Public Libraries Saw 92 Percent Increase In Number of Titles Targeted for Censorship Over The Previous Year; American Library Association (ALA) Press Release, March 14, 2024

American Library Association (ALA) Press Release; Public Libraries Saw 92 Percent Increase In Number of Titles Targeted for Censorship Over The Previous Year

"The number of titles targeted for censorship surged 65 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest levels ever documented by the American Library Association (ALA). The new numbers released today show efforts to censor 4,240 unique book titles* in schools and libraries. This tops the previous high from 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship. 

ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources in 2023. Four key trends emerged from the data gathered from 2023 censorship reports: 

• Pressure groups in 2023 focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92 percent over the previous year; school libraries saw an 11 percent increase.
• Groups and individuals demanding the censorship of multiple titles, often dozens or hundreds at a time, drove this surge.  
• Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47 percent of those targeted in censorship attempts. 
• There were attempts to censor more than 100 titles in each of these 17 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

“The reports from librarians and educators in the field make it clear that the organized campaigns to ban books aren’t over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Each demand to ban a book is a demand to deny each person’s constitutionally protected right to choose and read books that raise important issues and lift up the voices of those who are often silenced.  By joining initiatives like Unite Against Book Bans and other organizations that support libraries and schools, we can end this attack on essential community institutions and our civil liberties."

ALA will unveil its highly anticipated list of the top 10 most challenged books in the U.S. on Monday, April 8, which is Right to Read Day of National Library Week, along with its full State of America's Libraries Report.

"Every challenge to a library book is an attack on our freedom to read. The books being targeted again focus on LGBTQ+ and people of color. Our communities and our country are stronger because of diversity. Libraries that reflect their communities' diversity promote learning and empathy that some people want to hide or eliminate,” said ALA President Emily Drabinski. “Libraries are vital institutions to each and every community in this country, and library professionals, who have dedicated their lives to protecting our right to read, are facing threats to their employment and well-being." 

In response to the surge of book challenges and efforts to restrict access to information, ALA launched Unite Against Book Bans, a national initiative to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. The coalition will mark its second anniversary during National Library Week.

For more information about ALA and its intellectual freedom efforts, visit www.ala.org. For a breakdown for censorship challenges by state visit this heat map."

Florida settles lawsuit after challenge to ‘don’t say gay’ law; Associated Press via The Guardian, March 11, 2024

Associated Press via The Guardian ; Florida settles lawsuit after challenge to ‘don’t say gay’ law

"Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida board of education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law does not prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral – meaning what applies to LGBTQ+ people also applies to heterosexual people – and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used for instruction in the classroom.

The law also doesn’t apply to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming”, according to the settlement.

“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview."

The librarian who couldn’t take it anymore; The Washington Post, November 11, 2023

Ruby Cramer, The Washington Post; The librarian who couldn’t take it anymore

"When she had decided to become a librarian almost 10 years ago, it was for a simple reason: She loved to read. Now she watched as the work she did at a high school in Central Florida became part of a national debate. There were fights going on over democracy and fascism. There were parents and school board members arguing on social media and in meetings. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wasn’t just passing laws but using them to run for president. To Tania, the pure act of reading was becoming more and more political, and as a result, she had to spend much of her time reviewing the books on her shelves — not to suggest one to a student but to ask herself whether the content was too mature for the teenagers at her school. Then she had moved on to the books in each teacher’s classroom, because as of this year, the state considered those books to be part of the library, too.

All of this took time. The librarian’s job was expanding even as she felt it was shrinking to a series of rote tasks: She would copy a book’s ISBN number into a peer-review database. She would decide whether to mark it with the thumb-size red sticker, provided to her by the district, that read “M” for “mature.” If a book wasn’t listed in a database, she would review it by hand, and then she would start again with the next book. In those hours, the job became a series of keystrokes, and she began to feel more like a censor than a librarian...

Somewhere else in the school, interviews were going on for her replacement. Three candidates were coming in. The principal had asked Tania to send him interview questions. She emailed her district supervisor for ideas and received a document in her inbox, the list of questions they kept on file.

“What do you see as the role of the librarian in the school setting?”

“What kind of library attracts students, staff and parents?"

Nothing about the laws, nothing about reviewing books, nothing about book bans at all. Tania scrolled through the questions and added one more. “What is your stance on Censorship?” she wrote, though she had no way of knowing whether it would be asked, or how the next librarian might answer."

