It is always nice to see authors expound upon the importance of libraries. A book by Jojo Moyes ‘Still Me’ contains the following commentary: “You gotta have your places for community. You gotta have places where people can meet and talk and exchange ideas and it not just be about money, you know? Books are what teach you about life. Books teach you empathy. You shut a library, Louisa, you don’t just shut down a building you shut down hope.”
We generally talk about Banned books during Banned Book week, but with the current trials Libraries are facing in today’s social environment; it is time to revisit this issue. Access to books is central to learning and growth and book bans only harm communities.
Book bans are nothing new, but there were more censorship attempts in 2021 than at any time since the American Library Association began tracking more than two decades ago. As of April 7, 2022, the American Library Association revealed that it had tracked 729 attempts to remove library, school and university materials in 2021, leading to 1,597 book challenges or removals.
The battle that has started “is a dangerous expansion of secret censorship happening across the country. It is an opening salvo in a censorship battle that is unlikely to end well for proponents of free speech in this county.”
There are a growing efforts in communities across America where activists have mounted challenges to books and other content related to race, sex, gender and other subjects they deem inappropriate. Activists in several states, including Texas, Montana and Louisiana have joined forces with like-minded officials to dissolve libraries’ governing bodies, rewrite or delete censorship protections, and remove books outside of official challenge procedures.
“The danger is that we start to have information and books that only address one viewpoint that are okayed by just one certain group,” said Mary Woodward, president-elect of the Texas Library Association. “We lose that diversity of thought and diversity of ideas libraries are known for — and only represent one viewpoint that is the loudest,” said Woodward.
EveryLibrary, a national political action committee for libraries that tracks such challenges, said it has seen “dozens of new attacks” on libraries, their governing bodies and policies since the first of the year — in Texas as well as ongoing cases in Montana and Louisiana. In some cases, the challengers are being assisted by growing national networks such as the parental rights group Moms for Liberty or spurred on by conservative public policy organizations like Heritage Action for America, the ALA states.
Suzette Baker maintains “You’re taking away people’s freedom to read books and that’s not right. Your intellectual freedom, your mind, is one of the only things you ever truly own. You can’t go against that.”
Libraries are under attack. They are facing unique challenges today. Once these efforts start and become successful, where does it end? One can relate these challenges and efforts to the days prior to Nazi Germany.
“The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, communist, socialist, anarchist, liberal, pacifist, and sexologist authors among others. The initial books burned were those of Karl Marx and Karl Kautsky, but came to include many more authors, including Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, writers in French and English, and effectively any book that was not ardent in its support of Nazism.”
Some of the most controversial books in history are now regarded as classics. The Bible and works by Shakespeare are among those that have been banned over the past two thousand years. Many historians point to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the first book in the United States to experience a ban on a national scale.
Not only are these challenges endangering your right and freedom to read what you want and learn; they are endangering library staff.
Due to a dramatic uptick in book challenges and outright removal of books from libraries, ALA’s Executive Board and the Boards of Directors have released the following joint statement regarding attempts to remove materials:
“In recent months, a few organizations have advanced the proposition that the voices of the marginalized have no place on library shelves. To this end, they have launched campaigns demanding the censorship of books and resources. Falsely claiming that these works are subversive, immoral, or worse, these groups induce elected and non-elected officials to abandon constitutional principles, ignore the rule of law, and disregard individual rights to promote government censorship of library collections. Some of these groups even resort to intimidation and threats to achieve their ends, targeting the safety and livelihoods of library workers, educators, and board members who have dedicated themselves to public service, informing our communities, and educating our youth. ALA strongly condemns these acts of censorship and intimidation.
We are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals of all ages to use the resources and services of libraries. We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
We stand opposed to censorship and any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion, or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed orthodox in history, politics, or belief. The unfettered exchange of ideas is essential to the preservation of a free and democratic society.
Libraries manifest the promises of the First Amendment by making available the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas, so that every person has the opportunity to freely read and consider information and ideas, regardless of their content or the viewpoint of the author. This requires the professional expertise of librarians who work in partnership with their communities to curate collections that serve the information needs of all their users.
In 1953, when confronted with comparable threats to our democratic values, the American Library Association issued the Freedom to Read Statement, a declaration in support of the freedom to think or believe as one chooses, the freedom to express one’s thoughts and beliefs without fear or retaliation, and the right to access information without restriction. ALA’s Executive Board, staff, and member leaders reaffirm not only the principles of the Freedom to Read Statement, but also the daily practices that ensure it continues to inform the profession and that library workers and library trustees have the training, information, tools, and support they need to celebrate and defend their communities’ right to read and to learn.
With the freedom to read under threat, the ALA, including its Executive Board, Divisions, Roundtables, and other units, stand firmly with our members, the entire library community, allied organizations, and all those across this country who choose to exercise their right to read and access information freely, and we call on others to do the same.”
So who do you want to choose what you read – you or someone else that doesn’t like your viewpoint or beliefs?