Library book complaint whistleblowing

www.bl.uk/events/family-day-young-rebels

Drag Queen Story Time at 12.00, 13.00 and 15.00

Any proof of drag queens at the British Library? There are no results on google for it, and since you have to be 18+ to access most of the building, they'd be very unlikely to be reading to toddlers.

Also, they're a research library. They don't lead the public library sector.

So, in short, you just made your whole post up.

Gotta say, I am a very trans supportive person but I don't see the need to raise gender identity with kids under at least about 9 or 10. I honestly think it does more net harm than good - it won't help many genuinely trans people to understand their identity, but it will be misunderstood and cause consternation and distress to children who are not old enough to understand that gender identity is, in almost all cases, a fixed thing. They may internalise it as having to change sex if they want to have a non-gender-stereotypical job, that they can have babies if they change from boy to girl and so forth, because they are too young to understand it and any way that you can try to explain it to young kids ends up re-entrenching stereotypes.

Exactly

CILIP and local councils/authorities have far more sway than the BL as far as public libraries go.

the whole sector is lead from the BL

It's not

Seriously, at least get your facts right!

The British Library is the national library of the UK. It's a major research library. It has zero role in the administration of other libraries.

I'm not arguing about the madness of having drag queens do story time ... this does seem to be a thing in the UK ... but it has nothing to do with the BL!

The British Library is woke as fuck. They are fully on board with drag queens in lycra with their knobs visible reading to toddlers and young kids. There's no point complaining about it to a library, the whole sector is lead from the BL and will follow their lead. A complaint will be dismissed as pearl clutching as best, TERF-y bigotry at worst, and some well meaning but misled librarian (again, best case scenario) will probably end up reshelving it more prominently as a result. Or doing a drag queen story time to counter "local prejudice".

Just swipe it and chuck it in the bin.

I’d take it home and bin it. Imagine the impact that could have on a vulnerable child.
I knew a woman who used to buy and bin any copies of Gina Ford (leave babies to cry, don’t respond to their needs etc) that she came across in charity shops.

is vastly different from what is aimed at under 5s.

The actual book is aimed at 3 & up.

Yes, it's a pile of shite

But the Library is not necessarily wrong to have included it in this section.

• content - not context

What libraries? 🤔

I've a lot of experience in the sector. Items are held in closed stacks eg reference material, unique items & rare collections.

I've never come across books held in a restricted area based on context. Never.

I agree about asking for the book to be relocated. It's the British Library that stocks copies of all books - public libraries select books and should have clear stock selection policies. These should include a duty of care re children's stock. What may be appropriate in a young people's section is vastly different from what is aimed at under 5s.
This book sounds more like pseudo non fiction than a normal picture book so would be better suited to a parent's collection.

As for anonymity - no information about you should be shared with anyone outside the the people you complain to. Don't raise it with staff on the counter they are not the people who select or manage the stock.

If you make a complaint its they would have no grounds to report it to your employer. Make it in your name without mentioning your job (e.g. as opposed to letter headed paper from where you work which I presume you aren't planning ). I can't see how there would be any justification to share any information about you (even if they think you are a bigot).

I'm pretty sure libraries do have agendas. Our library has various "isn't being a trans teenager great" books in prominent front facing positions.

The recipient would see it initially, then it would probably be passed on to the team (usually 2 or 3 people) that deal with issues such as complaints, acquisition requests etc on a county level. You would then receive a response.
It is very rare that it goes further than that in my experience.
I cannot see why there would be any risk in this tbh.

It´s not up to you to police what books are and aren´t available for others to take out of the library.
You may not agree with it, but that doesn´t give you the right to take the choice away from others who may want to borrow it.
There are plenty of books that make my blood boil, but I choose not to read them.
Respectfully, leave others to make their own decisions.

Unless you work for the library service (which you clearly don't) then I don't understand why you think it's such a risk to raise a complaint.

I agree with you that the book is full of crap. There are plenty of other crap kids books out there though and I don't think this book is a safeguarding concern to have it on the shelves.

The local authority that the library falls under will have a whistleblowing reporting process, you can report anonymously online. I’d suggest asking for it to be re shelved not removed. You need some proportionality to the action that you would want to see otherwise they’ll write it off as an extreme opinion, rather than a concern that has merit.

Here’s where it’s available in the SE.
interesting that some libraries keep it on the parent shelf rather than on the child shelf - that seems like a potential suggestion you could make without ‘outing’ yourself (although personally I think it’s a load of pish and should be withdrawn). FYI It’s referenced in Abigail Shrier’s book too.

another observation- it’s written by a Californian teacher and ‘mama’ but no pictures of this person exist on line. They have a very unusual name but only exist (online) in relation to this book. Curious.

The problem with doing it anonymously is that you won't receive a response to your complaint so you'll never get to read and respond to any reasoning put forward. So it wouldn't really work.
If you do want to make a complaint or raise an issue I'd advise you to write formally to the head of the library service in your area (their name should be online on your council website) making a clear argument and requesting a written response. I would then advise handing it to your local library manager and asking for a receipt to ensure that it is not overlooked and that you can prove you made such an enquiry.
Rightly or wrongly you clearly feel very strongly about this so I would advise you to do the above and see what the response is.

But again, not really interested in safeguarding advice from those who aren't familiar with the process.

In your opinion! And isn't that the issue here? You want your opinion to rule, and have no respect for anyone else's opinion. Safeguarding is not a fixed process, it is dynamic. It is as much about the discussion and where that leads. No child is at risk because of a book that a toddler can't even read - and which requires a parental judgement as to its appropriateness for the child. And for your information I don't know about anyone else here, but I know exactly what safeguarding processes are. You don't get to dictate that only your interpretation of them are right.

Many libraries have books that are available to borrow if you want them but not kept on the shelves, for one reason or another. Its a good solution imo.