Beaufort, South Carolina, schools return most books to shelves after attempt to ban 97; CBS News, March 3, 2024

Scott Pelley, CBS; Beaufort, South Carolina, schools return most books to shelves after attempt to ban 97

"Ruth-Naomi James: I'm a combat veteran, right? There's no way I went to Iraq thinking that when I moved back home, I would have to do this to make sure that the freedom that we fight for in this country is taken out of the hands of students and parents.

The final votes came this past December. Five books were judged too graphic in sex or violence. But 92 returned to the schools. Dick Geier says this lesson reaches beyond the classroom.

Dick Geier: Diversity brings tolerance. The more you understand what other people think and realize that what they say is important, but who they are, what their story, what their background is. The more you know that, the more you see the power of diversity. And then, be kind, and be understanding. And don't make judgments because you haven't lived their story. They have.

In the city that's lived a story of letters and learning, one book that was banned and restored was "The Fixer," a novel of antisemitism that won the Pulitzer prize. In its pages, the book's hero expresses this opinion, "There are no wrong books." "What's wrong is the fear of them."

A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids; NPR, November 25, 2023

Scott Simon, NPR; A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids

"In her directorial debut, Sheila Nevins' chronicles the impact of book bans in Florida public schools. She tells NPR's Scott Simon what inspired her to profile those most affected — the students...

GRACE LINN: My husband, Robert Nichol (ph), was killed in action in World War II, defending our democracy, constitution and freedoms. One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books that they banned.

NEVINS: And I thought, holy [expletive], this woman is out there doing something, and I'm doing nothing. And I know I'm only in my 80s, for heaven's sake. And here's this woman fighting for young people to be able to read the books that she read and I read and possibly you read, Scott, that in many ways change our lives and make us know about the world we live in. And I thought, I've got to grab her. I've got to get her. And I've got to get some of these kids who've lost the books or who have been deprived of the books to read them and to see how they feel about what they're missing.

SIMON: Some of the books that are mentioned in the course of the film that have been banned include "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Maus," "The Kite Runner," "The Life Of Rosa Parks," "The Handmaid's Tale." I can't come up with a better question than why?

NEVINS: Interesting, isn't it? Why would you deprive children of this information? If you want them to grow up to be like yourself, and yourself has a limited worldview - or at least the worldview that you believe is the worldview they should have - then you take out anything that you would find as questionable - Planned Parenthood, race, religious problems, difficulties. You know, you would simply want to make your child not aware of all these things that make the world a sort of wondrous, difficult, complex and often painful world that we all live in. I'm sort of quoting the kids, which is really odd. How can you deprive me - I'm 12 or 14 or 15 - of information?"

‘My Heart Sank’: In Maine, a Challenge to a Book, and to a Town’s Self-Image; The New York Times, February 3, 2024

 Elizabeth Williamson, The New York Times; ‘My Heart Sank’: In Maine, a Challenge to a Book, and to a Town’s Self-Image

"Mr. Boulet appealed to the American Library Association for a public letter of support, which it offers to libraries undergoing censorship efforts. “They ghosted me,” he said.

Asked about the letter, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the A.L.A.’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said Mr. Boulet’s request had generated internal debate, and delay.

“Our position on the book is, it should remain in the collection; it is beneath us to adopt the tools of the censors,” she said in an interview. “We need to support intellectual freedom in all its aspects, in order to claim that high ground.” Months after Mr. Boulet requested the letter, Ms. Caldwell-Stone saw him at a conference and apologized...

Before the controversy, “I hadn’t really given intellectual freedom as much thought as I should have,” Mr. Boulet said. His conclusion, he said, is that “intellectual freedom or the freedom of speech isn’t there just to protect ideas that we like.”"

Cast as Criminals, America’s Librarians Rally to Their Own Defense; The New York Times, February 3, 2024

 Elizabeth Williamson, The New York Times; Cast as Criminals, America’s Librarians Rally to Their Own Defense

"As America’s libraries have become noisy and sometimes dangerous new battlegrounds in the nation’s culture wars, librarians like Ms. Neujahr and their allies have moved from the stacks to the front lines. People who normally preside over hushed sanctuaries are now battling groups that demand the mass removal of books and seek to control library governance. Last year, more than 150 bills in 35 states aimed to restrict access to library materials, and to punish library workers who do not comply."

Read On: We're Distributing 1,500 Banned Books by Black Authors in Philly This February; Visit Philadelphia, January 31, 2024

Visit Philadelphia; Read On: We're Distributing 1,500 Banned Books by Black Authors in Philly This February

"According to Penn America, more than 30 states have banned certain books by Black authors — both fiction and non-fiction — or otherwise deemed them inappropriate.

