“These demands to remove and restrict books and other library materials are not the result of any grassroots or popular sentiment,” read the ALA’s 2025 State of America’s Libraries report, published on Monday. “The majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from well-funded, organised groups and movements long dedicated to curbing access to information and ideas.”
#BookBans #libraries #education #diversity #DEI #censorship #schools
/2
"72% of demands to censor books were initiated by pressure groups, government entities and elected officials, board members and administrators, reported the American Library Association (ALA). Just 16% of ban attempts were made by parents, while 5% were brought forward by individual library users."
~ Ella Creamer
#BookBans #libraries #education #diversity #DEI #censorship #schools
/1
"To create a new American authoritarianism, Trump and Hegseth must invert our most cherished values, maligning truth-telling as divisive ideology and censoring critical scholarship in the name of freedom of speech."
#Trump #Hegseth #BookBans #libraries #education #history #whitewashing #censorship
/2
Robert P. Jones reports that his book White Too Long has been removed from holdings of the prestigious library of the US Naval Academy. He writes:
"This defilement of a respected academic institution by those who are waging an outright assault on higher education is, disturbingly, the goal. Honor and integrity are inconvenient stumbling blocks on the road to absolute power."
#Trump #Hegseth #BookBans #libraries #education #history #whitewashing #censorship
/1
https://www.whitetoolong.net/p/my-book-white-too-long-banned-from
𝗧𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱: Moms for Liberty removing books from elementary school libraries for age-inappropriate discussions of sex
𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱: Defense Department removing books from the US Naval Academy library for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion
https://apnews.com/article/military-academies-dei-hegseth-trump-ba9731f24b4eb4bd9c02b568209f97af
Each year during the American Library Association’s “Banned Books Week,” librarians display famous books that have been challenged in the past as well as the most frequently challenged books in the present day. This book-centric approach seems to be the standard. By focusing on the books themselves, however, do librarians tacitly concede that these books are indeed controversial?
https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2025/rethinking-banned-books-exhibits/
Via Kelly Jensen: "South Carolina State Board of Education members question the mechanisms giving one person power to ban books state wide and table the decision to remove 10 more titles from schools. This is an outcome that wasn't expected, and the feedback many of the SC BOE members gave was really, really good. Some have figured out they've become a tool of an agenda (though they say it much more diplomatically)."
#Libraries #SouthCarolina #BookBans
https://bookriot.com/south-carolina-postpones-vote-on-banning-10-books-statewide/
Lawmakers in Texas are seeking to impose harsh criminal penalties on school librarians and teachers who provide award-winning works of literature to students.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/texas-bill-prison-teachers-librarians-books-sexual-profane-content-ban/ #BookBans #BookBanning #Censorship #Literature #Politics #Republicans #GOP #Texas #Books
URGENT #CallToAction
Via Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social:
"Hunterdon NJ is an anti-library region on par w Florida. LGBTQ+ books have been attacked for 4 years. Now town fathers are closing Bunnvale Library, a vital resource for educational programs, access to books & a safe space for all ages. E-mail the Lebanon Twp Comm before 4/2 to save the library."
"we, as Americans, have been living the Project 2025 playbook since at least 2021."
I will argue that it's been going on far longer than just 2021--ask any marginalized person in the U.S..
#Libraries #Project2025 #Censorship #BookBans
https://bookriot.com/librarian-criminalization-bills-are-growing/
Via Kelly Jensen: "Rutherford County Library System (TN) just banned any books "promoting" transgender issues to minors.
This is a public library. Because, as we've said over and over, the "we're only doing it at schools" was a lie all along.
This will continue to happen. "
Keeping children ignorant from sexuality to gender issues, by the way, endangers them, always.
#Libraries #BookBans #TransRightsAreHumanRights
Beware: url for article uses as transphobic slur
New evidence that #BookBans backfire.
https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mksc.2024.0716
"We find that the circulations of banned books increased by 12%, on average, compared with comparable nonbanned titles after the ban. We also find that banning a book in a state leads to increased circulation in states without bans…Books with higher visibility on social media following the ban see an increase in consumption."
PS: It's not clear how much book bans would backfire without protests and publicity. But it's now clear that protests and publicity help them backfire. Keep it up.
@romancelandia @bookstodon #Romancelandia
"The guide to contested Illinois public school board elections, taking place April 1, is live.
This guide is different from the public library guide, in that it's intended to be 1. collaborative and 2. an exercise in how to find info on local elections."
#Libraries #Illinois #BookBans
https://buttondown.com/wellsourced/archive/the-illinois-library-lovers-guide-to-public/
Gemeinsam mit der Kommission für Queere Hochschulpolitik der #bukof (Bundeskonferenz der Frauen- und Gleichstellungsbeauftragten an Hochschulen) organisieren wir Queerbrarians ein queeres Online-Event zum #WorldBookDay 
Nach einem einführenden deutschen Vortrag von mir sprechen Eve & Lucie. Sie kämpfen gegen die #BookBans in ihrem County in Tennessee.
Das Event ist kostenfrei und braucht keine Anmeldung. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen.
Flyer & Infos
https://queerbrarians.de/2025/03/13/online-veranstaltung-zu-banned-books-am-welttag-des-buches/
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:eclio37ymobqex2ncko63h4r/post/3lka2ibians2y being passed around
Here's the #Trump Dept of Education form "to report illegal discriminatory practices" in #schools. But it's really about #DEI. (See the URL.)
https://enddei.ed.gov/
I hope some parents take it at its word and report #prayer in public schools and the removal of #books from #libraries.
Legislators like Rep. Bethany Soye want to jail librarians, teachers, and historians in South Dakota for lending, you know, "harmful" books to kids. The bill will now go to the Senate
How surprising, MAGA claims are lies.
Most banned books feature people of color and LGBTQ+ people, report finds
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/banned-books-people-of-color-lgbtq
#LGBTQ #BookBans #Censorship #Race #Censorship #Politics #Transgender
Since Amazon will remove the ability to download ebooks by the 28th of Feb. Why not backup your audible books too?
Resource and guides: https://github.com/rmcrackan/AudiobookHub
iOS App - Bound to listen to them: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bound-audiobook-player/id1041727137
Audiobooks for Plex: https://prologue.audio/
Libation - import audible and remove DRM: https://github.com/rmcrackan/Libation
