I know there’s a lot going on right now. Between ICE raids, Trump weaponizing the Justice Department, and the government shutdown, it’s hard to know what to even pay attention to – let alone act on. It’s overwhelming and it’s meant to be. But I have a ray of light for you in the form of a documentary, The Librarians, which is in theaters now.

I first saw director Kim A. Snyder’s feature at Sundance during a press screening. And maybe it was the audience of journalists watching a film about fighting censorship, but this doc got the biggest reaction of anything I saw this year. We were positively reverberating with anger, solidarity, and hope.

The film takes place in red states and follows mostly unassuming white ladies as they stand up for their beliefs, communities, and profession. Yes, this is the tale of multiple librarians who fight book bans despite some great personal risks.

Snyder goes to great pains to show that these women are of their conservative communities. They have multiple generations of roots there. They own guns. They’re veterans. They’re preachers’ daughters. They’re (almost all) white. We’re not talking about the radical left here. We’re talking about women who did what they were “supposed to do” – stayed close to home and went into a nurturing, unthreatening profession to help kids.

And they’re still being demonized because they take the librarian’s code of ethics seriously, including “to resist all efforts to censor library resources.” I didn’t even know librarians had an oath, but I’m glad they do and that they mean it.

Because, as we’ve covered at Latina Media Co before, reading is fundamental to resistance and so are libraries. They provide access to information in a way that’s core to our democracy – I’m talking nearly limitless amounts of information available for free, for everyone. Now, where many of the protagonists of The Librarians live, democracy is no longer in fashion. But these women didn’t agree to that change, and they’re fighting back, holding the line in their particular sphere of influence – and that’s an inspiration.

Partly because their story reminds us to look for the helpers. There’s a lot of darkness right now, but there are also a lot of people working to maintain (or even grow!) the light in their corners of the world, and The Librarians shows us of that. It nudges us to look for allies where we might not have in the past and to value the everyday strengths of women of conviction.

The film is also a strong call to use our positional power, whatever it may be. Grade school librarians are probably not the first group people think of when they think resistance. But The Librarians shows what it looks like to refuse to be complicit. To use your power for good. To fight for every member of your community, even when it’s unpopular or dangerous.

There are lots of powerful moments in the film. Like when an estranged gay son stands in front of his home school board and his book-banning mother and asserts his humanity.

There are plenty of funny parts too. Like when a librarian responds to an unhinged critique of the graphic novel MAUS being on school shelves.

And there are moments that combine the two. Like when a librarian scoffs at her previous self for finding it unimaginable that a library science conference would need the security force they now hire.

But regardless of how far we’ve slid as a society, there’s still room for laughter. There’s still room to fight. And there’s space to learn something more – whether it’s in a book or from the example of your local librarian.