Llano County, TX: Former librarian sues Texas county, alleges she was fired for refusing to remove books

Source: ABC News

Former librarian sues Texas county, alleges she was fired for refusing to remove books

The librarian says the books often were about race and LGBTQ topics.

ByKiara Alfonseca
March 6, 2024, 6:19 AM

A former librarian has filed a lawsuit against Llano County, Texas, and local library officials after she says she was fired for refusing to purge certain books from the library's collection.

"A public library is a foundation of any good society," Suzette Baker, who had been appointed head librarian of Kingland Library in 2021, said in an interview with ABC News. "It's like the cornerstone for our society and if that cornerstone were to fall, we would collapse. We would have no basis to form our own independent thoughts."

She is accusing county officials of violating her First and 14th Amendment rights as well as those of the library's patrons.

Baker alleges in her lawsuit that she was fired for "insubordination,” “creating a disturbance,” “violation of policies,” “failure to follow instructions," and “allowing personal opinions to interfere with job duties and procedures" after refusing to remove the books.

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Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/former-librarian-sues-texas-county-alleges-fired-refusing/story?id=107812787

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Source: USA Today

Librarian sues Texas county after being fired for refusing to remove banned books

Bayliss Wagner and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY NETWORK
Mon, March 4, 2024 at 8:48 PM EST·7 min read

AUSTIN, Texas — A librarian is suing a Texas county for firing her after she refused to remove books with content related to race and LGBTQ+ experiences, according to a complaint obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Plaintiff Suzette Baker, a Texas native, was the head librarian at the Kingsland Public Library in Llano County, about 65 miles northwest of Austin. She is suing the county, the county Commissioners Court, County Judge Ron Cunningham and several community activists who were appointed to the Library Advisory Board during a push for book removals.

Baker is arguing that terminating her employment constitutes discrimination against minority groups through book bans, suppressing her First Amendment rights as well as those of other residents. The complaint seeks back pay, attorney's fees and an injunction ordering the county to cease behavior that discriminates against minorities and suppresses residents' First Amendment rights.

A veteran and mother of five adult children, Baker had more than a decade of experience as a librarian before joining the library and loved her job, which she considered her life’s calling. Baker, 57, now works as a cashier at a hardware store in town, she said, "trying to make ends meet."

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/librarian-sues-texas-county-being-014820453.html