Christian County Library is having troubles due to an outside group.  2021 transplant from Oregon and one of the recently appointed Board of Trustees, Echo Schneider (fka Alexzander), is a featured “Team Member”of the “World Library Association”.  This new group’s apparent goal is to damage the oldest, largest, and most respected library association in the world, the American Library Association, seemingly as part of sowing distrust in American institutions for personal or political gain.  It’s hard to say what Echo's exact involvement in this is.  The county commissioners' vetting must have failed to catch it when they chose to specifically exclude expert input and they appointed her under their new independent process breaking with 66 years of tradition.  Now the system is broken.

Looking at the World Library Association’s website and info about its leaders, we see that this is an extremely right wing politicized organization, not a professional association for librarians with extensive training, standards and resources to offer, like the American Library Association has developed over its 148 years.

Here's some info and links about 10 of the 13 "Team Members" that the WLA chooses to feature on its website: 

Dan Kleinman - Founder and Executive Director

Founder of SafeLibraries, an old blog with a decades long vendetta against the ALA.  Coinciding with the rise of Moms for Liberty, Kleinman rebranded his mostly one man show and formed the “World Library Association” with essentially the same goals as he’s always had.

SafeLibrariesAboutMe                               Speaking Engagement

Reddit librarian is familiar with Kleinman

11/26/24 Kleinman gets sued for defamation by Amanda Jones

Shawn McBreairty 

Director of Special Projects at Maine First Project.
Maine First Project was founded by Larry Lockman                   This guy
Deep investigation of Maine First Project

A major award for McBrearity!

References to his X/Twitter account still exist but his Instagram is mostly wiped.

His Instagram reeked of extremism and implied antisemitism and more.  It used to have a self description of “”America’s Most Dangerous Dad,” Patriot, Lion, Ultra-MAGA, Pureblood, Advocate for Educational Freedom & more toxic masculinity. #LetsGoBrandon”.

He’s also famous for baiting and suing multiple school districts in Maine.  

McBrearity died by self inflicted gunshot in June 2024.    Response was mixed.

Maine Journalist’s Twitter announcement

”The problem with giving into terrorists, though, is that they don’t stop.”

More coverage

Kevin DuJan
Wrote a book

The ALA reviewed it           Other Content from 2010

Vicki Baggett

Works with M4L           Very Troubling Student Allegations

Bruce Friedman

Extreme behavior 

Daily Show interview and coverage of this wackiness 12/6/24

And more

Chuck Butler, Sage Bear and Echo        Marta Mossburg         Aimee Nobile

This outside group with a political orientation is what has attempted to inject itself into the Christian County Library. They have created division locally while trying to destroy standards and practices nationally.  This interferes with CCL’s ability to fulfill its mission, which reads,  “Building community for all through access, innovation, and engagement.”.

U-Turn in Education

 U-Turn in Education is pleased to announce a partnership with the Christian County Library; Dr. Scott Denham, Professor of German Studies at Davidson College; and Dr. Barbara Mann, Professor of Modern Hebrew Language and Literature at Case Western Reserve University.  

Beginning in October a virtual and in-person hybrid course on Maus, by Art Spiegelman will be offered for FREE on Tuesday evenings.

Maus is a brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.  It is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

U-Turn in Education is pleased to have helped coordinate the creation of this educational opportunity for us all.  Because of the events surrounding what was then an upcoming challenge to The Complete Maus in the Nixa High School library, Drs. Denham and Mann reached out to U-Turn in Education to make a surprising offer.  They had designed and would graciously provide for free, a class tailored to the ages and grades most affected by the attempted censorship of this book.  When McMinn County in TN banned Maus from its 8th grade curriculum in January 2022, a version of this course was offered for that community. Both of those actions received considerable national attention. Since we are fortunate to have retained Maus in our high school library, this has become a celebratory event for us here locally, but we are acutely aware of continued challenges to the Jewish community, and that attempts at the censorship of this book can represent some of those challenges. 

Come join us in celebration, but also plan on an enjoyable learning experience about a groundbreaking, genre defining, Pulitzer prize winning book. This course has something to offer for much of our local community and beyond - students, teachers, parents, professors, college students, book clubs... all can benefit.

We understand that an outside local group has donated funds to make available 30 boxed sets of Maus 1 and Maus 2 (the equivalent of The Complete Maus ) to course participants that want them.  The level of community support for this program is phenomenal.  Keep your October Tuesday nights free and come join us.

see p.5 of Christian County Library's September-October 2023 catalog

or their Calendar of Events

Invite a Friend!