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On stage in front of hundreds of book lovers who packed the Kenmore Middle School auditorium, Diane Kresh spread the black T-shirt above her head to read the shirt’s message: “READ WHATEVER YOU WANT, WHENEVER, HOWEVER.”

The Arlington County library director presented the shirt to Art Spiegelman, author of “Maus.” It was a token of gratitude for Spiegelman after he spoke in late September about his work as an author and what drove him to tell his family’s Holocaust tale in the form of a graphic novel.

Spiegelman’s work had been targeted as controversial in some areas and deemed banned in those jurisdictions. His invitation to speak in Arlington represented one of a series of salvos fired in a far larger campaign aimed at those across the country who push to pull books from the shelves of public and school libraries.

It’s a war that Kresh did not ignite but willingly enlisted in with the power of the library system behind her.

“It’s a crusade,” Kresh said in a recent interview.

Library directors typically aren’t on the front lines of testy national debates, but with the backing of the county board, and a solid-blue constituency, Kresh has given a full-throated voice to fight against book bans.

The Arlington native is using a voice honed over decades in professional and personal pursuits that led her through a 30-plus year career at the Library of Congress and through two marriages to men before she finally acknowledged she is gay.

Kresh has also been a performer for most of her life, on stage and in choirs, from the stages of Yorktown High School and later at Catholic University, where she majored in theater.

But now at age 69, one of her final acts as a professional is spending political capital to fight for access to words and wisdom for institutions that she believes are at the heart of a thriving democracy — the public library system.

After handing the T-shirt to Spiegelman two months ago, Kresh quipped to the crowd that perhaps next year she should wrap all the county libraries in police crime-scene tape.

“There is something to offend and upset everyone, and if there isn’t we’re not doing our job,” Kresh said.

Artwork adorns the walls of the small corner office in the rear of the Arlington Central Library. The walls feature some of Kresh’s creations, collages of her late father’s possessions.

The art of collage, a collection, is similar to the life of a librarian.

Kresh wandered into a library career when she landed her first job as a part-time book shelver at the Library of Congress in the early 70s , while she was still in college.

It seemed an unlikely path for an extroverted young woman who loved to perform and whose mother longed for her to attend law school.

As the only girl and the oldest of four siblings in Arlington, Kresh benefited from the love of a “girl dad.” She was far more interested in the goings-on of her brothers and neighborhood boys rather than typical girl interests of the 1960s.

“My father gave me a baseball glove for my 10th birthday and I thought I died and went to heaven,” Kresh recalled. “This was pre-Title IX and I was crazy for sports. It was tough. Girls didn’t get to play baseball with the boys.”

Although she instinctually bucked the expectations of double standards for boys and girls, Kresh would be decades away from finding a way to fully explore her own mind and choose to pursue life as a openly gay person.

And as a wave of feminism and activism against the Vietnam War swept across young people, it ignited in Kresh a lifelong interest in politics and the history of the nation. It also led her to think what the Constitution means.

Following college graduation, she got a full-time job at the Library of Congress and discovered a core belief that has lasted since.

“What public libraries in particular represent, but the library profession as a whole, free and unfettered access to information,” Kresh said. “I said, ‘Wow,’ that’s a beautiful concept. That’s important.”

She started from the bottom rung of the hierarchy, as she didn’t fit the mold of the person of letters. Even if she had the academic credentials, she lacked the right gender to become a leader in those days.

But Kresh developed a new aspect to her identity, adding “information junkie” to an artsy, naturally curious personality as she was exposed to the nation’s premier collection of art prints, rare books, maps and films.

There she explored copies of the Declaration of Independence and the signed Gettysburg Address, alongside the watch and glasses President Abraham Lincoln carried the night of his assassination.

Top minds in research and libraries in their fields mentored her. Kresh decided to forgo her mother’s dream of law school and earned a master’s degree in library science at Catholic University in 1980.

“It was like the perfect place. It’s where I grew up,” Kresh said.

A three-decade career found her working on acquisitions and exhibitions, as well as public programming for D.C. students. She launched an outdoor concert series that featured blues and country music artists.

Kresh endured accusations of a being “pushy” and navigated a male-dominated leadership team where women had limited opportunities to rise.

Five years ago, Kresh launched “Women’s Work,” an internal resource and mentorship program for women working across county government, to help foster stronger leaders who can advocate for themselves.

