That Librarian

That Librarian

by Amanda Jones
Setting: Louisiana
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs
Published on August 27, 2024
Pages: 288
Format: eBook Source: Library

Part memoir, part manifesto, the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.

One of the things small town librarian Amanda Jones values most about books is how they can affirm a young person's sense of self. So in 2022, when she caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGTBQ+ references, discussions of racism, and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing.

Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and "Christian." But Amanda Jones wouldn't give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.

Mapping the book banning crisis occurring all across the nation, That Librarian draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.

Amanda Jones is a married, straight, white, Christian, conservative, cis woman and mother who lives in a small town in Louisiana. It is the same town she grew up in. She’s the librarian in the middle school. She’s been the target of harassment campaigns because she spoke up at a meeting about getting rid of books at a different library. She had the nerve to say that there are procedures in the place that people should follow. People decided to go all over social media and misrepresent her statements to say that she was advocating for teaching children about anal sex. Of course, people spread those posts without looking into the facts at all.

But, she decided to fight back. She filed a defamation suit against the groups targeting her. It hasn’t gone well. It has been dismissed but she is fighting that. Local judges also seem to focus on the idea that she must want sexually explicit books in the library, not that she wants people to stop spreading lies. But in filing court cases she gets to bring those facts into the public record. People accused her of being an activist and in doing so they turned her into one.

The past few years have been eye opening for her.  She was a person who was very much in a white conservative Christian bubble except for LGBTQ issues.  She discusses that in the book.  That’s part of what makes her a good spokesperson.  She’s not an outsider to the people who are attacking her.  She’s one of them and they turned on her.  

The book is very conversational. It isn’t the most well-written but it is very honest about her feelings especially towards former friends who immediately believed social media over their experience with her over the years.

“…in my community one doesn’t tend to advertise empathy or you will face backlash from very vocal alt-right citizens. Politics trumps empathy here in Livingston Parish.”

The book goes over the emotional and physical toll being on the receiving end of this type of cyberbullying takes on a person.  It also discusses steps that people can take to support people who are going through it and/or what to do if you are a target.

“I was fortunate to hear the author Kekla Magoon speak at a conference, and she said that we are like raindrops. Individually, we are just one drop, but together we can be a storm.”