"Luanne James had already packed up her office. She put away the pictures of her family, the state certifications, the framed college degrees. She took her signed copy of Janet Evanovich's "One for the Money," and left the professional collection books to stay with the library.
Then, she headed to a meeting of the Rutherford County (Tenn.) Library System, where she was fired for her refusal to remove more than 100 books that discuss gender identity or contain violence from the children's shelves. The board, which governs libraries in conservative enclaves south of Nashville, had overruled her recommendations and ordered the books placed in the adult section last month.
The firing makes Ms. James, 57, a reluctant, if not resolute, figure in an ongoing battle over free speech and expression in public libraries and educational institutions, as conservatives seek to limit children's exposure to certain topics. Tennessee, a deeply conservative state, is among several states that have embraced the Trump administration's push to impose ideological limitations on reading material and what is taught to children.
"As a librarian, I knew that this was wrong and I had to say something," Ms. James said in one of her first interviews since she was fired."
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/us/tennessee-library-luanne-james-firing.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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