Children's Books discussion
Banned Books: discussions, lists
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Discussion of censorship, equity, and other concerns.
Manybooks wrote: "https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/austral...I think it is totally hilarious how Donald Trump and the Republicans are helping Liberals and Socialists attain and/or retain power..."
The sad thing is that Donald Trump will never know how badly he played things. He doesn't read, and his minions are terrified to tell him.
Mod
I think it is totally hilarious how Donald Trump and the Republicans are helping Liberals and Socialists attain a..."
Sad but true ...
EveryLibrary has a petition to save IMLS! Love interlibrary loan? Digital books? Audio books? Computers? New books that make you think and feel? Without IMLS library budgets will be dramatically reduced and libraries will have to cut services and/or hours to make ends meet. https://action.everylibrary.org/email...
"On May 2, 2025, the Trump Administration released its FY2026 federal budget proposal. On page 39, it boldly calls for completely eliminating the budget for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. IMLS provides funding to replace technology and infrastructure. Many rural and urban communities depend on these grants to continue operations and provide essential community services. In small towns and big cities, museums are vital to sharing the arts, extending our cultural memory, and connecting us with people we’d never otherwise have met. IMLS is a primary source of federal grant funding to expand state and local resources to educate students, preserve and digitize collections, and connect families with their communities."
Podcast: Confronting Book Bans: Insights from PEN America | BookTrib.https://booktrib.com/2025/04/30/booka...
Why are book bans happening in Tennessee? https://www.wbir.com/article/news/edu...
Behind the bans: Fewer titles are available in East TN school libraries after book removals
The state's Age Appropriate Materials Act has been interpreted differently in different school districts across Tennessee.
School districts have taken different approaches to book removals, depending on how they interpret the state's Age-Appropriate Materials Act. In some cases, hundreds of materials have been taken away from students. In other schools, library shelves have scarcely changed.
A list of the number of books removed from different school districts is available below.
Knox County Schools: 48 titles removed
Jefferson County Schools: 11 titles removed
Roane County Schools: 181 titles removed, relocated to older grade levels or retained
Oak Ridge Schools: Over 300 books pulled
Monroe County Schools: 574 titles removed
PEN America has challenged book removals across the country. Sabrina Baeta, a member of the nonprofit's Freedom to Read Team, said the books barely have anything in common.
"One thing that really combines all banned books together is the fact that they're banned," she said. "Schools were hugely vulnerable to an attack to this kind of thing."
"We saw a huge increase in book bans in schools in the fall of 2021, and really this was promoted by groups, very coordinated groups," she said.
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Baeta also said the group typically touts that materials it considers explicit can fall into the hands of children. She emphasized that titles like "Gender Queer" or "The Handsmaid's Tale" are typically only available on high school shelves, made available by librarians for students typically over 14 years old who are in the process of exploring their own identities and perspectives on the world.
Don Bosch, a legal analyst for WBIR, said Moms for Liberty and groups like it can often misrepresent the values of a community.
"I would urge parents to make sure that the people objecting to a title are doing so fairly, and do represent the values of your community," he said. "I'm always critical of providing less, versus more."
He said groups advocating for book bans can pressure Tennessee lawmakers to pass legislation, like the Age-Appropriate Materials Act, that can open the door for large-scale book removals. Advocates like PEN America said that when books are banned, titles are not just removed from shelves.
They said voices are silenced, and perspectives on the world are taken away.
A ban on book bans: Oregon bill would protect access to library materials https://www.salemreporter.com/2025/05...
The bill does not remove existing standards for determining if a book is appropriate, but it adds the additional requirement that a book cannot be excluded or removed because of the perspective it represents, said bill sponsor Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland.
“If folks only allege there’s inappropriate material when that material is by or about a protected class, then that’s when there’s a problem,” Frederick said.
This is the second time Frederick brings this bill to the statehouse. Frederick proposed a similar bill last year, which passed the Senate in a 17-12 vote, but the bill died as the five-week 2024 legislative session ended. This year’s attempt passed the Senate on a party-line 18-10 vote and awaits action in the House.
Most testimony in support of bill, but Republican lawmakers call it ‘redundant’
Most of the fifteen people who signed up to speak to the committee supported the bill, including several parents, an author and representatives from LGBTQ+ and library advocacy groups such as ACLU of Oregon and the Oregon Library Association.
“This bill is a tool to save Oregon schools and parents’ time and energy,” said Bridget Tyler, a Corvallis parent. “It doesn’t take power away from parents. It sets limits that prevent people who don’t have children in our kids’ schools from interfering in our choices.”
Three Republican lawmakers spoke in opposition to the bill, including Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, who said he is concerned that public school libraries carry inappropriate materials that are “sexually explicit” and have “heavy profanity.”
Rep. Emily McIntire, R-Eagle Point, said the bill is redundant because schools already must follow non-discrimination policies.
Rep. Dwayne Yunker, R-Grants Pass, said the bill would silence parents and school boards who raise concerns about education materials presented in Oregon public schools.
The committee will decide whether to advance the bill during a work session at a later date. From there, it would need a vote by the full House and then head to Gov. Tina Kotek, who could choose to veto the bill, sign it into law, or allow it to become law without her signature. Upon becoming law, the bill would take effect immediately.
Michigan - go students!Students gather at State Capitol to protest book bans
https://www.wlns.com/top-stories/stud...
Students gathered at the State Capitol Tuesday to read banned books, part of a protest highlighting what they say is a growing concern.
Books have been banned in a few Michigan school districts, including Dearborn, Portage, and Davison. No Mid-Michigan school districts have banned books, but students at Tuesday’s rally believe they need to fight back against what they call “non-inclusive curricula” for the sake of all students.
“We the people reject the erasure of our stories and the whitewashing of our curricula,” said Student Organizer Demetrius Davis.
“People should have their own right to choose what they want to do as people,” said eleventh grader Anuli Smith Black.
That’s why students and supporters took to the Capitol steps to read excerpts from banned titles and show their importance.
“When I hear that books are being banned, books that I grew up on, books my siblings grew up on, and books I want my younger cousins and younger siblings to grow up on, I just can’t stand by and let that happen,” said Black.
“Books are to preserve history and if we are banning books then we are guaranteed nothing but the whitewash version of the history books that we have in school,” said eleventh grader Janiala Young.
Students like Young say people banning books don’t want the public to be informed.
“Most literature is banned on the grounds of it being about people of color or people’s intersectionality as a whole,” said Young.
“They know that if we are educated, then we are unstoppable,” said Black.
Some supporters shared original writing and poems, and others sang powerful songs of protest.
After the rally, the group marched over to Representative Matt Hall’s office to deliver a collection of demands, despite the fact that Tuesday’s House session did not take place and Representative Hall was not present for the event.
North Carolina Librarians hold town hall fighting for funding, opposing book bans School librarians, educators, and families gathered at a town hall in Raleigh to advocate for increased funding for school libraries and to oppose proposed legislation aimed at banning certain books.
https://www.wral.com/news/education/l...
A group of school librarians, educators and families took part in a town hall to fight for increased funding of school libraries and to object to legislation aimed at banning certain books.
The Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) hosted the event at a facility in Raleigh with more than 70 people in attendance.
Chris Tutell, a librarian for South Garner High School, talked with WRAL News about what she calls inadequate funding for libraries within schools across the district.
“Students should be able to go from any school, from South Garner, to Southeast Raleigh, to Knightdale and see the same vibrant library collection,” she said.
Tutell said the content inside school libraries comes from principal-based decisions. She and others with Wake NCAE are fighting for a more equitable approach.
“We’re not asking for more money, we’re asking the district to reallocate the dollars they already have to pay for library books for all schools,” Tutell said.
In addition to funding, attendees discussed proposed legislation from the state level, which some view as a threat to school libraries.
The bill, HB 636, passed the state house earlier in April along party lines. If passed, the bill would setup a database of rejected library media and direct each local school board to form a 10-person community library advisory committee which would include five parents.
It would also create processes to review existing and future library books at the school level and review materials at book fairs.
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Librarian Jane Miller with Fuquay Varina Elementary School views the bill as a form of censorship.
“Libraries are being targeted at the state legislature, and it’s so unnecessary,” she said.
Others said the bill is ‘redundant’ and pointed to Wake Schools’ challenge policy allowing parents and others to determine what subject matter is appropriate for children to read.
Non-partisan group Pavement Education Project supports the bill, even going as far as curating a list of books for people to object to what they say could harm young minds.
The town hall ended with members encouraging attendees to contact legislators to voice their opposition to HB 636 and support for more funding.
Wake school leaders plan to address the topic during a facilities committee meeting in May.
North CarolinaNHC school board breaks policy, delays update on banned book ‘Stamped’ |
https://portcitydaily.com/latest-news...
Delays in discussing a banned book have led two New Hanover County school board members to call out the board chair for violating policy and propose a rule making it harder for it to happen again.
