Much has changed in the 50 years Diane Kresh has worked in libraries, but her commitment to making books accessible is steadfast.
The director of Arlington County’s Department of Libraries since 2006, Kresh oversees eight branches and about 150 staff members offering innovative programming such as children’s story times in Spanish and lending libraries that offer much more than books. One of her most notable projects is Arlington Reads, a signature author talk program that has welcomed 50-plus writers, including Roxanne Gay and Colson Whitehead.
Kresh, 70, got her start in the stacks in 1974 at the Library of Congress as a reading room messenger. Now the Arlington resident uses her position to further a cause she holds dear: the fight against book bans. Her motto—“Read whatever you want, whenever, however”—carries particular meaning during Banned Books Week (Sept. 22-28), which since 1982 has supported the freedom to read.
With censorship efforts rising—the American Library Association reported a 65% increase in efforts to censor books between 2022 and 2023—and ahead of Let Freedom Read Day on Sept. 28, we spoke with Kresh about her five decades of public service and why she sees book bans as a threat.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Why is it important to you to fight against book bans?
It goes back to personal freedom and my freedom to choose what I want to read or what my family can have access to. Where the book banning runs afoul of that is the attempt to dictate preferences and attitudes and definitions of morality for everyone: “Oh, you can’t read this because I think it’s obscene,” or “It talks about a lifestyle I don’t approve of,” or “I’m of a particular religion, and I find this offensive.” My feeling is, don’t read it. Or read it, become enlightened, understand what the other point of view is. Don’t pretend that people who are different don’t exist or are somehow lesser than. That’s why I believe libraries, schools, individuals, activists, parents and teachers should be very clear about the value of seeing other people in the literature that we have access to.
Do pushes to ban books ebb and flow?
There have always been efforts to ban books. Always, always, always. You can go back to James Joyce’s Ulysses, which was not permitted to be admitted into this country back in 1922. The last two or three years have seen a significant spike in efforts to ban books. That’s in both school libraries as well as public libraries. I think we can all look at the national dialogue around polarization and unwillingness to accept difference and draw some connections. The American Library Association is the best resource for tracking the trends, and the statistics that they have compiled over the last couple of years, frankly, are alarming. We have to be vigilant. If we believe that people have a right to choose, then we have to stand up for those rights and say, “We’re going to make sure that the rights of our citizens and the rights of the people in our community are respected and valued.”
What topics are most often targeted?
Books about LGBTQ+ hands-down, books by and about people of color, often books about the Jewish faith. So, it’s in alignment with anti-Semitism, anti-LGBTQ, racism, the rise of white supremacy, which has always been a part, unfortunately, of our national story, but the level of virulence in each of these areas has seen a remarkable uptick.
How do you push back against book bans, and where have you found success?
We hang the Pride flags in each library location during Pride Month. We have book displays for all heritage months and all honorific kinds of months and celebrations. The most affirmative thing we did was to request of the county board a year ago that they pass a resolution declaring Arlington Public Library a book sanctuary. That’s a pretty big deal. That is a movement that Chicago Public Library started in 2022, and now there are more than 3,300 libraries in North America that have succeeded in becoming book sanctuaries. It means that we take seriously—and our elected officials take seriously—our commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of choice with respect to what we read and what is in our collections, both in schools and in the public library. I felt very well supported by the county board in taking this significant step.
I expected you to also say Arlington Reads. Last year, you welcomed Art Spiegelman, whose graphic novel Maus was banned by a Tennessee school board in 2022.
That’s absolutely a way. Through Arlington Reads, I wanted to do a series where we talk about important issues of the day, whether it’s immigration or voting rights or the economy or the environmental movement, and explore those topics through both fiction and nonfiction. This year, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Baldwin, an important Black activist and writer and a model for so many African American writers. We are this fall celebrating Afrofuturism through a series of authors. The very first book that I selected for Arlington Reads was a book by Anne Tyler called Digging to America, and it’s about two couples adopting children and the relationship that develops between the two couples, as well as the story of the community and its acceptance of “other.” The two adopting families are Jewish and Iranian—which is especially timely today—and the kids are being adopted in Korea. That was in 2006, and here we are again having some very difficult conversations about immigration. It’s about our willingness to accept difference, and how that willingness has shaped us as a nation, and how it has thrust us into some very turbulent times. So I can look back on close to 20 years now of these conversations and go, “Yeah, maybe we moved the needle on some of these issues a little bit.”
