If there’s one group in Kalispell that fully understands the responsibilities, privileges, and implications of the First Amendment, it’s librarians. Specifically, those at ImagineIF Library: Sean Anderson, Kat Wilson, Starr White, and the former interim director Martha Furman. Last month, they received the Pat Williams Intellectual Freedom Award from the Montana Library Association. Our county library is no stranger to awards, including this one. Two years ago, Connie Behe, former library director, won this very same award. In 2015, ImagineIF bested all the libraries around the state to win Library of the Year.
To me, these awards, and particularly the Pat Williams Intellectual Freedom Award, highlights the principled commitment of these staff members at ImagineIF and how the First Amendment operates in a publically funded library. Freedom of expression encompasses intellectual freedom and a core value of the library profession is the promotion of access to information and leads the defense against censorship. ImagineIF’s mission is to provide safe and fair access to books and information.
A public library is a brilliant, complex, evolving, and living institution that promotes and protects intellectual freedom, which means the right to receive information on a wide range of topics from a variety of viewpoints. Libraries provide crucial and often essential services to the community it serves, supporting a wide range of individuals who possess different beliefs, interests, curiosities, and needs.
While the ImagineIF staff members receiving the award are being recognized by their peers for their professionalism and diligence in maintaining its mission, there’s a dangerous response brewing in Flathead Valley. Recently, books damaged by a firearm were deposited in the library’s overnight collection bin. The titles didn’t belong to ImagineIF. The incident led to a one-day closure of all the library’s branches until law enforcement could assess the situation and evaluate the level of threat. The library staff, Board of Trustees, and local law enforcement determined there was not a threat to public safety, although it’s not unreasonable to assume that it was an intentional act of intimidation.
Too often across our nation public servants like librarians or teachers face unspeakable violence. And yet they continue to adhere to the guiding standards that define democratic institutions. Access to safe and fair information, including instruction in the classroom and public health and safety measures, shouldn’t come with the threat of violence because extremism has infected a few who seek to undermine experts to serve a misguided ideology. We deserve better, our nation deserves better. In fact, democracy demands it.
Democracy also demands a champion, and I applaud Sean, Kat, Starr, and Martha for championing the First Amendment in their response to book challenges. We are all better served by their work and understanding of intellectual freedom and the perils of censorship. After all, no one is forced to read or check out an item housed at the library that expresses views they don’t agree with. That’s the freedom offered by libraries, and one worth guarding.
Maggie Doherty is the owner of Kalispell Brewing Company on Main Street.