At Tuesday’s agenda review meeting, the board voted 4-3 against adding a discussion of “Stamped,” a book that was temporarily banned from NHCS curricula more than a year ago, to next week’s meeting agenda. Board members Tim Merrick, Judy Justice and David Perry were in the minority.
Anti-racism activist Ibram X. Kendi’s book, its full title “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” was barred from the curriculum after Katie Gates, whose child was reading the book in AP English class, challenged it in September 2023.
Republican board members who voted for its removal — Pete Wildeboer, Pat Bradford, Josie Barnhart and Melissa Mason — agreed with Gates’ claim the book was unsuitable for the class.
The book is advertised as a chronology of racist ideas since 1415, and despite the class’ goal of rhetorical analysis, Gates alleged the book went beyond argument and into anti-American and Marxist propaganda.
The ban was to stay in effect until the board updated its policies on supplementary materials and could choose what some members called “a balanced book” to add to the syllabus, possibly alongside “Stamped.”
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Justice inquired about her request to obtain an update on this progress at a board meeting. Chair Melissa Mason reported the matter would be taken up at the next curriculum meeting in June.
However, Merrick — who was censured for breaking policy last month — argued not taking up the topic after Justice emailed the board March 5 to address it was a violation of board policy. Policy 2330 mandates items supported by two board members must be added to the agenda within two meetings.
Emails obtained by Port City Daily show Justice’s request was backed up by Merrick. Per policy, the item would need to be on the May 2 meeting agenda.
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Republican Perry initially wanted to ensure the right people were in the room to discuss the book and give prepared presentations.
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Justice explained next week’s discussion would be under information and would serve as an update to the general public — not to re-litigate whether “Stamped” should be part of curriculum.
Perry changed his mind in the end and was willing to give 20 minutes to hear staff’s update.
Other board members suggested the discussion was politically motivated.
“I’m going to vote no because of the last board meeting we had,” board member Bradford said, referring to the April 11 hearing resulting in Merrick’s censure. “I don’t want to drum up any more fever in the community that’s already out there. I just want to have some peace and not fulfill campaign promises, not build my personal silo. I just want to do the business of teaching children.”
Merrick objected to the notion he was pushing the “Stamped” discussion because of politics.
“It could just as easily be said that the banning of the book is a campaign promise, so let’s put that [accusation] out,” he retorted. “We can’t decide which part of the public we want to show up and which part of the public we don’t want to show up — that’s not our job.”
Community members have been speaking out on the unresolved status of “Stamped,” some even emailing the board to criticize them for voting against taking it up next week. Advocacy group NHC Educational Justice has also scheduled a “Hands Off Book Rally” one hour before the May 6 school board meeting.
Justice replied she thought discussion would diffuse public pushback.
Board member Pete Wildeboer justified his vote against the discussion by saying the public was updated by observing the board’s agenda review conversation. Though, as Merrick noted, few people attend the agenda review meetings and the YouTube streams are only viewed around 250 times, compared to 2,500 regular meeting viewers (though the last several have been in the 700 range).
Though voted down to add to next week’s official board agenda, “Stamped” came up again indirectly later in the meeting during discussion of a proposed policy change that will appear on next week’s agenda.
Bradford asked at Tuesday’s agenda review meeting to discuss policy 2450 regarding suspension of board policies. It allows board policies “not established by law or contract” to be ceased temporarily by a majority vote of board members present at a meeting.
Merrick proposed the policy change to require a supermajority instead of a majority. This would mean more than four members would be required to approve halting policies temporarily.
Merrick made the suggestion based on multiple instances where the board has ignored its own policies. For example, he pointed to additions to the agenda as discussed regarding “Stamped” earlier in Tuesday’s meeting.
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Bradford suspected the change would violate Robert’s Rules of Order, which require two-thirds supermajorities for closing debate, suspending rules, and reopening nominations or polls.
“Robert’s protects the right of the little person, the small minority vote,” Bradford said, alleging the supermajority requirement would change that.
However, Robert’s Rules states supermajorities are a tool to protect minority rights by preventing the majority, particularly a certain political party in power, from steamrolling the rights of a minority. They are also used for bigger decisions, such as constitutional amendments and vetoes of the executive branch.
Bradford asked the board attorneys to weigh in on the issue.
Norwood Blanchard seemed stumped by Merrick’s suggestion to change the policy to a supermajority vote, saying he had never seen the issue come up before in regards to school board decisions. He concluded he couldn’t think of anything preventing the board from passing the policy change because the supermajority would be used for a procedural purpose.
However, he advised the board not to stray from majority rules for substantive decisions.
Blanchard said he would study the issue and be prepared for more definitive advice ahead of next week’s meeting, when the policy change will go to a vote.
‘We have something at the library that will offend you:’ Denver’s book chief says goodbyehttps://denverite.com/2025/05/01/denv...
Michelle Jeske has been with Denver Public Library for over two decades.
Jeske first joined the library in 2001, wearing multiple hats over the years. In 2015, she took a new position: City Librarian — the chief of the library and its 27 branches. In January, she announced that she would be stepping down from the role. She’s not exactly calling it retirement — she said she still plans to find ways to serve her community.
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While book bans or a conservative board takeover hasn’t happened in Denver, Jeske thinks it's important that the public rallies behind DPL.
“I think that public libraries are the cornerstone of democracy,” she said. “We have something at the library that will offend you, and there's something here that will offend me, and I think that's really important.”
While she’s adamant the role of the library has never changed, Jeske said DPL shifted resources to account for a role it has increasingly been asked to play by the city: a vital resource for people in tough circumstances, like unhoused people, immigrants and disabled people.
“I think it's central to democracy for people to be able to have access to information, resources, knowledge, no matter what your background,” Jeske said.
Post-pandemic lockdown, Jeske said the library helped people reconnect with society.
“I think our libraries in every neighborhood allow people to come together, whether they know each other or not,” Jeske said. “Sometimes I can see people just coming in to be by themselves, but be with other people at the same time.”
Denver libraries grew significantly during Jeske’s tenure. Her successor will likely oversee a continuation of this growth.
During her 10 years as city librarian, Denver voters passed multiple ballot measures that provided extra funding for DPL.
In addition to its physical growth, Jeske said the library has grown into the digital age. The library stocks a healthy variety of paper books, eBooks, audiobooks, digital media and music.
Another responsibility the library has picked up on is the digitization of media to ensure historic content is preserved for generations to come.
“We have also really invested in digitization of historic content, so our team is hard at work making sure that the [archive of the now-defunct] Rocky Mountain News that we own is going to be completely digitized and usable by the public, and we continue to digitize photos and maps,” Jeske said.
Denverites continue to be well-read, according to Jeske. Despite a pandemic dip, library circulation numbers are back up.
Most promising to her are the strong checkout rates of books for teenagers and children.
“Those people are going to turn into adults and there'll be a wonderful literate adult population,” she said.
Opinion piece from a Yale studentBanning books dissolves democracy
https://ctmirror.org/2025/04/30/banni...
A visual depiction of how we got to where we are now, as created by a community activist in Wisconsin.https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uplo...
https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uplo...
As explained and shared by Kelly Jensen of BookRiot
https://bookriot.com/the-state-of-us-...
Kelly Jensen reports:“A bill has been introduced to the Texas Legislature that could result in bookstores facing fines and legal costs if they place material deemed “obscene” within access of a minor.” It was never about “curating” collections at schools, nor at public libraries. It was and is always about eradicating the voices and people who don’t fall within the narrow confines of far-right white nationalism."
https://www.ktbs.com/news/arklatex-po...
House Bill 1375, introduced by Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, seeks to hold bookstores and other commercial entities accountable for selling or displaying content that includes nudity or could be considered harmful to children. The legislation would allow parents or minors to report objectionable materials, potentially triggering legal action.
If passed, the bill would not only impose fines but could also require bookstores to pay attorneys’ fees. Additionally, it allows for multiple lawsuits per offense, which critics warn could financially devastate small and independent bookstores.
“This bill also holds commercial entities accountable if they are knowingly distributing, transmitting, or displaying harmful material to minors in a way that is readily accessible or includes a minor's image, voice, and participation,” Schatzline said. “If a business is used to engage in an obscenity for the personal benefit of its owner, those people can be held liable.”
Supporters of the bill argue it is a necessary step to protect children from inappropriate content. But opponents say the legislation is overly broad and could have a chilling effect on bookstores’ ability to operate freely.
“HB 1375 threatens to no longer allow those young readers in our bookstores and ultimately could cause some bookstores to close their doors,” said Charley Rejsek, CEO of BookPeople in Austin. “An indie bookstore could go out of business just by having to settle one lawsuit. Bookstores have notoriously low profit margins, and one frivolous lawsuit could put one out of business.”
The bill includes protections for media organizations, and it follows a similar proposal that failed in the last legislative session.
HB 1375 is part of a broader effort by Texas lawmakers to crack down on nudity and explicit content in books available to minors. The legislation is currently under review in committee.
https://www.newsweek.com/texas-moves-...
