Librarians across Alaska are being trained in how to recruit and train children to become political agents who can promote books that contain sexually explicit material and themes that push LGBTQ, critical race theory, climate alarmism and DEI agendas.

Last month, the Alaska Library Association (AkLA), which receives grants from the Alaska Education Department, held its annual conference, where librarians learned how to harness their positions to further controversial social and political strategies.

A pre-conference session featured a presentation for attendees by LGBTQ activist Emma Eriksson that was entitled, “Turning Your Teens into Library Leaders.”

Eriksson shared tactics from her “teen advocacy toolkit,” which attempts to characterize parental and community concerns over sexually explicit books as part of a broad conspiracy to ban books and limit intellectual freedoms.

Conference attendees were urged to read Eriksson’s article, in which she offers tips on how librarians can effectively promote so-called “LGBTQ+ rights” along with “climate change, racial equality, and immigrant justice.”

Teens are portrayed as potential resistance fighters in the broader cultural wars.

According to Eriksson, it is critical that librarians set up LGBTQ displays, order and promote ideologically-driven books and actively push back against efforts to curtail these activities.

While her teen toolkit is careful to avoid explicit mention of LGBTQ issues, her article focuses on how librarians can use her toolkit to train children to promote this agenda under the guise of defending “intellectual freedom.”

The toolkit aims to prepare teens to engage in public advocacy, speak out against policies that “directly harm them,” and resist censorship – which the article links to protecting LGBTQ+ rights and related social causes.

Teens are portrayed as potential resistance fighters in the broader cultural wars.

The March 26-28 AkLA conference in Sitka was titled “Mapping the Future: Libraries in Changing Times,” and the stated goal was to empower library professionals to address emerging “technological advancements, shifting societal needs, evolving user expectations, and economic and political pressures.”

Various workshops gave attendees opportunities to collaborate, share best practices and build effective networks.

Sam Helmick, who serves as the President of the powerful American Library Association, was an invited keynote speaker for the Alaska conference. She uses “they/them” pronouns and describes herself as “nonbinary, aromantic, asexual.”

She travels the country, urging librarians to double down on pushing controversial children’s books, and as head of the largest library association in America, holds considerable sway over the network of local libraries that are part of her national organization.

The other conference keynote speaker was author Tessa Hulls. According to the AkLA website, she focuses on feminist history, racial justice, generational trauma and immigration.

While the Alaska Library Association is a private nonprofit professional organization, it collaborates with state and federal agencies and receives considerable financial assistance from the State of Alaska.

Her lectures, essays and books also prominently feature LGBTQ and transgender themes, and challenge traditional understandings of human sexuality and gender identity.

One of the many presentations offered during the conference focused on reimagining libraries as “spaces for impact, inclusion, and innovation.”

This talk explored how to reorient local libraries to help foster “equity and inclusion” amid mounting challenges.

One of the sponsors for the Alaska conference was a group called Authors Against Book Bans, a coalition of writers, illustrators, editors and book creators who band together to fight efforts to remove controversial BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories that target children.

“As authors and as members of our local and national communities, we pledge to protect the rights of all young people to access the books they need and deserve,” the group affirms.

While the Alaska Library Association is a private nonprofit professional organization, it collaborates with state and federal agencies and receives considerable financial assistance from the State of Alaska. Last year, the Alaska Department of Education awarded the group an $88,000 grant to carry out its mission.

It also enjoys formal advisory ties to the executive branch through the Governor’s Advisory Council on Libraries: This 12-member body advises the state on federal funding priorities, and the Alaska Library Association is empowered to directly nominate five members of this influential council.

Additionally, the state provides funding for librarians to attend AkLA conferences and government agencies partner with them to offer specific educational programs.

According to the association’s website, its mission is, “Bringing the Alaska library community together through learning, advocacy, and collaborative action.”

The group’s stated values include working for the “advancement and protection of libraries through the political and advocacy process.”

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to contact Alaska Education Commissioner Deena Bishop.

— Click here to contact Gov. Mike Dunleavy

Click here to support Alaska Watchman reporting.