Hillsborough County, Florida’s fast-growing suburbs in the south and east 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.” He also wants the county’s 30-branch library system to drop its affiliation with the American Library Association, saying the nonprofit “has clearly gone radical.”
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 drive-by smear meant to create a boogeyman and justify a political talking point?