The Texas Legislature in 2023 passed a bill forbidding school libraries from having any book among its stacks that "describes or portrays s--ual conduct" in a "patently offensive way" that are not required by the curriculum.
The legislation also specifies that a business could face multiple lawsuits over the same piece of material deemed obscene if more than one person decides to launch a case. Such material could be reported by either minors or their parents/guardians.
The bill does contain protections for media organizations including newspapers, magazines and TV stations.
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek, Schatzline said: "House Bill 1375 gives parents the tools to fight back against the sexualization of their kids. There is a flood of obscene material being spread through cell phones, internet sites, and even booksellers to children.
"This bill ensures that those who knowingly distribute obscene material to children—whether online or in person—can and will be held civilly liable. And to ensure fairness, we are also working on a committee substitute that allows businesses wrongfully targeted with frivolous lawsuits to recover the costs of their defense."
Addressing local television network KTBS, Schatzline said: "This bill also holds commercial entities accountable if they are knowingly distributing, transmitting or displaying harmful material to minors in a way that is readily accessible or includes a minor's image, voice and participation.
"If a business is used to engage in an obscenity for the personal benefit of its owner, those people can be held liable."
Charley Rejsek, who runs BookPeople in Austin, Texas, commented: "HB 1375 threatens to no longer allow those young readers in our bookstores and ultimately could cause some bookstores to close their doors."
In a post on X, the Texas Freedom to Read Project, which campaigns against book bans, said: "HB 1375, authored by Representative Schatzline, makes it easier for book banners and other bad actors to raise frivolous claims against local bookshops, big box stores, and online retailers over books they will falsely claim are 'harmful to minors.'
"The increased risk of lawsuits will make it harder for retailers to do business in our local communities and in Texas as a whole. What school district is going to work with a bookseller accused (falsely or not!) of distributing 'harmful materials to minors?'"
Speaking to news outlet Chron, Texas Freedom to Read Project co-founder Anne Russey said: "We've been told by people trying to ban books, 'don't worry, it's not a book ban, you can buy whatever books you want at a private bookstore.
"This bill is potentially making it harder for private booksellers to shelve and offer the kind of books that we've seen banned or challenged in public schools and libraries."
MissouriChristian County Library won't label LGBTQ books, will explore alternatives
https://www.news-leader.com/story/new...
For more than a year, some Christian County residents have called for books that contain LGBTQ topics or content they deem sexually explicit to be labeled or moved to a separate section within the Christian County Library system.
Due to legal challenges, the Christian County Library Board of Trustees unanimously decided April 22 it will no longer pursue labeling but instead will look into ways parents can be better informed of the type of materials present at the library.
The board had not revisited the topic of labeling LGBTQ materials since last fall, when library staff were instructed to research several subject headings that would fall under the LGBTQ umbrella and look into different sticker vendor options for labels. Trustee Janis Hagen brought up the topic April 22, noting that the board had received legal advice about the labeling issue. She said she was not in favor of labeling due to the legal risks the library would be exposed to and concerns about stigmatizing individuals. At the same time, she said, she was unsure how to move forward to address concerns raised by members of the public.
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Trustee Mary Hernandez de Carl said just because the library's legal advisers have noted that labeling may pose legal challenges doesn't mean the issue should be ignored.
"We can't ignore families who have stopped patronizing the library because of the organization of the content and how it's found," she said. "That's a preconceived notion that a lot of people have is that, well, this is driven by hate. No, it's not ... This is not an effort to disenfranchise people within this community, but we can't ignore a significant portion of our residents who are very unhappy with the current state of the library."
Hernandez de Carl instead suggested focusing on an educational campaign and promoting "informed consent" by communicating to parents the types of topics and materials that are available to their children in the library.
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"There is never going to be no exposure, and to pin all of that on the library, I think is unfair with today's society, with television, with electronics, with phones, and with books," Hagen said. "We are responsible to provide information to all members, all patrons, all members of the public. We are not responsible for holding their hand through the stacks."
Interim Executive Director Tory Pegram said library staff already have created a comprehensive resource guide for parents on a dedicated page of the website that provides information on how to monitor content, where different sections of the library are located within a branch and how to access the different services the library offers. She said when applying for a youth library card, parents are already required to assume responsibility for the materials their children check out, and the decision for children to have their own library card is left up to the parents, not required.
The board agreed to explore and bring forward options for what information about the types of materials available could be presented and how to disseminate it to patrons and parents. Trustee John Garrity said alternatives will arise as a new executive director currently in the interview process may have ideas and the board continues to consider changes to library policies, which Garrity is currently leading as the chair of the Policy and Bylaw Subcommittee.
The board received legal advice from former library attorney Harry Styron prior to the initial conversations in the fall. In legal memos, which were made public through a board vote, Styron provided an opinion based on case law that removing books would violate the First Amendment, while moving them based on content could pose risks, as well. The documents noted that labeling materials is not specifically addressed in case law, though a case out of Crawford County, Arkansas, dealt with a similar situation of labeling and separating LGBTQ materials and was found to be unconstitutional due to "viewpoint discrimination" and interfered with a person's right to receive information.
After hiring a new attorney, Robert Petrowsky, the board again asked for legal guidance on labeling materials. According to records obtained by the News-Leader through Missouri's Sunshine Law, Petrowsky billed more than $3,000 from November through mid-March to research and draft memos about LGBTQ issues, labeling and moving materials, and the legal parameters surrounding those actions.
The board voted to rescind its decision to make legal memos public moving forward and add them to the board packet April 22 after Petrowsky requested these remain closed records due to attorney-client privilege. A vote to do so retroactively failed, so the memo discussed at the meeting was made public.
PennsylvaniaShakeup of Warren County’s library’s board draws critics. It’s become politicized, they say.
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warr...
Residents from Hope, Harmony and Greenwich townships said they are concerned members of the Warren County Library Commission are political appointees getting in the way of the library’s regular operations.
They accused the commission of being uninformed about the library’s programming, responsibilities and financial challenges. They said some commissioners were over preoccupied with the buildings’ reading materials instead.
“I feel like they might try something underhanded” if the public doesn’t attend regular commission meetings, said Teresa Esposito Jackson, a Warren County resident and member of the Friends of the Warren County Library. She’s attended every meeting since the beginning of 2024.
Ruth Kanyuck, Tammy Koop and former Warren County planner Deborah Pasquerelli were named to the commission. Elizabeth Thomas was appointed as the new chairperson.
Kanyuck, Koop and Pasquerelli said they do not intend to bring politics into their new roles and were not informed about why the previous commissioners and director had resigned.
Residents at Tuesday’s meeting criticized Thomas’s political views, citing disparaging remarks she’s previously made publicly about some books in the library’s catalogue.
Thomas refused to respond to resident questions.
Thomas was a proponent of advertising BookLooks.org...
Arkansas‘Books, bathrooms and Bibles,’ new laws concern Fayetteville library director
‘Books, bathroom and Bibles’ bills said counter to purpose
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2025/a...
Paywalled
In some respects, yes they have that right to choose what they sell as a private business but they should have had a firm policy in place to begin with before ordering books AND state clearly in the company policy what they are. Doing it THIS way reeks of censorship and horribleness. Beloved Florida indie bookstore faces backlash after removal of LGBTQ titles
Escambia County, where Bodacious Bookstore & Café is located, has become a battleground in the national fight over book bans and censorship.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-n...
Staff members at Bodacious Bookstore & Café, an independent bookstore in Pensacola, Florida, say that when they were instructed to remove LGBTQ titles from the shelves, some refused, while others resigned in protest or quietly hid queer books to protect them.
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Now, many of the same stories are under scrutiny at Bodacious Bookstore & Café, owned by businessman and philanthropist Quint Studer and his wife, Mary “Rishy” Studer.
According to one current and three former employees, management began reviewing all store materials after receiving a complaint from a customer against profanity on a greeting card. They said that what began as a purge of purportedly profane materials, including greeting cards, stickers and book titles with swear words, quickly escalated into the quiet removal of more than 60 books from the store.
Roughly half of the books that were removed, the current and former employees said, featured queer stories or authors, including celebrity memoirs like Billie Jean King’s “All In” and Elliot Page’s “Pageboy,” as well as young adult novels like Casey McQuiston’s “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” and Alice Oseman’s popular “Heartstopper” series. Others included sex education books, popular young adult romances that don’t feature romance between LGBTQ main characters, such as “The Summer I Turned Pretty” by Jenny Han, and even books about the history of book banning.
Quint Studer and Studer Entertainment & Retail President Jonathan Griffith declined an interview. On Monday, Travis Peterson, a spokesperson for the Studers, said in a statement on behalf of the bookstore that it removed greeting cards that featured profanity because they were “inconsistent with our brand values.”
