Daviess County Public Library

Tim Kline is an attorney with 15 years of experience and a pastor at the Christ the Redeemer parish, associated with the Anglican Church of North America. His appointment may prove pivotal in an ongoing controversy surrounding how the library handles certain adolescent and young adult books discussing sexuality, gender identity, human anatomy, race, and diversity.

Daviess County Public Library is facing an ongoing campaign from local Christian conservatives and Christian Nationalists seeking changes in how it handles certain materials. Some of the more vocal activists argue their recommendations better protect children from harmful or inappropriate material, but opponents fear it's the start of a more extensive effort to restrict or remove materials relating to sexuality, gender identity, human anatomy, race, and diversity.

Bookshelves have become battlefields in recent years. Challenges to materials and calls for book bans have climbed to levels previously unheard of across the country as culture wars stoked by political differences have brought the fight into both school and public libraries.

Five western Kentucky library employees were awarded the Library Science Tuition Scholarship for the spring semester by the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (KDLA) in January.