We can proudly claim to be the tip of the spear in the movement to stop the nomination of Melinda “Mindy” Atwood. Stephen Scaer launched it on November 29th with his post, “Tell NH Executive Council to Reject Radical State Librarian Nominee.” Others followed, which is the point. The tip is useless without a shaft and someone to hold it. They carried the weight and followed through. Governor Sununu opted to retract the nomination when faced with a rise in public objection that appeared to move a majority of the executive councilors toward a no vote and a political fight for which he lacks the juice.
The governor says he doesn’t want to put Mindy through that fight, but that’s probably because he’d lose, and his term will soon end. Who wants to do the ugly dance on their way out the door? It’s a political walk of shame over a nothing-burger position like the state librarian as if we need one of those.
Reporting in the wake of the “pulled” nomination is littered with the usual incomplete or misdirecting bullshit. If you include the photo blurb, “ban,” bans, or “banning” appears four times in the Union Leader article and never in their true and proper context.
- Gov. Chris Sununu told reporters he withdrew his choice of Mindy Atwood of Sunapee as state librarian because conservative members of the Executive Council would have opposed her over her statements regarding banning books.
- During that seminar, Atwood and other librarians discussed the latest efforts to restrict library books and offered guidance on challenging book bans.
- During the 2024 session, the Republican-led House and Senate could not come to an agreement on competing bills, one that narrowly passed the House to make it harder to ban materials
- Atwood participated in a seminar titled, “Unite Against Book Bans” a panel discussion in 2023 hosted by the New England Library…
- [And for good measure] The New Hampshire Library Association and American Library Association both oppose book censorship and have advised their member professionals how to combat such efforts.
Atwood is not against book bans or censorship in the context in which everyone speaks. Atwood says she believes “deeply in the mission of public libraries to provide free and equal access to information for everyone” “but NH libraries refuse to stack texts by the millions. What you choose says a lot about you, I think. It is a choice made by the librarian and the library, but no one calls it banning books.
Limiting access to sexually explicit texts is no more a book ban than preventing minors from accessing alcohol, tobacco, vape, or entry into bars and strip clubs.
We don’t let minors drive, but no one claims to have banned cars.
WMUR, the Union Leader, the Legislature, and every other public “venue,” from information stalls to town meetings (irony alert), protect minors (and sometimes adults) from exposure to sexually explicit material (we have perfectly acceptable rules and laws about this). These are not considered bans, probably because you can order whatever it is and have it delivered overnight or access it right now on your phone, tablet, laptop, or PC. This is true of any book, magazine, or other material readily available but typically prohibited to minors.
None of that is book banning or banning of any sort.
So, in my opinion, the problem with Atwood is that what makes her (and everyone who peddles that narrative) dangerous is that she either doesn’t get any of that or does and doesn’t care.
If we have to have a state librarian, New Hampshire deserves better.
