The war on libraries is raging. There is no doubt about it. A growing network of increasingly conservative school board candidates running on book-banning platforms is attempting to overtake public school librarians’ judgment calls.

Public libraries, run by their respective jurisdictions — whether that be a city, county or state — should be protected more than public schools from the infiltration of outside interest groups and their politics. Except they are not, and librarians in the Montgomery County Memorial Library System are getting a front-row seat to this power play.

Attacks against these librarians and administrative employees started to multiply over a year ago when a new Facebook group called Two Moms and Some Books was born.

“I think the lowest point, at least for me, is when they started calling us groomers,” said a current librarian who we will call Avery. “That’s not really a word you throw around to people, even people you don’t like.”

These librarians are second-guessing their career choice, considering potential transitions to other industries, quitting or retiring early after decades-long careers. Former staff members said they left as they felt the start of a cultural shift later further emboldened by Two Moms and Some Books.

Michele Nuckolls and Shayla Parker, two homeschool moms, are behind the conservative group. It boasts the catchphrase “Make Libraries Great Again,” which is reminiscent of former president Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

The group works to restrict access to children’s and young adult books that it deems inappropriate. It also advocates for more books featuring conservative Christian content to be added to public libraries’ shelves.

They've taken their battle online, calling those who work for the library system out on social media and accusing librarians of exposing kids to explicit content by way of titles made available to them.

In one Instagram post about books that feature what the group refers to as radical gender ideology, they targeted Andrea Yang, the library system's collection development coordinator when writing, "Andrea Yang...appears to be a radical activist librarian working against our ELECTED officials."

Current and former librarians alike say this group laid the groundwork for the Montgomery County Commissioner Court’s recent decision to remove librarians from reviewing children’s, young adult and parenting texts.

The Houston Press reached out to Two Moms and Some Books but has not received a response after repeated attempts.

The new policy, initially authored by Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, calls for each commissioner to appoint one member to a citizen’s review committee. A similar committee to review books existed before the new policy, but it included librarians and members of the librarian administration.

The previously existing committee will remain with library staff on it but will oversee review requests for titles from the adult collection only. The new citizen’s committee reviews children's, young adult and parenting titles and determines whether they should remain available in these sections or be removed from circulation.

During the decision making process, children's and young adult books are restricted to a section where they can be checked out by those under 18 only if a parent or guardian accompanies them.

“These committees give people like them [Two Moms and Some Books] that believe in the same things they do to move books as they see fit,” said Wren, a former librarian who also requested anonymity. “To have a committee of citizens, who are most likely close-minded, trying to decide what is right for everyone does not seem fair.”

“Librarians provide insight through professional reviews or indicating what audiences a book is for,” Wren added. “Rather than just citizens saying, ‘Oh, this isn’t good for children.“ I don’t agree with this, which is what it’s going to be now.”

Many of the library system’s staff and community members who oppose the new policy are concerned about the rate at which the committee will move books and what content will be featured within these restricted titles.

Notably, most are worried about children’s and young adult books that feature LGBTQ+ topics. Only to be replaced with what they assume to be more titles that display heteronormative characters or storylines rooted in conservative, Christian ideals.

“This experience should be the same for every person who walks through that door," Wren said. “They have a mission statement of providing access and information to all, and they're not even able to honor their mission statement now.”

Another former librarian who we'll call Casey doubled down on these concerns, saying these actions would send a clear message to the county’s LGBTQ community — one already received by some of the current and former employees.

Casey quit after nearly a decade of working for the library system after receiving two disciplinary notices and having her role as adult services coordinator switch to branch manager amid a reorganization. This job shift would require her to report directly one of her former managers.

Casey described working with one of her former managers, who moved on to become one of the assistant directors of the library system, as very toxic. Before Casey's first job under the administrator, Casey said she was told the administrator had revealed Casey's sexuality to another colleague.

The colleague told Casey that after agreeing to share a bed at an out-of-town librarian conference with Casey to reduce costs, the administrator questioned the colleague, asking if they knew Casey was gay.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me why that needed to be said,” Casey said. "I didn’t do anything about it. I was new, and she was already a manager somewhere. It just made me a little uncomfortable.”

The Houston Press made numerous attempts to contact a library system personnel for comment on Casey's claims but did not receive a response.

Issues Casey was handling that led to her leaving heightened in 2022. Casey says a librarian in charge of marketing told her that one of the higher-ups removed a social media post featuring LGBTQ+ young adult books.

According to Casey, the higher-up's logic was that Montgomery County was “not like Houston” and could not post such content. Casey spoke with the higher-up, who later decided to put the post back up.

