David Gutman writes: “Book battles are raging across the nation, but none have carried the kind of stakes as the one here in Dayton. For [Columbia County (Wash.) Rural Library District], the battle has turned, quite literally, existential: Voters will decide in November whether to shut it down. The library is at risk not because of a lack of funding or a lack of demand for its services. Instead, it could shutter because of a yearlong dispute over the placement of, at first, one book, then a dozen and now well over 100, all dealing with gender, sexuality, or race.”