“We also began a thorough review of our inventory to ensure that books with explicit or graphic sexual content were not easily accessible to young children,” the statement read, adding that the review is ongoing.
The statement continued: “At no time were any books removed because of LGBTQ+ (or any other) subject matter, authorship, or genre. Any assertion to the contrary is not true, especially if made by former employees who are no longer involved with our operations. We stand by our decision as a privately owned bookstore to determine what titles and merchandise are suitable for our shelves or easily accessible by young children. Our goal is to be a welcoming place for every child and every family, and we believe that means not prominently displaying books and merchandise with profanity or explicit content.”
Bodacious Bookstore denied in a statement on Instagram last week that any specific categories are being banned. However, it said it “did temporarily pull some titles for review.”
“While many have returned to the shelves or been relocated to more appropriate sections, some will not return as we adjust our offerings,” the statement read.
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Nichole Murphy had been a volunteer at Bodacious Bookstore since 2023 helping to facilitate book clubs and community events. She had just begun working at the store on April 2 when, just six days later, the book removals started, she said.
Murphy said she was on the floor the day management began pulling LGBTQ titles from the shelves. She refused to participate in the removals themselves, she said, but was then directed to delete the titles from the store’s inventory system, which she reluctantly did. She spoke out, informing management that the exclusive removal of LGBTQ titles was discriminatory and that it violated the company’s own core mission, vision and values of inclusion and integrity, she said. In resistance, she hid queer books and documented each title removed from the system.
“I refused to pull any books from the shelves. There were never criteria for the books being removed,” she said. “Management started pulling anything that looked queer — books with pictures of two girls kissing on the cover or romance books with main characters that have the same pronouns. These were not sexually explicit or profane materials.”
Murphy, the former employee who asked to remain anonymous, and a current employee who requested anonymity due to fears of retaliation from the Studers, said O’Connor told them that she had a meeting with Rishy Studer, who, O’Connor said, told her to remove the LGBTQ books. O’Conner told the employees that Studer also directed her to then pull the witchcraft books, which the former employees say was an attempt to disguise the targeted queer removals. Murphy resigned on April 22, and books were still being removed up until her last day, she said. At least five of the bookstore’s 10 staff members, including Murphy, told NBC News they have resigned since the books began to be removed.
Regarding the meeting between O’Connor and Rishy Studer, Quint Studer said in an email that Rishy “never mentioned any specific titles or categories” and that “all conversations regarded language in the children’s area.”
O’Connor didn’t respond to a request for comment about the meeting.
According to Melissa Smith, the former manager of Bodacious Bookstore who resigned on April 28 over the store’s alleged censorship practices, it isn’t the first time LGBTQ books have been targeted.
Smith, who joined Bodacious in 2021, took pride in building its book club community and ensuring the store offered diverse and representative reading materials. She wasn’t in the store when the most recent removals began, as she had been on family and medical leave since early March. However, in July 2022, while she was out on vacation, she said, the store implemented a stealthy policy to exclude LGBTQ books from the children’s section after a customer complaint about the book “Melissa” by Alex Gino, about a young transgender girl. Despite the policy, one book, “My Mommies Love Me,” was mistakenly ordered for Mother’s Day and quickly pulled last month during the broader removal of queer titles, according to Murphy and the two former staffers.
“I even created a banned-book section in the store in February because of customers’ demand for these titles,” Smith said. “That’s the whole point of books: to either see yourself represented or understand someone else’s experience.
While the bookstore maintains it isn’t banning books or LGBTQ content, vetting books only to create a “family-friendly” space, Murphy and the two employees who asked to be anonymous also reported the removal of queer greeting cards and pride stickers, including a Mother’s Day card that was mistakenly identified as representing a queer family. Several former employees, authors and community members have questioned whether the definition of “family friendly” includes LGBTQ families.
Young adult author Ginny Myers Sain was scheduled to visit the store on April 26 for National Independent Bookstore Day to promote her new release, “When the Bones Sing.” However, she canceled her appearance after the store failed to clarify which books were being targeted for removal and what qualified as “family friendly,” later posting a widely shared statement on Facebook condemning the shop for censorship.
“We expect independent bookstores to be leading the charge against this sort of thing, not leaning into it,” she told NBC News. “Readers are counting on us. As someone who writes for teens, I feel that obligation particularly deeply. All kids deserve to be able to walk into their local bookstore and see themselves reflected and celebrated in the books they find there. And everyone knows that, in history, the people banning books have never been the good guys.”
According to former employees, bookstore management is using the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media to vet titles for removal or potential return to the shelves. While educators, librarians and families commonly use the platform to evaluate age ratings in books and media, Murphy and one of the employees who asked to be anonymous argue that it was never intended as a tool to restrict access to books. It remains unclear whether employees will be permitted to special-order queer books or other titles no longer carried in the store, as many report that all orders now require management approval.
“My manager told me that as a private business, they don’t have to sell or cater to certain people, implying queer families can shop elsewhere,” said the current employee who requested anonymity. “From both a political and business standpoint, I think it was a stupid decision to pull the books, because that’s actually more political than not pulling them.”
The employee said none of the removed titles have been returned to shelves, though the Studers contradicted that both in their public statements and to NBC News.
Conservative Texas School Board Voted Out Amid Book Bans - The same day the governor announced hisschool voucher policyhttps://www.newsweek.com/texas-school...
Voters in Mansfield Independent School District (ISD) overhauled the school board in the May 3 election, with challengers unseating incumbents—including the board president and secretary—in all three contested races.
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One Republican said after the loss, "Mansfield has gone to Hell."
State Democrats argued that the results were a sharp rebuke of Republican Governor Greg Abbott's Texas school voucher policy.
The election fell on the same day that Abbott signed new legislation making more than 5 million students eligible to receive state funds for private school education.
The state is set to allocate $1 billion over the first two years of the program to provide education vouchers for families. With the law's passage, Texas becomes the 16th state to extend public funding eligibility for private school tuition to all students.
It comes after the Texas Senate approved legislation that sought to increase parental control over the books available in public school libraries.
Senate Bill 13, filed last month by Republican state Senator Angela Paxton, passed with a 23-8 vote and now advances to the Texas House for consideration.
If enacted, the bill would shift final decision-making authority over new library materials from school librarians to local school boards. It would also establish a process allowing parents to request the removal of specific books, which would be taken off shelves pending a school board review.
Democratic Texas state Representative Chris Turner wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "There is something poetic that the day Greg Abbott signs his voucher scam into law, reform candidates in Mansfield ISD are running the table. Voters are angry about the way our public schools have been treated in #txlege and want strong, pro-public education leaders."
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The new school board members will likely push for policies that align with their pro-public education platform, potentially challenging some of the recent state legislation on school choice and curriculum.
Here we go this week. Kelly Jensen is back at BookRiot after family leave.South Carolina Bans 10 More Books From All Public Schools State-Wide
https://bookriot.com/south-carolina-b...
"After a promising State Department of Education meeting last month where members of the committee tabled a decision to ban up to 10 more books from public schools statewide, this month, the committee voted to ban all of the titles. Those 10 titles join 11 others banned from every public school in South Carolina and the new decisions make South Carolina the leader in state-sanctioned book bans.
"Due to Regulation 43-170 (R-43-170), decisions over content in school libraries is in the hands of the South Carolina Department of Education. Materials deemed to have 'descriptions of s--ual content' are inappropriate for schools and must be removed. What that phrase means is intentionally vague, allowing for the opinions of a small number of individuals within the state to decide on behalf of all students and parents statewide.
The ten books voted onto the list of banned titles were all challenged in Beaufort County School District in 2023. Each was voted on by the school review committee and allowed to remain on district shelves. One parent, Elizabeth Szalai, was behind the demands to remove nearly 100 titles challenged in Beaufort County Schools, including the above-listed titles just banned by the state. With South Carolina’s new law, she and others like her now have the opportunity to take their complaints beyond their own school district and potentially have books pulled from all public schools in the state. Szalai was also behind the complaints that led to the state banning four books in February.
"One single parent has had outsized power to have books banned across an entire state. One parent has been responsible for revoking the right for students to access books in every public school in South Carolina.
"Complaints over each of the books, both banned and retained, are available the South Carolina Department of Education’s website. Take the time to read them and understand these decisions are being made on conspiracy theories and cherry picked passages being distributed by Moms For Liberty and similar groups. One member of the board in today’s meeting suggested that some of the titles in question could be used by older students or librarians to “indoctrinate” younger people.
"For all the arguments about 'local control,' the power given to the State Board of Education to remove books statewide is the precise opposite. The South Carolina Department of Education is the arbiter of what is and is not accessible to students in public institutions across the state, not those who live or work in those communities.
None of this went down without a fight. At the State Board of Education Committee meeting, advocates for the freedom to read showed up to speak in support of the books being discussed and in support of both public school librarians and educators. Many, including members of ProTruth South Carolina, Midlands APPLE, Families Against Book Bans, and Liberation Is Lit held a read in at the lobby where the meeting was held.