During Black History Month and beyond, Philadelphia — the birthplace of American democracy — is making these stories accessible and available to both visitors and residents.

Visit Philadelphia has launched the Little Free(dom) Library initiative in partnership with Little Free Library and the Free Library of Philadelphia, providing resources on their site to help protect everyone’s right to read. The effort encourages visitors and residents to explore Black history and engage with Black narratives by borrowing a banned book by a Black author from one of 13 locations throughout the city. Among them: the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Betsy Ross House, Franklin Square, Eastern State Penitentiary and the Johnson House Historic Site.

The initiative is launching with a dozen titles and 1,500 books in total. The selections include:

• The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
• Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander"

New Yorker Article Seems to Misdescribe S. Ct.'s Decision on School Library Book Removal; Reason, December 23, 2023

EUGENE VOLOKH , Reason; New Yorker Article Seems to Misdescribe S. Ct.'s Decision on School Library Book Removal

"The article claims that a prohibition on viewpoint-based removals of school library books is "settled law" announced by a "majority opinion." But that's not so...

The matter, then, is not clear. Lower courts may indeed themselves decide that viewpoint-based removals of books from school libraries violate the First Amendment, and they may find Justice Brennan's opinion to be persuasive. And schools may reasonably worry that this might happen, and might conclude that it's better to avoid that litigation. But courts and schools may instead conclude otherwise, and be more persuaded by Chief Justice Burger's dissent.

My own view is more in line with the dissent: I think a public school is entitled to decide which viewpoints to promote through its own library; school authorities can decide that their library will be a place where they provide books they recommend as particularly interesting/useful/enlightening/etc. The process of selecting library books is part of the government's own judgment about what views it wishes to promote; and the ability to reconsider selection decisions (including in response to pressure from the public, which is to say from the ultimate governors of the public schools) should go with the ability to make those decisions in the first place. To be sure, some such decisions may be foolish or narrow-minded, but they're not unconstitutional."

LWV to explore censorship in libraries and schools; The Mountain Mail, November 7, 2023

The Mountain Mail; LWV to explore censorship in libraries and schools

"Jamie LaRue, executive director of Garfield County Libraries, will discuss censorship at an event sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Chaffee County from noon to 1 p.m. Nov. 13 in the Sangre de Cristo Electric Association community room, 29780 U.S. 24 N. in Buena Vista...

As the former director of Douglas County Libraries, LaRue responded to 250 challenges, which are attempts to remove or restrict access to library resources. As executive director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, he oversaw another 1,000 reports of censorship attempts nationwide and summarized for ALA the public challenges for the following year. 

As the current director of the Garfield County Public Library District, LaRue has responded to another dozen or so, including packed public meetings and a campaign to force the library to restrict or remove specific titles. 

Prior to the presentation, at 11:15 a.m., the League will host a social time and short business meeting. A video of the presentation will be available at LWVChaffeeCounty.org following the meeting."

Locked up in an Egyptian prison, I found solace in the library; The Washington Post, November 2, 2023

 Ahmed Naji, The Washington Post; Locked up in an Egyptian prison, I found solace in the library

"My family has a record when it comes to getting rid of books. When I was very young and we lived in Egypt, we had a ritual that took place at regular intervals. My father would throw open the cupboards and drawers and make an inventory of all the books, magazines and notebooks stored inside, a task that could take hours. The most important items were the journals containing his notes on the books he’d read; next came his collection of books by Islamist leaders such as Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al-Banna.

First my father would sort the books into groups, then distribute them among a number of hiding places. Some would be stored in cardboard boxes on the roof next to the chicken coop; others would be left for safekeeping with neighbors who weren’t involved in any political activism. Finally, he would decide that some books were too dangerous to keep — dangerous for him and for us. He could always get hold of another copy of them if he really needed to, and so he would burn them and painstakingly dispose of their ashes."

Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.; The Washington Post, November 3, 2023

 Hannah Natanson, The Washington Post; Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it.

"The majority of filings targeted books by and about LGBTQ individuals or people of color, per a Washington Post analysis of 2,500 pages of school book challenges filed nationally in the 2021-2022 academic year. Most came from parents or residents: Of the nearly 500 book challengers who gave an identification in The Post’s database, just eight said they were school staff...

Since its publication in 1960, Harper Lee’s novel — which recounts the story of a White lawyer, Atticus Finch, fruitlessly defending a Black man falsely accused of rape — has drawn both protests and paeans.

