It is not news at all – there is a lunatic fringe group of people who are spreading their hate and fear of other humans across the country – and trying to ban books. Instead of making a choice to not read a book and moving on with their lives – which is perfectly fine; these idiots are taking books away from ALL OF US!
This is beyond pathetic. Boards of all types of libraries need to stand up for their communities, and tell these few foolish little people to settle down and knock it off. Don’t let this happen to our libraries! Good grief – it’s okay to just say no when people want you to do ridiculous things. Remember: just because a few people say ignorant things does not make it true – and does not mean anyone else needs to listen!
This is an article excerpt from Teen Vogue, interviewing the President of the American Library Association. You can read the whole thing here!
“Public libraries are crucial spaces for learning and community building. They’re also experiencing unprecedented attacks. According to recent data from the Unite Against Book Bans campaign, there were 781 attempts to ban or restrict books and 1,835 individual titles challenged from January 1 through October 31, 2022. This is a huge jump from 2019 when there were 377 challenges. A large number of the books in question deal with issues of race, gender, sexuality, and identity, or are written by marginalized authors.
Book bans are only one of the issues that public libraries are currently facing. In Tennessee, lawmakers want to force librarians to list all the materials they offer and to conduct periodic reviews to make sure the materials are “age-appropriate,” a measure many librarians told Chalkbeat is unnecessary and beyond the scope of their job. Across the country, several librarians have been attacked or doxxed for standing up for books that are deemed controversial or worthy of being banned.
The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world, is a nonprofit that promotes libraries and public education across the United States. Teen Vogue spoke with the organization’s president, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, about the consequences of book bans, the importance of public libraries as community spaces, and how the ALA is fighting back against censorship across the country.
Teen Vogue: What particular challenges has the ALA been facing in the past few years?
Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada: We are seeing unprecedented levels of book banning right now. There is this small minority of people who want to ban books and they’re not suggesting individual titles, they’re coming in with huge lists of books that for the most part they haven’t even read. They are trying to silence diverse voices and ideas and using public libraries as a pawn in this fight.
Another one of the biggest challenges we’re facing in the library profession is a lack of funding and a lack of institutional support for both libraries as institutions and library workers to be paid fair wages. To be a librarian you have to have a master’s of library and information science and the starting pay does not always equate to a master’s-level salary. This is also related to the defunding of education in general.
TV: What is the process of a book getting banned from a public library? Who ultimately makes the decision and how is the library involved?
L P-L: It varies. At my public library [in California], for instance, the process is that if someone doesn’t want a certain book to be at the library, they will have a conversation with either the adult or children’s services manager, depending on what department the book is from. After that, the department manager will explain to them why we bought the book and who it might serve. If they still want to do a formal challenge then they’ll fill out a form. Then a subcommittee of staff is formed to read the book and review the complaint to see if it has merit. And then a response is given. At some libraries, the committee that is formed to review the book is made up of both community members and staff.
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But we are also in an interesting time right now where there are these really high-profile people, like governors or congresspeople, who want to use a book ban as part of their political platform. For example, there was recently a lawmaker in Texas who wanted to [potentially] ban more than 800 books from libraries and the curriculum throughout the state. The way governors and politicians get around the formal processes is through legislative acts.
TV: What are the consequences of book bans on different demographics who rely on the library?
L P-L: The main consequence is that our students, our children, our patrons, and adults don’t have access to certain ideas, or to ideologies that will help them create more empathy and understanding for one another even if we don’t come from similar backgrounds.
There are consequences for library workers as well, as we’re seeing mounting legislation against us. There is a bill in the state of Oklahoma that says a library worker can be fined merely for providing access to information on abortion. Librarians are being doxxed and many of them are facing harassment that they are too afraid to speak out about and report. “
You can read this whole article here!