How do you respond to people who get upset?
We politely thank them for their feedback, and we basically say, “We’re committed to doing this, thank you very much.” We get angry letters. Occasionally, someone will remove all the books that are on display at Pride Month and “hide” them. So, it’s low-grade vandalism. Once in a while, we’ll find books on that topic—they’re generally children’s books, such as those about having two mommies or daddies—that have been scribbled on or have pages torn out. We replace them. I have a lot of staff who are gay or questioning or gender neutral, and they appreciate the fact that the library leadership is welcoming of everyone, regardless of where they are with religion, race, sex, gender identification, the gamut. We represent and will support everyone, and I am personally very proud of that as a gay person myself, but it’s not just because of me, it’s because of everyone in our community.
What other Arlington Public Library initiatives are you most proud of?
When I came to the library, I wanted to do more outreach, to meet people where they are in the community. We do a lot of visits to community centers and events, to facilities for seniors. We do partnerships with the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (now True Ground Housing Partners) to make sure that people they represent and serve are also served by the library. I don’t expect everybody to have to come through a library branch; not everyone has transportation or facility with English. I don’t ever assume everybody knows what the library is. Some people in our community are coming from countries where if the library is affiliated with the government, that’s a bad thing, and I have to be mindful of that, and staff has to be mindful of that.
Before earning a master’s in library science at Catholic University of America, you earned a bachelor’s in theater there. What led you to shift gears?
I realized I wasn’t willing to take the kind of risks I think that you have to take to be a successful actor. I was working at the Library of Congress in a lower-level job, and somebody suggested, “Hey, if you really want to get a better job, you should get a library degree.” And so I went to library school, and I got very interested in topics like intellectual freedom, which is the foundation for freedom to read and the conversations around book banning. I remember going to a conference, and I attended a program on Steven Pico v. Island Trees Union Free School District, a 1982 case in which the Supreme Court first addressed removing books from public school libraries. And I just said, “Yeah, this is really important.”
If there is such a thing as a typical workday for you, what does that look like?
I’m a people person, so I can’t sit in an office with the door closed. I’m out and about. If I don’t have meetings scheduled, I’ll go to a branch. If I’m doing an errand at lunch and it’s near a branch, I’ll stop in. I prefer that kind of informal way to lead the organization. The day to day, a lot of it is my showing up to be here for the staff and checking in with them.
Obviously, you’re an avid reader. How much do you read?
For the last roughly four or five years, I’ve read about 100 books, a little over, but not under, per year. I try to read what’s current, the buzzy books. I love police procedurals. I’m thrilled that Kate Atkinson has a new Jackson Brodie book out. I also fill in blanks, like I realized, “I don’t really think I’ve read much Toni Morrison,” so then I read half a dozen Toni Morrison books. The older of my two sons, Matthew, is my reading buddy, and this year, we are reading a book a month. We read, discuss, and we trade back and forth. He’s in his early 30s, and he’s reading more in some genres that I don’t read at all. We expose each other to new things. It’s been fun.
What else do you like to do?
I love music, and I started playing guitar a few years ago. I have always liked to sing, and I’ve been in a number of groups over the years—choral groups and things like that. I like to go to the theater. I like to go to bookstores. I’ve never seen a bookstore or a used bookstore that I haven’t felt compelled to go in. I walk. I get some exercise. My wife and I used to play pickleball. I’m obsessed with politics. That’s kind of occupational-related. I’m a public figure, and I provide a public service, and I want to pay attention to what’s going on.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I’ve always been somebody who wanted to stand up for people. I don’t like bullies. I don’t like being told to do. I don’t like injustice. I don’t like the obvious examples of people being taken advantage of, and I found an environment where I can practice and embrace those values and do so much more community. I loved my Library of Congress career, but I grew up in Arlington, and the opportunity to come back and serve the community in a different way and kind of give back was a very powerful incentive.
If I look back on my legacy here, it would be certainly Arlington Reads as a thing, but also the brand of the library as an institution that stands for everyone. I’m very proud of what we have done as a staff and as a community to make sure that we are recognized as the nexus of community. We are welcoming, we are safe, we are accepting, we are inclusive, our staff represent the demographics of the community. We work hard at that, and we continue to find new ways to get in front of people in the community and say, “Here we are.”