The objections to the book have shifted over time. In 1966, a Virginia school board banned the book for its “immoral” depiction of rape. Forty years later, a California school district forbade teaching“Mockingbird” after parents alleged it was racist for its use of the n-word and portrayal of Black people. Lee’s novel made the American Library Association’s top 10 list of most challenged books in 2009, 2011, 2017 and 2020."

Kentucky school district bans more than 100 books, citing anti-LGBTQ+ law; Louisville Public Media, October 19, 2023

Jess Clark, Louisville Public Media; Kentucky school district bans more than 100 books, citing anti-LGBTQ+ law

"The law is the subject of several legal challenges by opponents who say its restrictions on speech and LGBTQ+ young people violate the state constitution.

Which books are banned?

It is unclear why each book was found objectionable under SB 150, but many of the books banned from Boyle County Schools feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes...

“Anne Frank” by Sid Jacobson is also banned from Junction City Elementary. It’s a graphic novel based on Anne Frank’s “Diary of a Young Girl” and depicts the teen’s hiding during Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

Fifty-five titles have been removed from Boyle County High School. They include many nonfiction books on LGBTQ+ identities, such as “Teens and LGBT Issues,” by Christine Wilcox and “Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights,” by Ann Bausum...

Here is a link to a list of the banned books, originally obtained by The Advocate Messenger."

How Librarians Became American Free Speech Heroes; The Saturday Evening Post, October 23, 2023

Madison Ingram, The Saturday Evening Post; How Librarians Became American Free Speech Heroes

"What happened in San Antonio happened in other communities across the country, as organizations like the Minute Women stoked the public’s fears of communism. Librarians resisted in various ways to varying degrees of success. Then, on June 14, 1953, they received major support from President Eisenhower, who offered a highly publicized message bolstering free speech during his Dartmouth College commencement speech. Addressing the new graduates, the president told them, “Don’t join the book-burners… Don’t be afraid to go to your library and read every book"...

Librarians and other educators are fighting back against the assault on free speech. Earlier this year, the Florida Education Association (which includes librarians), along with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, filed suit against the Florida legislature to challenge its censorship agenda. And after conservative lawmakers in Arkansas proposed Act 372, which sought to “protect children from indoctrination” by allowing librarians to be brought up on criminal charges if they were found with items “harmful to minors,” the Central Arkansas Library System took the lead in filing a federal lawsuit to question its constitutionality. A judge agreed, and the act has been blocked — for now.

Libraries have always offered more than just books. At their center, they offer a community space with safety to explore identities, histories and cultures. As librarians past and present know, the loss of this intellectual freedom would be catastrophic to American culture and democracy. Which is why, over eight decades since the Freedom to Read Act was first passed, in 2021 the ALA put forward a new statement that condemned acts of censorship and intimidation, and promised to continue to defend patrons’ constitutional rights, and the freedom to speak, publish, and read. It ended with a direct reflection on the Freedom to Read Act, proving that the fight goes on.

Madison Ingram is a PhD candidate in history at Temple University, where she is working on a dissertation on Black librarians and segregated libraries in the U.S. South. A Georgia native, she is dedicated to highlighting the work of Southern librarians and educators.

Originally published on Zócalo Public Square. Primary Editor: Jackie Mansky | Secondary Editor: Caroline Tracey"

Foley Library director who refused to remove inappropriate material from children section departing for Wyoming; 1819 News, October 16, 2023

Erica Thomas , 1819 News; Foley Library director who refused to remove inappropriate material from children section departing for Wyoming

John Jackson was hired by the Campbell County Public Library System in Wyoming as its executive director.

The system's former director, Terri Lesley, was fired on July 28 following the discovery of what some called pornography in the children and teen sections of the Gillette Library. Lesley said she believed the public was being harmed by being unable to access various information. After being fired, she filed a lawsuit against the library system for discrimination and members of a family who reportedly defamed her by writing Letters to the Editor accusing her of illegal activity.

When residents in Foley voiced concerns in August about similar material, Jackson told 1819 News he would not remove inappropriate material from the children or young adult sections if he saw it.

"I have the ability to take it off the shelf, but I will not take it off the shelf because I will not be self-censoring," Jackson said. "I will not fall into the trap to becoming a censor and a book-banner because once you do that, where do you stop? You then become ruled by whatever anyone comes in and says they find offensive. I'm sure that someone could find content in virtually any book on the shelf offensive based on their personal beliefs, so once you start book banning, there's no end to it."

