#book banning

[afriblaq]

Why

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

More than 10,000 books were banned from public schools in the 2023-2024 academic year, nearly triple the number from the previous year, according to preliminary findings from PEN America, a group that advocates for freedom of expression. PEN America recorded 3,362 bans nationwide in the 2022-2023. It will release the final count for the 2023-2024 school year later this fall, along with an Index of School Book Bans and a detailed analysis of the content of the banned books. The preliminary results were released Monday as Banned Books Week began. “In part due to the targeting of sexual content, the stark increase includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color,” says a PEN America press release. The main forces behind the book-banning movement are state laws and groups and individuals that claim to espouse parental rights as an excuse to remove books from shelves. Iowa and Florida, both of which have laws that enable book bans, accounted for about 8,000 of the book bans in 2023-2024.

Iowa’s law prohibits books with any depiction of a sex act, and this has been interpreted to ban books with any content related to sex or gender, and the law also contains “don’t say gay” language that has been used to ban LGBTQ+ content. The statute went into effect in July 2023, leading to thousands of titles being banned in the 2023-2024 school year, up from just 14 in the previous two academic years combined. Under Florida’s law, which became effective at the same time, any book that is challenged has to be removed while it’s under review, and this “has been linked to a significant rise in book bans during the 2023-2024 school year,” PEN America reports. New laws in Utah, South Carolina, and Tennessee are likely to lead to increased book bans in the 2024-2025 school year, the group notes.

According to PEN America, more than 10,000+ books were banned during the 2023-24 school year. Iowa and Florida are responsible for around 8,000 of the book bans for the 2023-24 school year. A large portion of the books banned feature pro-LGBTQ+ and/or pro-diversity content.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Book bans have increased nearly 200%. Florida and Iowa are partly to blame

[lakecountylibrary]

It's Banned Books Week! Indiana made it on to PBS News last month. Guess why!

The video at the link is captioned and has a full text transcript. No paywall. It discusses a censorship bill passed in Indiana last year (2023).

A few salient highlights:

Leah Johnson: (Indiana author, You Should See Me in a Crown) It's not about the removal of books from shelves. It's about the removal of queer people from public life. It's about making queer people ashamed and afraid and driving them back into the closet.

Max: (Indiana teen) The first book that I read wasn't the reason I realized I was trans. It was just nice to see once I realized that, and I see that represented a book. So now that it's not being represented, it might be harder for people to realize or even just feel safe in their own identity, and that's my concern.

Jim Tomes: (Republican Indiana State Senator, co-author of the bill in question) Well, maybe they should worry. [...] Maybe it should have the chilling effect [...] I will say this, if you're defending these libraries and these books, you're on the wrong side of things.

-- The bill being discussed in this video went into effect last year after a drawn-out fight in the Indiana legislature. We wrote about the fight here. (Scroll down for the reblog with the final update)

We expect next year's legislative session to go further, introducing harsher restrictions and targeting public libraries and librarians in addition to schools and teachers. Keep an ear to the ground if you're in Indiana - your library may need your help in 2025.

Incidentally, and totally unrelated, have you checked your voter registration lately? Local elections matter!

[batboyblog]

So in the latest "ban books!" controversy there's a picture book for pre-schoolers called "Grandad's Pride" the objection is that some of the illustrations of Pride involve men in leather

and I could go on and on about how yes that is in fact something you might see at Pride out in public so why would you not include it but.....

here's an unrelated image of popular children's cartoon character He-Man in a Harness (and fury underpants) if its only a problem when gay men do it, thats homophobia...

[greencreeker]

Seattle Public Library is doing this awesome program called Books Unbanned that allows teens and young adults (ages 13-26) access to their collection of e-books and e-audiobooks from anywhere in the USA. All you need to do is fill out a simple form and you get their Books Unbanned card. Please share this information far and wide. I know they're not the only ones to have done this, but the more the merrier!

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[the-forest-library]

The governor's little, free symbol foreshadowed a big, free policy change. In May, Walz signed a Minnesota law "banning K-12 schools, colleges, and public libraries from complying with [book] removal requests... based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea, or opinion conveyed." The act meaningfully protects LGBTQ+ books from the crosshairs of conservative censors.

While unveiling the Little Free Library, Walz affirmed his commitment to free reading. "In Minnesota, we are focused on investing in education, our future, and children and families across the state. We're not in the business of taking books away from kids and schools and we certainly don't believe in banning books that tell our history," he told reporters.