Three states have legal mechanisms that allow for statewide book bans, though only South Carolina and Utah have used them so far. The other state is Tennessee. With the latest list of book bans, South Carolina has banned more titles than Utah, which currently has 17 books banned in all of its public schools."
The Latest from the Institute of Museum and Library ServicesA temporary restraining order halts further dismantling of the only federal agency for libraries, but the 2026 federal budget calls for eliminating the IMLS completely.
Background:
Two different lawsuits were quickly filed against the administration for these cuts. The first, Rhode Island vs. Trump, came from 21 state attorneys general. The second, ALA vs Sonderling, came from the American Library Association and AFSCME, the largest public employee union in the US. The first case had a motion hearing in late April, with the judge expressing a frustration with a lack of evidence provided by the defendants. The second case had its motion hearing May 1, and Judge Richard J. Leon (appointed by George W. Bush) granted a temporary restraining order in the case. That ruling means there’s a temporary halt in further dismantling of IMLS. Both the plaintiffs and defendant in that case are to file a a status report by today, May 6, in order for the case to continue forward.
The temporary restraining order was sought as a last minute effort to pause what would have been a further firing of the barebones IMLS staff on May 4. While it does not save the agency as a whole, nor does the judgment change the fact that grants provided by the IMLS were revoked–including wholesale removal of Grants to States in California, Connecticut, and Washington, thanks to their grant applications mentioning the words diversity and equity–the decision was a dose of positive news amid a series of blows for libraries nationwide. The judge sent further encouraging signals for the plaintiffs, suggesting that the administration is violating the Administrative Procedures Act.
The President released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2026, which would begin October 1, 2025. That proposal includes a total annihilation of the budget for the IMLS. This is the only federal agency for libraries, and without a budget, not only would vital services at the state and local level be disrupted or outright eliminated–funds for interlibrary loan services, research databases, digital media access, and others granted by the IMLS flow to state libraries, which distribute that money to public libraries statewide–tribal, prison, and hospital libraries services may have little or no operating budgets at all.
Beyond the unquestionable damage this would do to public libraries and museums, with special pain for rural areas of the country, it also begs the question of where and how the information current Acting Director of the IMLS Keith Sonderling is seeking from state libraries will be used. In an email that went out to all state libraries in late April, Sonderling demanded three pieces of information:
1. What programs were being funded in the states by IMLS grants that ran counter to a host of anti-DEI executive orders published by the executive office
2. How the money provided by the IMLS’s Grants to States programs were being used to “cultivate an educated and informed American citizenry.”
3. How each state library planned to take part in the celebration of America’s 250th birthday next year. This piece is intimately tied to the IMLS’s new focus on being a propaganda machine, as outlined in March, and it is intimately tied to the America 250 agenda.
Agencies were to report all of this information by Monday, May 5–just days after the proposed budget eliminating IMLS was made public. If the department is up for complete annihilation, then this level of information wouldn’t be necessary. Not only does this feel like an opportunity to further perpetuate lies and disinformation about the role and purpose of libraries in the country, something that the IMLS already began to run with on their official agency Instagram account, but it also feels like a prime opportunity to cherrypick ideas for a rebranding of the Institute for Propaganda.
Since that letter arrived in state library inboxes, so, too, have letters informing individual state agencies that some of their IMLS funding has been restored by the administration. Some had previously received letters that various grant projects no longer served the needs of the administration and thus, funding was terminated (this letter was in addition to the original notice that funding was paused while the IMLS was being dismantled). Maine was able to scale back some of the layoffs the state library announced as a result of funding loss. Wisconsin announced receiving some of their grant money as well, noting that they have no idea how much of what was offered to them will actually arrive. The Library of Virginia shared the letter it received about reinstatement of their grant to digitize legislative petitions from the 18th and 19th century–a decision that came after the state library petitioned for those funds to be reinstated.
As noted above, while state libraries nationwide began to receive letters about cuts to their federal funding, three states were informed they’d be losing all of their funding from the Grants to States program. A source reports that at least two of those states, California and Washington, may have seen these canceled grants reinstated. No further information has been shared as of writing.
Goodish news
A mere hours after this look at the state of the Institute for Museum and Library Services went live, more big news dropped. The lawsuit filed by 21 state attorneys general sought an injunction on further dismantling of the federal agency on several merits, including that action taken on the Executive Order were unconstitutional. Today, Judge John J. McConnell issued that injunction and denied a stay from the current administration. Most important is the final piece of the injunction issued–the judge heavily indicates that the plaintiffs in this case will prevail and the actions taken to destroy the IMLS will be deemed against the law.
https://bookriot.com/the-latest-from-...
Picture books in the adult section, inaccessible to the intended audience? This is ridiculous! Bathe the Cat just happens to show two dads but isn't even about them. It's by no means a "gay" book! How is it explicit and harmful to minors? Daddy, Papa and Me? Mr. Watson's Chickens? SERIOUSLY? Why do they see s-e-x in everything where it isn't? What's wrong with THEM (and not the books)? And if the public doesn't want it, don't do it. That's not the way to retain control or cushy political jobs.Alabama
https://www.alreporter.com/2025/05/06...
In Spanish Fort, LGBTQ picture books housed in adult section
Minors must be 18 or have parental approval to access YA and adult titles like Hunger Games and Bathe the Cat.
In Alice B. McGinty’s “Bathe the Cat,” a family’s attempt to clean the house before Grandma comes goes hilariously awry as the members of the family mix up their subjects and verbs — feed the fishes and wash the dishes becomes wash the fishes and feed the dishes.
At the Spanish Fort Public Library, patrons will need to be 18 or older to check out the book themselves, or have a parent approve them to have access to the entire adult collection.
There is zero mention of s-x in the book, or even s--ual orientation. But the illustrations depict the family as having two fathers.
“Bathe the Cat” is just one of 36 books moved by the library earlier this year in response to code changes at the Alabama Public Library Service. The code changes require libraries to implement policies restricting “s--ually explicit” books from children and teen sections. The code does not address LGBTQ representation, but requires policies to restrict books “otherwise inappropriate for minors.”
APLS Chairman John Wahl told APR that could be interchangeable with the state’s definition of “harmful to minors,” which deals strictly with books meant to titillate readers.
Other LGBTQ+ children’s books that are now housed in the young adult collection include “Daddy, Papa and Me,” “Jacob’s New Dress,” “Mr. Watson’s Chickens,” and more.
It’s not just LGBTQ+ books that will require parental supervision or an adult library card to check out—popular youth titles such as the “Hunger Games” series is now inaccessible to teens as the Spanish Fort Public Library has determined the “young adult” section to mean “ages 18-25” rather than its traditional target audience of teenagers.
Because the young adult section is considered part of the adult department, only patrons with full-access library cards will be able to check out those books. Adults have full access and parents can voluntarily give their children full access to check out adult materials without them present.
Effectively, if a parent want’s their 14-year-old to be able to check out Hunger Games on their own, they must also give them access to more mature adult content available in the library.
Same thing Pasco County Libraries, FloridaChildren’s books with LGBTQ+ representation have been relocated to the “Parenting” section of the library.
Books with other “controversial” topics have also been moved like Ghost Boys, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped (on a different tab).
https://bsky.app/profile/flfreedomrea...
ArkansasCrawford County Library will foot the bill for lawsuit over segregation of LGBTQ+ children’s books
Federal judges sided with plaintiffs who alleged First Amendment violations, ordered defendants to pay the legal fees
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2025/04/...
PRH and Co-Plaintiffs Push Back on Florida Book Banning Lawhttps://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...
On April 29, in response to an April 1 request for summary judgment by Florida attorney general James Uthmeier and his legal team, the plaintiffs in Penguin Random House LLC v. Gibson urged Florida district court judge Carlos E. Mendoza to make his determination in a case targeting the improper removal of books from public school classrooms and libraries.
Plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed last August in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando division, include all of the Big Five publishers, plus Sourcebooks and the Authors Guild. They are joined by authors Julia Alvarez, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas, who assert that book removals violate authors’ free speech and harm their livelihoods. Two Florida parents also join the plaintiffs on behalf of their children, who could not use their school libraries to access specific books that they wanted to read.
Their case takes to task Florida’s state board of education, chaired by Ben Gibson, and Florida House Bill 1069, which “requires the suspension of materials alleged to contain pornography or obscene depictions of s--ual conduct…pending resolution of an objection to the material.” HB 1069 was signed into law by governor Ron DeSantis in May 2023, and has enabled the removal of public school and library materials.
In the filing, attorneys for the plaintiffs insisted that “the State Defendants devote nearly half of their brief to repeating virtually verbatim arguments that this Court has already rejected, effectively seeking reconsideration of this Court’s prior rulings,” adding that the plaintiffs “have suffered First Amendment injury that is traceable to and redressable by both sets of Defendants.”