Jackson said he would stand against censorship and that moves against the books were also against constitutional rights."

Huntington Beach City Council to consider review board to stop some books from hitting public library shelves; Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2023

 MATT SZABO, Los Angeles Times; Huntington Beach City Council to consider review board to stop some books from hitting public library shelves

"Van Der Mark has said multiple times that what she is seeking does not amount to a book ban, but Chavez disagreed.

“They’re basically getting a committee to do the book banning for them, right?” she said. “It’s still a book ban. A library of our size orders about 9,000 children’s books a year, so I don’t know where they think the committee’s going to find the time to read these books. It doesn’t seem like a workable plan at all.”"

As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil; Salon, October 13, 2023

EVELYN NIEVES, Salon; As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil

"What began in Florida in 2021 with three conservative women (two former school board members from neighboring counties and a current school board member) now claims 130,000 members in 300 chapters in 47 states. ...

But Liz Mikitarian, a retired Brevard County, Florida, kindergarten teacher and founder of STOP Moms for Liberty, says she tried seeking common ground with the group for a year. She posted comments on Moms for Liberty’s Facebook page. “I was looking for dialogue,” she said. “They weren’t interested.”

Mikitarian knew one of Moms for Liberty’s founders, Tina Descovich, who had been on the Brevard County school board before losing her seat in 2020. The connection didn’t help.

She says she attended increasingly unruly school board meetings as Moms for Liberty jelled. “They were saying they were seeing things in classrooms that were not going on,” Mikitarian said. When she objected, she said, things got ugly.

She says she was mocked and doxxed. “They started calling me a pedophile supporter. It was nuts. And I thought to myself: What is going on? Are there other people feeling this is a straight-out attack on public education? That’s when I started STOP Moms for Liberty.”

The group, she said, now has chapters in over 40 states. Unlike Moms for Liberty, STOP Moms is unincorporated and has no paid staff or funding. Its growth, Mikitarian said, has come through social media."

Saline County Judge fires library director after months of debate over children’s access to books; Arkansas Advocate, October 9, 2023

 TESS VRBIN, Arkansas Advocate; Saline County Judge fires library director after months of debate over children’s access to books

"The Saline County judge fired the director of the county library system Monday, seven weeks after county officials gave the judge some power to hire and fire library staff.

Patty Hector, who ran the Saline County Library for seven years, said County Judge Matt Brumley and county human resources director Christy Peterson told her in person Monday morning that her “services are no longer needed.”"

How the Humble Paperback Helped Win World War II; The New York Times, October 6, 2023

Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times; How the Humble Paperback Helped Win World War II

"The paperbacks were intended to help soldiers pass the time. But they were also meant to remind them what they were fighting for, and draw a sharp contrast between American ideals and Nazi book burnings.

That’s an aspect of the story that has only grown more resonant, amid today’s partisan battles over book bans. And Manning, for one, sees a clear lesson.

“During World War II, the American public came out very much one way,” she said. “And that was that there should be no restrictions on what people read."...

Books were seen not just as diversions, but as weapons in the fight for democracy. In American propaganda, the dedication to the free exchange of ideas was explicitly contrasted with Nazi book burnings. In a 1942 message to booksellers, President Franklin D. Roosevelt extolled freedom of expression, which was at the heart of his idea of the Four Freedoms. “No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny,” he said.

But just how to get those weapons into soldiers hands was complicated. Shipping heavy books overseas was impractical. So in early 1943, the Council on Books in Wartime, a publishers’ group formed in 1942, approached Ray Trautman, the Army’s chief librarian, with the idea of producing special paperbacks for soldiers overseas. The result was the Armed Services Editions. which were designed to fit in either the breast or pants pocket of a standard-issue uniform."

Organizations Line Up Speakers and Demonstrations for Banned Books Week 2023; Publishers Weekly, October 3, 2023

Nathalie op de Beeck, Publishers Weekly; Organizations Line Up Speakers and Demonstrations for Banned Books Week 2023

"Banned Books Week runs October 1–7 this year. Although seven days won’t be enough to address the U.S. crisis over the right to read, BBW offers the chance to catch up on the issues and the grassroots actions under way in support of reading and writing.

Advocacy organizations have declared Saturday, October 7, a day to write a letter to an elected official, post about the freedom to read on social media, or put a local school board meeting on the calendar. American Library Association members call October 7 Freedom to Read Day, while PEN America followers refer to it as Banned Books Week Day of Action. Whatever the appellation, it’s an opportune time to champion the right to read."