FIRST ON FOX: Actor and writer Kirk Cameron — who's been sharing his faith-filled and pro-family messages at public libraries across the nation since early this year — recently announced a "See You at the Library" book event for Aug. 5, 2023, together with Brave Books, publisher of his children's books.
The goal of the Aug. 5 event, the writer and publisher said, is to encourage faith-focused and family-focused Americans around the country to come out to their local libraries — and hold book readings or story time events for friends, families and neighbors.
Now, though, Cameron and Brave Books are reporting some strong headwinds.
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"We have obtained reports of the government-funded American Library Association circulating guidance to sabotage conservative (and Christian) parent groups from gathering in libraries on Aug. 5, 2023," Cameron and Brave Books told Fox News Digital in exclusive comments.
They said they created the Aug. 5 event to "give conservative Christian parents an opportunity to assemble at publicly funded libraries around the country," partly to counteract the many "drag queen" story hours that have been held in libraries from coast to coast.
As they also shared with Fox News Digital about their earlier public library book events, "We experienced some small-scale suppression from private news outlets and local public libraries — but we weren’t expecting the highest tier of library leadership to openly attempt to halt our efforts."
Cameron told Fox News Digital in an exclusive comment that he was "shocked" to "see (on video) ALA staff, funded by its $250 million budget, use those hard-earned taxpayer dollars to train librarians to discriminate against God-loving families and secretly sabotage a return to wholesome, patriotic community gatherings like ‘See You At The Library’ on August 5."
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He added, "Historically, the local library was created to be a safe place for all people (of all race, economic status, religious affiliation, political persuasion, and sex) to read about all topics — including God’s good design for the family, nations and the world."
Cameron and Brave Books referred to a recent speech they watched on video — reportedly delivered on June 8 — by American Library Association leadership at a "worldwide virtual conference" for libraries.
Brave Books said part of the presentation involved telling attendees "how to prevent Brave Books story hours from happening at libraries across the country." The video that Cameron and Brave Books reference is still available on YouTube.
Fox News Digital reached out to the American Library Association for comment about the event and its messaging, but as of publication time did not receive a response on those issues.
The association this week is holding its annual conference, a spokesperson said via email. The conference is being held in Chicago.
The American Library Association's mission, as its website notes, is "to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all."
Headquartered in Chicago, the nonprofit organization "promotes libraries and library education internationally" and is "the oldest and largest library association in the world."
It has nearly 50,000 members, according to its website.
On its website, the ALA notes that it "carefully" uses funds it receives "to advance our mission via the strategic directions of advocacy, literacy, diversity and equity of access, information policy and intellectual freedom, and professional and leadership development — supporting and serving our members, libraries, and the profession."
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Individual public libraries in the U.S. are funded mostly via local governments, which financially support an overwhelming majority of them, as Fox News Digital reported earlier.
Only a small fraction of public library funding comes from donations, grants and federal funding.
The proportions of library funding depend "on where the library is located," according to LanguageHumanities.org.
"In general," it says, "the municipality provides the greatest percentage of funding for public libraries — often at least half, if not more. These funds are gathered from local taxes, library fines, parking tickets and other tools used to generate revenue for a city or town."
The local funding that libraries receive represents a very small portion of city and local legislature budgets. (New York City, for example, spends less than 1% of its budget on library funding.)
In regard to the August 5 event, Brave Books tweeted out a long thread about what the publisher, for its part, believes is "sabotage" against it.
Brave Books told Fox News Digital that over the past year of public library book events, "thousands of families … were grateful for the much-needed biblical and patriotic message that Kirk and Brave Books delivered."
It said its "phase two" efforts to share God-filled messages with families across America will take place on its "first annual ‘See You at the Library Day’" on August 5.
Said the publisher, "People across the country will be hosting their own story hour at libraries in their communities to help celebrate a return to American, constitutional and biblical values in public libraries for the blessing of our children. They can read a Brave Book, a book of the Bible — or any book of virtue they would like!"
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Yet the ALA spokesperson, noted Cameron and Brave Books, said, "Let's look at how you can use [the] public forum doctrine to construct policies and procedures that will help you keep control of the library yourself."
The ALA spokesperson said in part, according to both a video and a transcript of the speech, "Libraries are for receipt of information. That means that the First Amendment does not require the library to even offer meeting room spaces. So in regard to the Kirk Cameron thing, you are not obligated to offer public meeting room spaces or invite the public in to use the library."
The individual also said, in part, "You need to develop policies that leave you in control of the library."
She went on, "Here are some of the options that allow you to keep control of your library and its meeting rooms for the use of your community … You can limit access to meeting rooms to persons eligible to hold a library card in your community. You can make a priority for library-sponsored programs."
Or, "what if your library decided to offer a whole host of programs in its meeting room on August 5th, making it unavailable for the public?" the ALA executive went on. "That's another option for you."
Said Brave Books, "We have received an influx of messages from potential story hour hosts seeking advice on how to overcome barriers to reserving space at their libraries."
It added, "The most common barrier is that August 5th is completely blocked off for ‘library events.’"
The company's CEO, Trent Talbot, told Fox News Digital, "There are parents and grandparents all across the country signed up to host a story hour at their libraries."
He added, "I am thankful Brave Books gets to be on the front lines in the battle for the hearts and minds of our kids."
Brave Books shared several email requests from individuals trying to reserve rooms at local libraries for August 5th — only to be told, "August 5th is not available. Our summer reading finale is being held on that day."
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Another person was told by a library branch manager, "I don't know what other branch locations have planned."
However, "we," the library spokesperson continued, "are hosting a Family Game Day event that day," according to emails shown to Fox News Digital.
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