The filing continued: “As the State Defendants admit, preexisting Florida law prohibited the inclusion of books that are obscene for minors in Florida school libraries.” The plaintiffs further note that, “even if the State Defendants had presented any evidence that Florida school libraries contain books that are obscene for minors—which they did not do—the solution would be to enforce the statute,” as established in Miller v. California (argued in 1972) and Ginsberg v. New York (1968).
Should judge Mendoza rule in favor of PRH and its associates, this would require the revision of a “mandatory objection form” for challenging school materials and the admission that HB 1069’s provision for book removal is unconstitutional. In their request for summary judgment, attorneys for PRH et al. write, “the Publisher Plaintiffs, Author Plaintiffs, and Student Plaintiffs ask this Court to remedy their own constitutional injuries, which remedies would also resolve the constitutional injuries suffered by similarly situated parties—other publishers, authors, and students, respectively.”
*sigh* I guess Utah couldn't let South Carolina beat them at the censorship game.Utah Bans 18th Book from All Public Schools Statewide
Public school students in Utah will no longer have access to WATER FOR ELEPHANTS and cannot have any copies of the book in their possession on school grounds.
https://bookriot.com/category/literar...
Utah passed one of the strictest bills related to books in public schools last year. House Bill 29 (HB 29) allows parents to challenge books they deem “sensitive material” and it also outright bans books from all public schools in the state if those books have been deemed “objective sensitive material” or “p----graphic” per state code in at least three public school districts or two public school districts and five charter schools statewide. The bill went into effect July 1, 2024, and it started with 13 titles on it.
The bill is retroactive, meaning that titles which met the state’s guidelines prior to the bill’s start date were included on the list. Per HB 29, any time a public or charter school removes a book deemed “sensitive material,” they must notify the State Board of Education. If that book meets the threshold of removals, all schools will be notified and expected to dispose of it.
There are now 18 books prohibited in any Utah public school. Of them, 16 are written by women, and their average publication date is 2011. This means that most of these books have been on shelves and available for many years and caused no issues until this manufactured crisis.
What is important to understand about the law is that despite claims this is about “local control,” schools in the state are forced to follow the decisions made in other districts. There are 42 public school districts in Utah, but two districts account for nearly 80% of the books banned statewide: Davis School District and Washington School District.
In January, Utah’s State Board of Education also further clarified the law as it applies to students. No students are allowed to bring their own personal or public library copies of any of the state’s banned books onto school campuses. Student freedom to even carry these books to class for their own free reading is against the law. The state goes so far as to issue guidance for how local educational agencies can approach students who bring any of the above 18 books to school.
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These laws do not apply to private or homeschool institutions. That’s intentional.
North CarolinaCan you get any more stupid?
NHC school board again votes down ‘Stamped’ discussion despite book ban protest
https://portcitydaily.com/latest-news...
NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Protestors outside the Board of Education Center rallied Tuesday against book-banning, but it didn’t change the school board’s mind when it came to taking up a book removed from curricula a year-and-a-half ago.
“Stamped” is a middle-school-level adaptation of Ibram X. Kendi’s adult nonfiction title that discusses America’s history with racist ideas and historical figures fighting them. It was temporarily banned from curricula, specifically an A.P. English class using it for rhetorical analysis, in September 2023. Those who voted for the ban — Pete Wildeboer, Pat Bradford, Josie Barnhart and Melissa Mason — all voted both times against bringing it up again.
Tuesday’s vote was almost in line with the vote to add the book to the agenda at last week’s agenda review meeting, though this time around board member David Perry voted against the addition.
“I voted at the agenda review meeting to put it on the agenda because the current policy states it should be,” Perry said Tuesday. “However, I believe, I’m in agreement with the chair: The curriculum committee is the best place for this to start.”
By not adding it to Tuesday’s meeting agenda, Chair Melissa Mason technically broke NHCS policy. Policy 2330 mandates items supported by two board members must be added to the agenda within two meetings; both Tim Merrick and Judy Justice asked for a status update on March 5.
Instead, Mason notified the public last week the book would be taken up by the curriculum committee in June.
In the time since the ban, the district was supposed to identify a book with an “alternative” perspective to potentially be taught alongside “Stamped.”
Board member Pat Bradford attempted to provide an explanation on the hold-up.
“In July of last year we had a superintendent change and we had the resignation of our chief academic officer — this just fell through the cracks at that point,” Bradford said on Tuesday.
The task of finding an alternative will now fall to the curriculum committee, though at Tuesday’s protest before the meeting, Merrick questioned what the other book assignment would be.
“What is the alternative view of antiracism?” he asked, as protestors from the crowd answered “racism.” “Does that mean we should be teaching our children racism too?”
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The rally also featured a speech from Simeon Cole, a student in the AP English class where “Stamped” was banned and local policy director of the American Youth Association. Cole said the inclusion of “Stamped” made him want to take the class, yet it was removed before he started the course. He also criticized the school board for treating the book “like trash” and being out of touch with what students care about.
“It makes no sense to me how they can say they foster education,” Cole said, “but they don’t support the views that aren’t theirs.”
Rachel Dole described the elimination of “Stamped” from the curriculum as a decision to thwart attempts to dismantle walls in the community.
“Your choices to keep peacemaking from happening, show your fear, not your power,” Dole said. “You do not have to fear the ‘other’ — the ones called ‘other’ are your neighbors, your doctors, your teachers, your bus drivers, your police.”
Katie Gates, the parent who challenged the book and advocated for its removal in the 2023 hearing on the matter, also spoke to the board Tuesday.
“When we hear a lie enough it becomes accepted as truth and that’s what happened with the narrative around ‘Stamped,’” Gates said. “It was never about banning a book or invalidating a Black man’s perspective. That’s what the media claimed and what some chose to believe, but it’s not truth.”
Gates explained she thought the book was inappropriate reading for an AP English and Rhetorical class. She claimed it contained inaccurate citations, personal bias, and conflation of facts with opinion — all observations a student would be tasked with evaluating in AP English and Rhetorical Analysis.
The College Board 2024 course guide explains the course’s objective this way: “Students will analyze what makes others’ arguments convincing or confusing, engaging or dull, persuasive or powerless.” In other words, the classroom discussion is geared around how the content was conveyed rather than beliefs on the content itself.
Though Gates still believed the book lacks credibility, she welcomed the curriculum committee’s review.
At the agenda review last week, Merrick clarified he was not against the book making its way through the curriculum committee to determine the alternative assignment and advocated for Tuesday’s discussion to act as a status update.
Emails obtained by Port City Daily show Justice made the request to discuss “Stamped” on March 5; Merrick backed it up. Per policy the item would have needed to be on the May 2 meeting agenda.
“Nothing in our policies confers the power to the board chair to unilaterally make that decision,” Merrick said, referring to Mason moving “Stamped” to committee. Merrick was censured last month by his colleagues in a 5-2 vote, after the chair accused him of breaking multiple policies.
He also pointed out the AP English curriculum has alternative viewpoints to “Stamped” already.
“There were many that were slanted left and slanted right,” Merrick said, though couldn’t remember the titles when asked by Port City Daily Wednesday.
The College Board’s sample syllabus includes George W. Bush’s speech after 9/11, FDR’s fireside chat “On Economic Progress,” biographies of Joseph McCarthy and Malcom X, business ethics op-eds from The Wall Street Journal, Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15,” and “Vindication of the Rights of Women” by Mary Wollstonecraft.
Still, the board’s Republican cohort was immovable from the committee route.
Fascism is alive and well. I am disgusted, disheartened, outraged and feel like curling up in a ball and crying. I know that's what they want but we have lost democracy. You CAN NOT fire a non-partisan position and make it partisan!First the Archivist and now the LOC? Non-political job folks. It's just records and books. Firing them is anti-Democracy. Just because they were both women and Carla Hayden is Black. Heaven forfend we have a mere female in the top job. I can assure you male special collections librarians and archivists are few and far between! There are SOME but not a lot.
https://www.aol.com/president-donald-...
President Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
Hayden, whose 10-year term was set to expire next year, had come under backlash from a conservative advocacy group that had vowed to root out those standing in the way of Trump's agenda. The group, American Accountability Foundation, accused her and other library leaders of [lies, spreading their disinformation and misinformation to promote their own agenda]
The article actually says: " promoting children's books with “radical” content and literary material authored by Trump opponents.
“The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids,” AAF said on its X account earlier Thursday, just hours before the firing was made public. “It’s time to get her OUT and hire a new guy [see, male person] for the job!
The unexpected move Thursday against Hayden infuriated congressional Democrats, who initially disclosed the firing.
“Enough is enough," said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who called Hayden "a “trailblazer, a scholar, and a public servant of the highest order.”
Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Hayden was “callously fired” by Trump and demanded an explanation from the administration as to why she was dismissed.
“Hayden, has spent her entire career serving people — from helping kids learn to read to protecting some of our nation’s most precious treasures,” said Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee that oversees the Library.
