As a new New York Times piece points out, a library in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho has a bit of a whodunit on their hands as books related to President Trump, gun control, LGBT issues and even women’s suffrage are being hidden within its shelves — tucked away in spots where they’re not supposed to be, often with the spines facing inward, so no one can find them and check them out.
The culprit even left a note in the facility’s comment box indicating he — we’re gonna go ahead and assume it’s a “he” based on the decision to hide a book about women’s right to vote — plans to strike again. “I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds,” he wrote. “Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.”
It’s not the first time the town has been faced with this issue. Thirty years ago, after a collection of books about human rights were repeatedly stolen, they were placed in a locked cabinet. This latest wave of disappearing books began in 2018, and while about half of the books that have been hidden are critical of Trump in some way, others like Punishment Without Crime look at social issues like how the criminal justice system unfairly targets the poor with misdemeanor prosecutions.
So far, the library has been unable to catch the person hiding the books, and they can’t afford a video surveillance system, but they continue to refile the missing books as they find them and in some cases even bought more copies.
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