Public libraries, once considered the backbone of America’s civic infrastructure, are now under attack in many places across the country. Every day, librarians are harassed, threatened and intimidated for doing their jobs by people who want to turn libraries into bloody battlefields in the culture wars that are dividing this country and undermining democracy.
States like Florida and Texas have passed laws to regulate, restrict or censor the material that libraries can offer their patrons. Efforts to ban books have even occurred in Massachusetts, among the bluest of blue states.
According to an article in Time, in 2022 “(T)here were 1,269 attempts to censor library books, the highest number of attempted book bans in the two decades. During this same period, 2,571 unique book titles were targeted for censorship, an astonishing 32% increase over 2021, with 40% of book challenges occurring in public libraries, while the remaining nearly 60% occurred in school libraries.”
But we are beginning to see some long overdue push back, as states like California, Connecticut and New Jersey are now considering legislation to protect libraries and librarians. Other states need to follow their lead.
Threats to libraries are real and growing, and action is urgently needed. The fate of democracy and the fate of public libraries are inexorably linked.
As Professor Paul T. Jaeger and his colleagues note, “From the beginning of the American republic, some leaders saw the library as a social institution that could simultaneously diffuse knowledge to members of society and prevent the wealthy and socially elite from having hegemonic domination over learning and education.”
Benjamin Franklin established first library in this country, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in November 1731. It was, however, a subscription library and supported by its members.
In 1813, Congress passed legislation “to ensure the dissemination of printed legislative and executive materials to selected state and........