“The citizens of our parish consist of taxpayers who are white, Black, brown, gay, straight, Christian, non-Christian — people from all backgrounds and walks of life, and no one portion of the community should dictate what the rest of the citizens have access to,” she said. “Just because you don’t want to read it or see it, it doesn’t give you the right to deny others or demand its relocation.”

How that resulted in her being called a “pedo” and a “groomer,” she’ll never understand, but she’s not backing down. She’s filed a defamation suit against her most vocal critics, and she’s written a book about her experience called “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America” (Bloomsbury, $39.99). She’s currently on a national book tour that stops at the Decatur Book Festival, Oct. 5.

Speaking from her school earlier this month, Jones shared her thoughts about book bans, cyberbullying and coping with the fallout.

Credit: Kathryn & Traveis Photography

Credit: Kathryn & Traveis Photography

On how banning library books affects a community:

“What you generally see is that books that are being challenged are by authors or have characters from marginalized communities so … it sends a huge message to those members of our communities that they don’t belong, that they’re not welcome. And when books are challenged and banned, we’re leaving out whole sections of society’s stories when you don’t have them in the library. And it spreads like wildfire. People like me who speak out are attacked. Librarians are scared to order books because they don’t want to be challenged, so we’re going to see less diverse collections.

“And books are often sequestered so even when books are not removed, you’ll see them relocated to so-called parents’ sections. So, you go to the parents’ section and see all the LGBTQ books and they have nothing to do about parenting. So, again, it ‘others’ those members of our community.”

On Georgia’s new law that gives principals final say on challenged books:

“It is absolutely every parent’s right to file a challenge. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to get their way. I do think it’s every parent’s right to challenge a book if they’re concerned and then get feedback from the trained librarian … A principal doesn’t understand how collection development works … We need to start trusting our librarians a little more. We’re professionals. We are trained and certified and have degrees to be able to make these determinations. We take entire classes on how to make these determinations.”

On the role social media has played in the attacks on her:

“It absolutely would have been a nonissue without social media, because I haven’t had the first complaint at my school. I have 24 years of near perfect observations. I’ve actually won awards for my teaching and being a librarian. But if you look online, you would think I’m the devil and I’m doing these horrible things, and it’s just lies that are spread through social media. It’s easy to say, well, just turn it off and don’t read it. But my entire town was reading it. They’re still posting about me. So, it started on social media and it was spread by social media, but it’s affected my actual real life. I’ve figured out how to block and set up social media so I’m not bothered anymore, but they will go on my friends’ pages and my family members’ pages and write the most horrible things. And none of it is true.”

On how her life has been affected by the public backlash:

“I was on medical leave because of all the panic attacks and all the hate I was receiving. … I ended up being in and out of hospital for two months with severe anemia and other issues. I’m a hermit basically because people stare at me and are ugly and rude to me. … I still get my groceries delivered. I don’t go out in public in my community. I conceal carry when I go to library board meetings because since this all began, I go to every single one of them because they want me not to go, they want me to be silent, and I’m not going to do that.”

On her employer’s response to the attacks:

“My administration has been quietly supportive of me. Do I wish they’d get online and say it’s not true and my worker is fabulous, yeah, I wish that. But they’re not going to do that. Neither is my school system. It just is what it is. I spent a lot of time being upset about it, but what’s it going to do?

“I will say about my school board, I talk about a woman named Katie in my book. She is my former school board representative. I wish now I had named her. Her real name is Kellee Dickerson, and Kellee Dickerson is now my state representative. She filled HB777, which was a bill in the Legislature last year that said librarians who attended American Library Association conferences (using public funds) would have to serve two years hard labor in prison. That is my former friend and former school board member who in 2021 stood up in front of the school board and said I was one of the best things that ever happened in our community, and then you fast forward and she is filing a bill to put me in prison for attending an American Library Association meeting. We successfully defeated it, but that’s what I’m dealing with.”

On the status of her defamation suit:

“We should know in six to eight weeks if the Louisiana Supreme Court is willing to hear my case. At this point the online harassment has gotten even worse, so my attorney and I are looking at a federal lawsuit of harassment and defamation. We’re looking into it. I haven’t decided. It takes a toll, and it’s not cheap.”

On her political transition from conservative to progressive:

“While I was sitting around with nothing to do in the hospital and at home, I did a lot of internal reflection on things and searching and reading articles and reading research papers and news articles about these issues. But back in 2018 I had started realizing that libraries needed to start providing diverse collections and examining our own library collection.

“Someone said in a (Louisiana newspaper) article, ‘Amanda Jones joined radical leftists to burn common sense and morals on the altar of wokeism.’ I had to laugh at that because it’s so ridiculous, but like, I started thinking about the word ‘woke’ because it’s used as some type of slur, but I did actually kind of wake up to the world around me.”

On what people can do to prevent library book bans:

“People need to be aware of what’s happening in their communities. That’s the biggest thing. These anti-library campaigns will sneak up on a community, and if you’re not paying attention and you’re not looking at school board meeting agendas, it can happen before you realize it. Luckily, we were paying attention and we caught it. We have not had a book banned in my parish yet.

“It’s also important to use your library. Use it often. Get a library card. Check out the materials. Go to the programming. Show the community how important the library is for the community by actually using it.”

On why she remains in her community:

“This is my town. I was born and raised here. I’ve lived here longer than the people harassing me. I have spent over half my life at my school. I’m 46. I’ve worked here 24 years. I attended this school for three years. This is my home. And I think about this, too: This happens to a lot of school librarians. If we all left, first of all, there’s not a lot of places to go because it’s happening everywhere. But also who’s going to be there for the kids who need us if we all leave?”

Amanda Jones appears at the Decatur Book Festival at 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, on City of Decatur Stage 1, Marriott Courtyard Hotel, Decatur B Ballroom.

FESTIVAL PREVIEW

Decatur Book Festival. Oct. 4-5. Free. Various venues in downtown Decatur. decaturbookfestival.com