“She is an American hero," he said.
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The Democratic leaders praised Hayden, who had been the longtime leader of Baltimore’s library system, for a tenure that helped modernize the Library and make it more accessible with initiatives into rural communities and online. She is a graduate of Roosevelt University and the University of Chicago.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., applauded Hayden as “an accomplished, principled and distinguished Librarian of Congress.”
“Donald Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history and turn back the clock,” Jeffries said.
“The Library of Congress is the People’s Library. There will be accountability for this unprecedented assault on the American way of life sooner rather than later,” he said.
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate panel that oversees funding for the library, said the firing, which he said came at 6:56 p.m., was “taking his assault on America’s libraries to a new level.”
“Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to making reading and the pursuit of knowledge available to everyone,” he said.
Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian, said he would serve as acting librarian of Congress “until further instruction” in a separate email seen by the AP.
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EveryLibrary has a petition
https://action.everylibrary.org/congr...
and more info on what the LoC does
"President Trump has crossed another dangerous line by abruptly firing Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress.
HELP SPREAD THE WORD!
This troubling and unprecedented action should alarm every American who values the independence of our cultural institutions and recognizes the role libraries play in a democratic society.
Dr. Hayden, appointed in 2016, was the first woman and the first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress. Her leadership has been exemplary. She has brought integrity, transparency, and innovation to the Library's mission. From digitizing millions of records to expanding public access to the largest library in the world, Dr. Hayden's tenure has made the Library of Congress more relevant and responsive to the American people.
The White House delivered her sudden dismissal without cause or justification. It follows the unjustified firing of the Archivist of the United States in February. This pattern of political interference in our most trusted, nonpartisan institutions is outrageous and profoundly damaging.
The Library of Congress is more than a collection of books. It is a legislative and public-facing support agency that includes the Copyright Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the Law Library of Congress. Each serves vital, nonpartisan roles for our government and the public. The Copyright Office protects the rights of creators and the integrity of the public domain. Congressional Research Service provides confidential, impartial analysis to Congress to inform legislation and oversight. The Law Library provides access to global legal resources for both lawmakers and the judiciary. If the position of Librarian of Congress is politicized, these essential offices are placed at risk of ideological capture, undermining their independence and their service to our democracy.
The Joint Committee on the Library is the oldest continuing committee in Congress. Its responsibilities for overseeing the Library of Congress date back to 1806. This is a moment today for the Committee to exercise its duties. We urge Representative Bryan Steil, the Chair, to convene the Committee immediately and hold hearings into the dismissal of Dr. Hayden. The Librarian of Congress is a vital legislative branch position. Congress must act to preserve the independence of its own institutions from unchecked executive interference.
Dr. Hayden's dismissal is certainly not a personnel matter. The termination message gave no cause, but it does come on the heels of two successful ongoing lawsuits against the Trump administration to reopen the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Like the National Archives, the Library of Congress is meant to serve the nation, not the political or social agenda of any president. To see its independence threatened by executive overreach like this should send a chill down the spine of every member of Congress.
Dr. Hayden has served our country honorably. The Librarian of Congress should not be subject to arbitrary removal. Congress must now respond with courage."
This week's Literary Activism newsletter discusses the attack on state librarieshttps://bookriot.com/state-library-cl...
"What needs to be emphasized here is that these attacks on state libraries were not only intentional, they are aligned with the federal administration’s goals of cutting off aid at the local level. IMLS funding is distributed to the state library, which is then disbursed more locally. If a state has no state library to which money can be disbursed, then the government has no obligation to pass along tax money to serve those states. Without the tax money, those states–all of which rely more heavily on federal funding than, say, their blue-state counterparts, thanks to being far more rural states–would be left to figure out how to keep crucial services afloat. The answer is that those services would disappear entirely, and as use of libraries declined because they no longer offered vital services, then libraries would be much easier to shut down.
Targeting state libraries is also how a political cult can reinvent their purposes and bring them back in future bills."
Behind the Bans: TN law leads to different book removal policies in schools across the stateAfter a law that broadly banned materials with nudity or violence passed the Tennessee legislature, hundreds of books have been pulled from East TN school shelves.
https://www.wbir.com/article/news/loc...
"Advocates attribute differences between school districts to the law's vagueness. It fails to distinguish nudity and violence from the context in which they're portrayed, and so advocates have said that books about Salvador Dali's life are treated the same as fiction titles that explore the violent implications of dystopic futures.
They have also highlighted that many books removed from school libraries have LGBTQ+ themes. Many are also included on a list of targeted titles compiled by the far-right organization Moms for Liberty, which the Southern Poverty Law Center described as an anti-government group that "engages in anti-student inclusion activities" nationally.
school libraries across East Tennessee. Different school districts have taken different approaches to book removals. In some cases, hundreds of materials have been taken away from students. In other schools, library shelves have scarcely changed.
A list of the number of books removed from different school districts is available below.
Knox County Schools: 48 titles removed
Jefferson County Schools: 11 titles removed
Roane County Schools: 58 titles removed, 80 relocated to older grade levels
Oak Ridge Schools: 328 books removed
Monroe County Schools: 574 titles removed
PEN America has challenged book removals across the country. Sabrina Baeta, a member of the nonprofit's Freedom to Read Team, said the books barely have anything in common.
"One thing that really combines all banned books together is the fact that they're banned," she said. "Schools were hugely vulnerable to an attack to this kind of thing."
...
Fahrenheit 451," a book about a dystopian future with themes of censorship, "Draw Me a Star," a children's picture book about an artist who creates the world through drawings, and a novel about children who died in the Holocaust all have something in common now — they've been banned in some of East Tennessee's school districts. In others, they could still be available for students to read.
Districts that removed these books largely say they are following amendments to the law. That law says books or materials with excessive violence, s--, nudity are inappropriate for students.
The book removals come after state lawmakers pushed school districts to improve literacy rates, even modifying Tennessee testing policies to allow for third-graders to be held back if they don't perform well enough on a test and fail to meet other requirements. Parents, leaders and educators across the state have also noted that some of the books removed from school library shelves were titles they had to read in school.
Don Bosch, a legal analyst with WBIR, said he remembered reading some of those titles while attending school.
"I see some books that, frankly, were critically read by myself in high school, maybe even some in middle school," he said. "I'm always critical of providing less versus more."
The titles include "Of Mice and Men," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Slaughterhouse-Five." Tennessee's Age-Appropriate Materials Act says materials with nudity, s-x or excessive violence are not appropriate for students through 12th grade and "must not be maintained in school libraries."
Bosch also said it gives school leaders and local stakeholders authority to decide what is appropriate for students.
"Each school board has the authority to review the books. Further, a parent can make a specific objection to a book, at which point, the school board must review it and determine whether or not it stays," he said. "If enough pressure is going to be placed on school boards, I think they'll ultimately remove those books."
Communities can independently decide whether materials are appropriate for schools. Some said they have not removed books because parents have not challenged them. Others said they determined the materials were appropriate and did not need to be removed.
Ambiguity about content that the law considers inappropriate has also led to concerns about possible First Amendment violations and censorship. However, Bosch said some of those concerns may not stand up to scrutiny.
"It doesn't say that if a student procured that (material) from a local library, or from another source, that they can't read it, or that they can't possess it. It just says, 'We're not gonna have it at the school.' So it isn't really a First Amendment violation as I see it, but it still is concerning," he said.
He said there are differences between the legal definition of censorship and the common definition. He said the Age-Appropriate Materials Act falls under the latter. He said it is restricting access to books and perspectives to students who might not have a way to get them elsewhere.
North Carolina, a look at the current status of several bills targeting school and public libraries.https://indyweek.com/culture/hb-636-n...
Two proposals making their way through North Carolina’s state legislature include several provisions about public school libraries and instructional content.
House Bill 636, titled “Promoting Wholesome Content for Students,” passed April 16 by the N.C. House of Representatives, would require public school districts to establish a community library advisory committee of five parents and five district employees, tasked with reviewing and recommending books and other materials to be placed in school libraries, investigating parent and community complaints about those materials, and reviewing materials before a student book fair.
Additionally, the bill would allow parents and residents of the county where the public school is located to sue a school that fails to comply with the bill up to $5,000 per violation.
During the N.C. House K-12 Education Committee’s April 15 meeting to consider HB 636, some representatives raised questions about the bill’s nature, including whether it promotes the censoring and banning of public school library books.
N.C. Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, was one. She expressed concerns that community library advisory committees may examine novels such as The Color Purple and To Kill a Mockingbird, focusing on parts that might be offensive to some individuals, rather than considering the books in their entirety, which could lead to censorship.
However, one of the bill’s primary sponsors, N.C. Rep. David Willis, R-Union, quickly shut down the idea that the bill aims to ban or censor books or would jail anyone for reading titles like those Morey mentioned. He referenced a suitcase full of books containing inappropriate content earlier in the day at a press conference.
