to the courts to preserve our civil liberties, but in a time when litigation takes years, it might be more effective to go to the ballot box … to preserve the freedom to read and prevent censorship at local libraries.”

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“Prior to the current issues around book bans, the fights would be between a vote Yes for the library and a vote No against taxes. We would see those played out in certain communities when there was an anti-tax movement that wanted to close or shrink the library,” said EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka. “The systemic approach to trying to defund the library to get rid of the ‘groomers and pedophiles’ is a recent addition to that lexicon.”