Books aren’t the only thing being banned in U.S. schools and libraries. Banned Books Week has been targeted, too—often through quieter means, with library staff learning they cannot create displays, offer programming, or develop other awareness opportunities during the annual week-long campaign.
Library workers from nearly a dozen states shared where, why, and how Banned Books Week has disappeared from their institutions during this era of skyrocketing book censorship.
→ A flood of new state laws have led Texas libraries of all types to cut back on Banned Books Week displays and discussions.
- “Our committee chair stated that we needed to remove ALA references from our promotional materials, and we need to avoid referencing triggering subjects when it comes to our activities,” wrote one academic librarian.
→ Library administration feels the need to comply in advance, lest anyone in the community decide to target the institution for discussing banned books.
- “My branch manager has frequently voiced her concern over not aggravating the community. She’s particularly worried about displaying LGBTQ books, books on sexuality, or books about politics,” said a Missouri public librarian.
→ Banned Books Week isn’t safe in the 13 states that have Freedom to Read Laws, either.
- “There is to be no recognition of it whatsoever, and staff are forbidden to do anything that would support a controversial book,” said one public librarian from Maryland, a state that has one of the most robust and enforceable anti-book ban bills in the nation.
Book censorship was never the end game. It was a starting point. Banned Books Week erasure follows the same lines as the erasure of Pride from libraries nationwide.
- While the targeting of books and targeting of cultural and awareness campaigns is best known for coming from outside the institution–we have documentation for that, even if it’s limited–the reality is that quiet/soft/internal censorship is rampant, and we’ll never know the true extent.
Read more about the silencing of Banned Books Week and consider where and how you can take action to support and champion your local public schools and libraries. – KJ