– by Tim Nicholls Harrison - CEO and Chief Librarian, Owen Sound and North Grey Union Public Library
I want to make sure that I contribute to a public narrative that properly shares and celebrates the Drag Story Time event.
The story isn't the protestors who showed up.
It is about the 80-plus local community members that came out to help make the library welcoming and safe for our library users.
It is about the capacity crowd of children 10 and under, accompanied by their adult family members, that had an amazing and wonderful time at the library's story time.
It is about our superb professional staff designing and delivering exemplary programming for our community.
And it is about talented performers sharing their joy, skills and love of reading with local families.
Here is a link is to the Owen Sound Hub's coverage of drag story time at the library on Saturday. Go take a look. You will get a better understanding of the number of people out and their intent on that day.
There were approximately 60 protestors, most with signs.
There were about 80 local people that came out to show their support for the event.
They came out, not as counter-protesters, but as caring individuals that wanted to make sure that the families coming to the library were welcomed and supported. And they did a tremendous job of making our city shine.
They spread out and took up space and generated good will and positivity. They danced and waved flags. They knit and blew soap bubbles. Their efforts made the protesters insignificant in number and purpose. They were and are true community heroes. And I thank them for their bravery, kindness and love.
If you know anyone that helped make our day such a success, please thank them. They made a real difference.
The screen shot is an email that was sent anonymously to the library three weeks ago. I believe it came from the man who was one of the people fermenting / fomenting protest on Facebook.
The email came from [email protected]. (Protonmail is used because it promises end to end encryption and anonymity.) I believe it was sent by the local man because he posted nearly identical language on Facebook and in messages to the Mayor and to the library board chair.
The letter below is quite threatening and intimidating.
There were approximately 60 people [editor's update] at 9:00 a.m., an hour before the library opens, that came out to protest the story time. Most had signs. More than half were not local (they do not live in our library service area of Chatsworth, Georgian Bluffs, or Owen Sound, nor do they live in Meaford which we serve through an agreement with the Meaford Public Library).
We know they are not local because of actual incidents that occurred.
I witnessed one woman standing near the corner at the cenotaph and pointing to the library and asking if it was the library. Another person was asking where there was a Tim Horton's.
The 60-odd protesters seemed to be part of three groups. One group was initiated by the local man that I referenced above. He wrote heated comments on Facebook, and complained to the Mayor and the Board Chair. He never spoke to any library staff before or on the day of story time.
The second group was focussed around members and supporters of Take Back Catholic Education Bruce Grey.
This group is not allowed on the grounds of separate schools because their language and literature is hate speech. Many were not local to our service area.
The third group of protesters came at the encouragement of a Dundalk therapist who is one of the right wing champions critical of drag story time. She is financially invested in this cause. In her email, she promotes the purchase of her books. She is not in our service area.
Leading up to and including the day itself, the library received fewer than ten complaints by phone or email about hosting drag story time.
At least half of the complaints were from people that do not live in our service area. A few of the people calling were reasonable when sharing their concerns. I appreciated their candour and effort to share their views.
A few were outrageous, the worst being citizen journalist Jeremy, not local, who threatened me in a phone conversation that he was going to come to the library and perform by taking off his clothes and waving his junk around.
That's all I have to say about the protesters.
I also don't want to contribute to any ill-will being extended to local churches. Some of the kindest people that came out on Saturday were motivated by their spiritual and religious beliefs (including Catholic, United, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Jewish and Pagan) to show love and support for our event and its participants.
Again, the event was a tremendous success for the families that attended. I thank Pride and our Owen Sound Police for working with us to make the day as safe as possible for participants.
I thank all of the amazing community members that came out and helped make the day so successful.
I thank the library staff for their professionalism, skill and exemplary service.
More positively, here’s a report in the Owen Sound Hub from one of the people that attended the drag story time.
The event was funded in part through contributions from the Junior Optimists Club and Pride Grey Bruce. Both performers are top-calibre entertainers that regularly work with children.
The program is one of many programs offered by the library. In 2022, as we worked our way through the pandemic, we offered 226 programs for children and youth and 123 adult programs. Obviously not every program is for everyone.
S.R. Ranganathan, a famous librarian and educator, taught the five laws of library science:
- Books are for use.
- Every person his or her book.
- Every book its reader.
- Save the time of the reader.
- A library is a growing organism.
Programs, to me, are extensions of books. Every person has his or her program. Every program has its attendee. A good library has a variety of offerings so that each person can find value.
Librarian Jo Godwin suggests “a truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
Hopefully, if you are offended, you will find value in our other offerings.
As we say in the Frequently Asked Questions:
If this program does not interest you, we respect your choice not to attend and hope that you will find a program at the Library that does interest you. We offer a variety of programs, including a number of Story Time programs by storytellers not in Drag, and we welcome you to attend those. Ultimately, parents and guardians are responsible for supervising library use by their – and only their – children. The Library does not allow individuals to decide how the rest of the community uses the Library.
Oh ... someone said the performers should have police checks. And of course, they did.
It is standard practice for us to require that all adults working with children at the library have vulnerable sector police checks.
We know parents have a lot of trust in the library. We're professionals.We would do this on any topic. We combat disinformation. We do our best to provide valuable information and services to the public. This program was one that our community wanted.
I am extremely proud of the people that work at the library. They are a committed team that delivers exemplary and knowledgeable customer service to our library users.
I have taken the time to share a fair bit of information about library services and one program, our recent drag story time. because I felt that most recent news coverage did not adequately convey the reality of the day as we experienced it.
It is sad that a few misinformed people, that chose not to educate themselves, attempted to hijack a day of family programming at our library.
Thankfully, the wonderful people, library members and supporters, came together to ensure that the day was how we intended, affirming, supportive and kind.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
.............
– file photographs by Hub staff