[randimason]

@neil-gaiman receiving the the Visionary Award at The Art of Elysium’s 2024 Heaven Gala, January 6, 2024

[pantheonbooks]

“I feel like they want a kinder, gentler Holocaust to present.” —Art Spiegelman

Two years ago, the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee banned the first—and only—Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novel from their 8th grade curriculum: Art Spiegelman's Maus.

[cucubert]

Find these quality shitpost designs and more at Library Renegade

[liyazaki]

via the Arkansas Advocate

it’s official: in Arkansas, library staff may now be charged with a Class D felony for providing books to their communities that are deemed “obscene”.

in Florida, school librarians and teachers can be criminally charged for checking out books to kids that dare to touch on LGBTQ topics & gender identity, thanks to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

book censorship in the US is at such an all-time high, book sanctuaries are popping up all over the country.

library staff aren’t physically safe, either. just over the past couple months, threats against libraries and their staff resulted in the temporary closure of “five public library systems due to bomb and shooting threats," ALA. active shooter trainings have become the new norm for me.

the censorship myself and my colleagues have been watching unfold over the last several years has felt like watching a slow-motion car crash.

but this bill? this feels like a death knell for my profession.

via Teen Vogue

when I was a confused queer kid growing up in an ultra-religious household, the library was my refuge. when I asked hard questions, librarians listened and gave me the tools I needed to answer them. in many ways, libraries saved my life. it's why I became a librarian.

I can't believe I'm living in times where future generations of kids may not have access to the same refuge I did, but it's happening.

if you live in the US and you care about protecting open, equitable access to information, please check out the American Library Association for anti-censorship resources in your state, info on contacting your representatives, etc.

you can also report censorship you see in your community and ALA will investigate (1-800-545-2433, ext. 4266; oif@ala.org).

I know this isn't my usual content, but libraries are standing on the edge of a horrifying precipice- one we can't escape on our own.

libraries are free society's canary in the coal mine, and all the alarms are singing. when libraries fall, nations usually aren't far behind.

this matters- and we need help.

[lakecountylibrary]

Bill Criminalizing Librarians Revived - again.

April 21, 2023: After the sound defeat of language calling for felony charges against librarians and educators in SB 12 and SB 380 earlier in April, the Indiana legislature is once more considering criminalizing librarians and educators for the materials on their shelves.

Here's the Indiana Capital Chronicle on the situation:

The legislators themselves don't know yet what bill the language will be slipped into, but we expect they'll hear it next week, possibly as early as Monday, April 24.

What To Do:

They're moving fast, so if you live in Indiana and feel strongly about libraries and censorship, please call your reps and senators NOW. Even if you already contacted them earlier this session!

Here's how to find and contact your legislators: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/

Here are some talking points and the general gist of our concerns:

Charging librarians and educators with felonies is not an appropriate response to the issue of challenging books.

It is a librarian or educator’s job to ensure that children have access to a range of well-reviewed quality books. They are trained and follow objective processes for material selection.

Libraries and schools already have processes in place for challenging books on their shelves, and these processes work.

And here's our own webpage where you can catch up on the situation and stay updated: https://www.lcplin.org/billupdates

If you don't live in Indiana:

Please do not contact the Indiana legislature about this! Instead, you can just hit that reblog button and help us reach as many people as possible.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued support of libraries and librarians!!

EDIT: This version has been getting notes lately - please see the final update from 4/28/23 to see how everything resolved. (It was a bit of a mixed bag.) Thank you!

[robynochs]

"Are we removing books from any school or media center, Prek-12 if a character has, for example, 2 mothers or because there is a gay best friend or a main character is gay?" the librarians asked. Charlotte County Superintendent Vianello answered, "Yes."

What is happening in Florida is extremely dangerous. We must take a stand against book banning.

LGBTQIA+ people are here, we are numerous & we will not rendered silent or invisible. Those days are long past. Children DESERVE accurate information about our history & our present.

[liberalsarecool]

The bad guys are regressive Republicans.

[witchern]

because fuck book bans (especially book bans that target fiction for teens), the brooklyn public library is opening up free membership nationwide to people ages 13-21. if you or someone you know wants to take advantage, now's the time!

📚 learn more about the BPL's "books unbanned" initiative here.