Library Guy rings in the new year

Pardon me today if I’m a little grumpy.

I spent several hours Sunday afternoon reviewing the sordid history of Library Guy in Citrus County.

See, our favorite hate monger appeared before the County Commission last week to say he’ll be out of town when commissioners make the Library Advisory Board appointments later this month, and he’d like to be considered.

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Library Guy then went on to extoll his so-called virtues, which sounded something like this:

“I broke your arm! 
I kicked your shins!
I poisoned your mind!
I consistently told you things that weren’t true! 
​Put me in charge!”

I doubt there’s a chance that he will get this appointment. While Commissioner Janet Barek and Chair Diana Finegan have both indicated support for Library Guy on occasion, Commissioners Rebecca Bays, Holly Davis, and Jeff Kinnard have wisely stayed away.

To recap. Library Guy — the moniker I assigned in late 2021 — is a South Florida transplant who lost a decent job with the Miami-Dade county government over his hateful attacks on the LGBTQ community. He arrived in Citrus County and immediately took aim at our libraries, similar to attacks in other communities that are rooted in fear, not fact.

Four years later, he’s still at it. I get such a kick whenever he talks about community values, since his values directly oppose ours. This is a loving, giving, and accepting community. I don’t know where he finds all this darkness.

The good thing is the community has caught on. I don’t attend Library Board meetings, but the Library Guy Gang can’t get much traction because citizens stand in their way.

And “Library Guy” is nearly a household phrase in Citrus County. Even the Chronicle uses it routinely. His Christian name, should it come to a ballot this year, is John Labriola.

So, here’s what we’re doing. These are excerpts from JWC blogs over the last four years. Just a reminder that he’s still out there slithering. The quotes are directly from the blog, unless otherwise noted.

— March 2022: “This library deal is nothing but some people trying to push their morality on us all by shutting down access to any written word that goes against their way of thinking. That is just plain wrong. You think they’ll stop at this? Be serious.”

— Library Guy to the Inverness City Council, October 2022: “I come from an area that was overwhelmingly Democratic. I grew up in South Florida, and those areas are high crime…There’s moral degradation when you have Democrats that become the majority. We don’t want to change Inverness into a Democrat majority or even a purple area because that does bring down property values. It brings down our moral character when Democrats come to dominate an area, or even just grow in their numbers.”

— August 2022: “Library Guy is taking us for fools and so far, it’s working to a T. He took an issue that well-meaning people can identify with — protecting children from harm — and whipped it into a frenzy of lies and deceit about a library display problem that never existed.”

—  Finegan supporter to the candidate, August 2022, after she received Library Guy’s endorsement: “Your message would be much better received without a radical platform. This makes true moderate conservatives rethink who you’re aligned with, and that’s not good in this county.” 

— September 2024: “And bullying is his calling card. It may be dressed up in sweetness, but Labriola is a menace. His ‘Christian’ message is filled with hate. Library Book debates are just a facade for what’s really taking place: An attempt to harass, silence, and shut away those who are different.” 

— Commissioner Holly Davis to a constituent, June 2024: “You are listening to someone who lies as easily as he breathes. Have you gone to the library and found these books yourself? Please investigate things firsthand before believing nonsense such as this. This is a conservative county, and the government here behaves as such.” 

— April 2022: “These library board members have really taken it on the chin from the Library Guy Gang. Just vicious stuff.”

— February 2025 text to me from a friend: “Remember these aren’t parents of kids going to the library. These are disciples of Library Guy, drinking the Kool-Aid he’s serving and ready to save all the children from the evils of society.”

— September 2022: “It’s worth the fight. Simple as that. Our community is worth the fight to protect it from people who mean to do it harm.”

I’ve never felt stronger about that last statement than now. It’s much truer today than back then. We gotta stay vigilant.

Have a great Monday, friends.

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