A local church is urging its members to permanently remove books from the Shelby County Public Library by checking them out and never returning them. The books portray gay characters and historical figures or explore LGBTQ+ themes.
Pamela Wilson Federspiel, who has been director of the library in downtown Shelbyville for 34 years, says the action is tantamount to “stealing.”
But three leaders of the Reformation Church of Shelbyville defend what they call an “act of civil disobedience.”
Charge them for the full replacement value of the book, and then replace the book with 3 copies.
I didn’t really read this, but it might not be that simple.
Most libraries will actually let you check out books “indefinitely,” as long as you come back and renew every once in awhile.
If this church is splitting up checking out these books among different members, then it would be very difficult for a library to properly detect and enforce restrictions on them.
Even if the library could identify these people and put methods in place to stop them from what they’re doing, it would still be a hassle and the church could be happy with just inconveniencing the ‘liberal’ library.
Don’t forget the late fees. So late fees + full replacement value, to easily fund the 3 copies.