Roughly a month later, Casey uploaded a post that included LGBTQ children’s books. It was subsequently taken down, as the higher-up claimed she had instructed the marketing librarian to tell Casey not to post LGBTQ+ children's content. However, according to Casey, the marketing librarian failed to do so.

A day later, the higher-up asked the marketing librarian to upload a post featuring A Church For All by Gayle E. Pitman, a children’s book about a church that welcomes all congregants regardless of age, race, or sexual orientation.

This confused Casey who didn't understand why the marketing librarian could post something like this while she, the only gay employee on the social media committee, was barred from doing this.

Casey received a second-level disciplinary write-up. This action usually involves a period of probation and the inability to contest the infraction. The document said the Facebook page was not for furthering “personal agendas.”
Following this, Casey questioned why Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier, a title known to spread misinformation about being transgender, was purchased for branches’ shelves.

Casey requested to see the positive reviews required to select books for purchase. Shortly after, Casey was called into another higher-up's office for “verbal counseling” or a documented verbal warning.

“It hurt a lot. It really hurt. I had already had that first one with the other assistant director before she left, and I was ready to move on from that, and then this happened,” Casey said. “I didn’t feel safe, and I really did wonder if part of it was because I was gay. The whole thing felt discriminatory, all the different things.”

“There’s a huge community of people in Montgomery County that are LGBTQ, and I know they don’t want it to be this way,” Casey added. “What they’re doing now is trying to take away the choice from other families by limiting the access to other kids. There’s a lot of fear about where this will all lead.”
Two Moms and Some Books efforts launched when the group tried booking library meeting rooms for story times that featured titles by actor turned Christian evangelist Kirk Cameron, author of conservative children’s books published by Brave Books.

The group then opted to fill out batches of book reconsideration forms en masse and built a more vocal presence at the commissioner’s court meetings.

“They’re a very small group that’s not representative of the whole county,” Avery said. “So, as librarians, we were frustrated that they seemed to have the strongest opinion and the loudest voice at all these meetings.

According to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Montgomery County has roughly 711,000 residents. Two Moms and Some Book’s Facebook page shares 421 followers, which is about 0.06 percent of the county’s total population.

The group supported the commissioners' decision to approve the new policy, which passed on a three-to-one vote. Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley cast the sole no vote, and Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack was not present.

Residents who have spoken out against the new policy take issue with the lack of resident requirements when sending requests for book reviews. During the commissioner’s court meeting in March, questions about needing a library card to file a reconsideration form were incorrectly answered.

Those in attendance were told that anyone who wanted to request a title review would need to be a patron of the library system, but according to the new policy, this is not the case. They argue that this opens up the floodgates for potential requests from individuals outside the county, state and country.

Community members – and librarians too — are also concerned about who will be appointed to these committee positions and what connections they could have to the commissioners selecting them or interest groups active in book-restricting efforts.

There are no educational requirements or other standards that these citizens have to meet to serve on the committee.

In an email to the Houston Press, Jason Millsaps, Keough’s chief of staff, wrote that each commissioner is entitled to an appointment on this committee. It is up to the individual commissioner or county judge to vet and determine the criteria for their appointments.

He added that no law or policy dictates any prescribed rules or process for making an appointment.

Millsaps wrote that the citizen’s review committee was not new. It’s a new policy surrounding an existing committee, despite there now being two separate groups — one without librarians and one with librarians — handling reconsideration requests of separate collections.

Dorothy Woodall, Dr. Tami Greggerson, and Suzanne Soto serve on the previously existing committee. They were appointed by Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker, Noack and Precinct 4 Commissioner Matthew Gray, respectively.

However, all of these individuals’ positions are term-limited. Woodall and Soto’s time is up in December. Greggerson has one more year to go, with her appointment expiring next year in December.

Richard Nance previously sat on the committee as Riley’s appointment, but under a one-year term that ended last year. The Press reached out to a spokesman with Precinct 2 for the name of Nance’s replacement but did not receive a response.

According to Avery, some of their fellow librarians — following in Casey’s footsteps — are considering pulling the plug on their time working for the library system. Most are concerned that this change, and more likely to follow, will allow those encouraged by groups like Two Moms and Some Books to restrict access to any title as they see fit.

“You wouldn’t go to some random person if you had a dental problem, and you wouldn’t go to them for help with your taxes,” Avery said. “We are educated. We have the years and the professional resources to do our jobs. It is really insulting that just this very loud group of people have taken that away from us.”

“I think we’re all just accepting it. We are all just praying that we get to keep our jobs and do all we can to help the community,” Avery added. “But we’re not hopeful that things will go back to how they were.”