“I’m saying now: ‘Yeah, you know, be pushy. Advocate for yourself. Stand up. If you have a good idea share it. Don’t hang back,’” Kresh said.

The library director’s lessons arrived from a deeply personal space.

Kresh learned at an early age how to get things done, just as those closest to her had always known.

Her brother Michael Nester recalls that his oldest sibling always led the pack, emulating the strong will of their mother, who spent 25 years as a teacher in Arlington raising four children born within six years of each other.

“I think from the beginning she was a leader. I think it was in her DNA from the start,” said Nester, 65, of Clifton, Va.

When her father died in 2009, Kresh took charge of the probate process, organizing weekly emails and texts with her brothers and ensuring the process was as easy as possible for them.

Yet in her private life, Kresh spent decades wrestling with her own personal truth. Though she was an extrovert with a love of performance and little fear of speaking her mind, she tamped down her attraction to women, choosing more traditional paths with marriages to two men — including David Kresh, the father of her two sons.

Toward the end of her second husband’s life, Kresh began to explore the idea that she is gay.

“He died knowing we would be friends and we would share our love for our two boys but we would definitely be going in different directions,” Kresh said. “Feelings became harder to ignore and I didn’t want to ignore them. I didn’t want to be dishonest.

“I think he would have been fine with my third marriage.”

She married Colleen Donnelly in May 2012 and publicly game out as gay. That admission has helped hone her voice in her second career.

Her brother described the big sister who bossed around her younger siblings as a “fair-minded” adult who listens to the perspectives of others, even those with whom she disagrees.

“At Diane’s core I think people trust her because she is emphatic about her positions but isn’t a jerk about it,” Nester said.

A career working among the nation’s academic treasures and navigating relationships with those responsible for protecting them taught Kresh a lot about protocols, locating boundaries and how to compromise.

After retiring from the Library of Congress in January 2006, Kresh found her second act as the Arlington County library director. The former theater major speaks clearly about what she believes is right.

“I feel like it’s important to me that what you see is what you get,” Kresh said. “I’m direct. I don’t believe I’m unkind or cruel. But I will tell you what I think.”

Spiegelman’s appearance was featured during Banned Book Week this year, a highlight of the Arlington Reads lecture series Kresh founded in 2006.

Arlington County Board Vice Chair Libby Garvey said Kresh represents the view of majority of residents, and her work represents an effort to move history and knowledge beyond the stories that for too long were only told about and by dead White men.

“Libraries are a community gathering point and a forum. And in these days, where people are divided, that’s desperately needed,” Garvey said in an interview. “I fully support what she’s doing. I think this is what libraries stand for.”

The librarian who couldn’t take it anymore

Susan Glaize, a former Friends of Arlington Library board member, said she becomes infuriated whenever she hears about books being pulled from shelves.

“The idea of banning books comes right out of Nazi Germany,” she said.

The retired law librarian said Kresh’s openness is critical to helping libraries survive, even as they face threats and a lack of public support.

“How are families who can’t afford to buy all books going to be able to read if the libraries close?” Glaize said. “If you stop reading, even if it angers you, you’re still thinking.

“Do we all want to be zombies? Little robots?”

For Kresh, speaking up from the politically safe confines of Democratic blue Arlington isn’t just a luxury but a duty.

She challenges one school book a week. She says she’ll never stop.

She intends to a use her position to work in what she believes is the best interests of taxpayers, but fighting for foundational principles that libraries should be open and free. Those tenets aren’t just about libraries but the very fabric of how a nation functions as a democracy, Kresh said.

“It’s freedom of speech, it’s freedom of thought, it’s freedom of religion,” she said. “You are welcome, and you belong here, and it’s my job to help you.”

“It’s not shying away from a fight.”

2014 Pulitzer Finalist for Breaking News - a lead writer of The Washington Post staff coverage of the deadly Navy Yard Shootings

First Place National Press Club Journalism Awards for Breaking News 2014 for Navy Yard coverage

Masters in Journalism, Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. 

B.A. American Studies, George Mason University

Clarence Williams is the night reporter for The Washington Post on the "night cops" beat, where he has spent nearly two decades chasing breaking news and writing in-depth, issues-based features about police, fire and rescue, and other public safety issues in and around Washington.

Clarence Williams

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Arlington County librarian is at the forefront of fighting book bans

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Arlington Libraries Director Diane Kresh in her office, on November 21 in Arlington, VA.

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