Your Library Isn’t Neutral Anymore
The Heidi St. John Podcast
Heidi St. John
4.8 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For a long time, we trusted our public libraries to be safe, neutral places for families and kids. But that’s just not true anymore. In this episode, I talk honestly about how taxpayer-funded libraries have shifted from simply offering books to actively promoting ideology—and why so many parents feel dismissed or even silenced when they raise concerns. I’ll share how we got here, why the American Library Association matters, and what everyday moms and dads can actually do about it—from showing up locally to building better alternatives that protect kids and respect families.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Heidi St. John podcast. I hope you guys are doing good today. |
| 0:04.9 | I am going to talk about something today that I haven't talked about in a little while, |
| 0:09.2 | and partly because the conversation is coming up around firmly planted family and some |
| 0:14.5 | things that are happening locally. But I want to talk to you guys today about the library. |
| 0:18.5 | I'm talking about your public library. And I want you to know |
| 0:22.6 | something if you don't know it already. Your publicly funded taxpayer funded library is not neutral. |
| 0:29.1 | It's not neutral anymore. Our public libraries are not neutral spaces. They're not neutral in mission. |
| 0:35.4 | They're not neutral on policy and they're not neutral on practice. |
| 0:39.3 | And if you're thinking that I'm exaggerating, |
| 0:41.2 | I'm going to start with one simple reality. |
| 0:43.4 | The public libraries are funded by taxpayers. |
| 0:46.8 | That means that we fund the staff. |
| 0:49.1 | We fund the building, the programming, |
| 0:51.0 | the marketing, the displays, |
| 0:52.6 | and even the book purchases. |
| 0:54.4 | What was the last time, when was the last time that you went to the library and you thought, |
| 0:59.3 | I'm in a neutral space? |
| 1:01.3 | My hunch is that you never think that anymore because it simply isn't the case. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm going to talk about today. |
| 1:06.5 | And we're going to discuss some ways that maybe we can push back or maybe even start alternatives |
| 1:11.8 | to the public libraries in similar way that the NPR has been unfunded. I'm going to suggest that |
| 1:17.5 | we start to unfund our public libraries until they again become neutral places where everyone |
... |
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