“If I were to take one of these books and walk across the mall and sit down with one of the tour groups of kids that come through there every single day and start reading aloud and start exposing the book and the pictures in these books, it wouldn’t take very long for me to get arrested,” he said.
Markham said one of the main issues PEN America sees with HB 636, which it categorizes as a book ban bill, is its vagueness. More specifically, she noted how the bill would prohibit library media that “includes descriptions or visual depictions of s--ual activity or is pervasively vulgar,” but it doesn’t define what “pervasively vulgar” is.
At the committee meeting, N.C. Rep. Neal Jackson, R-Moore, another primary sponsor, acknowledged that some subjectivity exists in what constitutes “pervasively vulgar.” Hence, he said, the bill links the phrase to General Statute 14-190.13, a state law that defines terms related to offenses concerning minors.
Markham said that in other states with similar laws that include unclear language, PEN America has observed an “over-compliance” among librarians and educators due to uncertainty about which books to remove from the shelves and fear of losing their jobs. South Carolina’s Regulation 43-170, passed in 2024, is similar to HB 636 in that it discusses s--ual content, though more specific in its definition, for “any age or age group of children,” and led to hundreds of books being pulled across the state, Markham said. South Carolina is one of three states, along with Utah and Tennessee, to permit statewide school book bans through state law.
Another related bill, HB 595, discusses several education-related topics, including s-x education. It establishes strict criteria for selecting books in public school libraries, and, notably, would charge public school employees and librarians with a Class 1 misdemeanor if they distribute material deemed harmful to minors.
Both HB 595 and HB 636 use the word “harmful” to describe content that should not be available to minors in public schools and libraries. For Gold, the question of what books meet the definition of harmful is the most stressful part of HB 595.
“My question is always where do we draw the line because every single person is going to draw that line in a different place,” she said. “And I’m worried that we just draw the line at the farthest away place, which removes a lot of great books from our curriculum for the fear that some kids might be harmed by that.”
Tori Ekstrand is a professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media who teaches media law. She said that the First Amendment generally protects harmful speech; however, there are special exceptions in cases involving minors. Yet a state law that bans books about a particular subject in a public school library, she said, could potentially lead to an “overbroad restriction” on freedom of expression, which is typically problematic for courts.
Alternatively, placing books about certain subjects in a dedicated part of the library could be argued to be a content-neutral restriction, which doesn’t ban speech but addresses the time, place, and manner of it, and is permissible by the government. A First Amendment scholar, Ekstrand said that from what she has seen, censorship rarely works and sometimes has the opposite effect.
The fact that, under HB 595, librarians could face jail time is “ridiculous” to ... Jenna Wine, a media coordinator at Riverside High School.
...
[Jenn Wine's colleague, Tara] Gold said much of her time in her role is devoted to instructing or supporting instruction with materials and ensuring the school’s library collection supports the curriculum. She pointed out that there are dozens of people ahead of her, including publishers and book marketers, who have determined that a book is age-appropriate for a high school collection. Regardless, librarians are labeled as pedophiles and groomers for putting the book on their shelves, she said.
At Riverside High School, when Gold and Wine add new book titles to their collection, age appropriateness is an important consideration. They seek out Young Adult books with positive reviews from librarians and other professionals who work with young adults and young adult literature, and that are recommended based on the ages and interests of their students. This process is followed for hundreds of books a year, and with limited shelf space and money, Gold said her school is very intentional about the books it purchases for its library.
“People say, ‘What do librarians do all day?’” Gold said. “I read reviews for books to make sure they’re appropriate to purchase for my kids, that’s a lot of it.”
Wine said that she and Gold have pulled books they believed were “too adult” for students. Students requested these books, and upon further evaluation, they were removed. There are some cases, Gold added, one being if the content is not age-appropriate, that the media coordinators will direct students to check out books at a public library.
Gold said Riverside High School strives to offer something for all students in its library collection, including those with differing beliefs from her own.
“I want to protect every students’ right to see themselves in the library and to see themselves in books, but also tell them if they see something that they don’t like, they don’t have to read it, they always have permission to set it down and walk away,” she said.
If a parent has concerns about a particular book in Riverside’s library, Wine said she would love to have a discussion with them. At the same time, she stressed the importance of parents talking to their children about books they feel may not be suitable for them. Having such dialogue with a parent, she said, is preferable to removing a book from the shelf entirely so that no student has access to it.
The school’s library website features a “Request for Reconsideration” page, which includes links to various resources for parents and families, such as the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights and Durham Public Schools’ “Parental Inspection of Instructional Materials” process. Gold said this process empowers parents and provides clear guidelines.
This is nutty. ONE PERSON should not have this much control. You don't like it? Don't read it! Don't bring your kids out in public if you don't want them to know LGBTQ+ people exist and are humans just like you!North Carolina
Homeschool mom recalls how LGBTQ library display in 2022 inspired her work on PG labeling system
https://alamancenews.com/homeschool-m...
t even part of the policy and not part of the implementation.”
PUBLIC library! What happened to "just schools"?https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...
Arizona
Parental control or book banning? Maricopa County considers restricting kids' access to some titles
The Maricopa County Library District is piloting a program allowing parents to restrict specific books their children can check out.
The pilot program comes amid conservative activist criticism of certain books available in the library system.
The Board of Supervisors is considering broader changes to the library district's collection policy.
Maricopa County will introduce a new pilot program allowing parents to place restrictions on what books their children can check out in the Queen Creek Library, the first of several potential changes at the county libraries amid criticism by conservative activists over books available on the shelves.
Officials said the parental choice program operates similarly to parental control features on phones, tablets and other electronic devices. Parents can fill out a form in person at the Queen Creek Library, identifying specific books that they do not want their child to access. Librarians will apply those restrictions to their child's account, preventing those titles from being checked out.
There's no limit to how many individual books can be restricted, but officials said the program does not allow parents to block access to entire categories of titles.
The pilot comes as the Board of Supervisors considers broader changes to the Maricopa County Library District's collection policy, which determines what books are offered in more than a dozen public libraries across the Valley.
Such a shift would be unprecedented in the Phoenix area. Conservatives have successfully pressured some books out of local schools in recent years, and GOP state lawmakers passed a law in 2022 requiring schools to get parental approval to teach books or other materials that make references to s-x. But public libraries have historically stood firm against such efforts.
Most of the large library systems in the Valley — including the county library district — have language in their collection policies noting that their facilities serve a diverse population and that not all materials may be suitable for all readers, tasking parents with determining what books are appropriate for their children to check out.
But several public speakers still voiced concerns at a board meeting in late March over certain books housed in the children's section of the county libraries. Their remarks came after Arizona Women of Action, a conservative parents' rights coalition, issued a "call to action" on social media criticizing two texts: "It's Perfectly Normal" by Robie Harris and "This Book Is Gay" by Juno Dawson.
Speakers said the books — both health guides that explain and depict various types of s-x — were profane and inappropriate. Both books rank on the American Library Association's list of the most challenged texts in the country.
Candlewick Press, the publisher of "It's Perfectly Normal," describes the book as giving children over 10 years old "the knowledge and vocabulary they need to understand their bodies, relationships, and identities in order to make responsible decisions and stay healthy."
...
"The books we're talking about are completely inappropriate," said Ryan Heath, a conservative attorney who previously represented Republican Abe Hamadeh in a lawsuit challenging the results of the 2022 election. "I can't even read sections from these books to you right now without risking being kicked out of this meeting. That's how bad it is."
The majority-GOP board is now initiating a review of the library district's policies — and supervisors appear to have differing views on exactly what a final policy should look like.
Republican Debbie Lesko, who initiated the inquiry, said in March that the books should be "moved or removed." Conservative Mark Stewart said he supported a policy that would ensure "a child has to either check it out or get permission from their parents." Supervisor Kate Brophy McGee, a Republican, said she would not want her children or grandchildren to have access to the books named by public speakers.
"It is so unfortunate that over the last couple years, this wish to remove or restrict access became labeled 'book banning,'" she said. "Thank you for pushing back and calling it what it is: parental control over what their child is able to access and read in the public libraries."
Chairman Tom Galvin, a Republican, described the matter as "a balancing act." He said he will aim for a policy that addresses speakers' concerns while respecting the First Amendment.
"We're operating public libraries, where if people want to obtain books, they can," he said. "But I think the biggest criteria for us is making sure that we have a policy that protects kids from being subjected to any obscene material."
Courtney Konderik, director of operations for Arizona Women of Action, said the issue wasn't about banning books.
During public comment, she stressed that the organization aimed to relocate certain materials away from the children's section of the libraries — not remove them entirely from circulation.
"This puts parents in control of what their child is exposed to," she said. "This request would not ban any books, but it would gives parents the control to check any books for their child that they feel are appropriate and align with their values."
But her organization — which describes its work as "guided by Judeo-Christian, foundational American values" — has previously fought to remove certain titles from school libraries. The Scottsdale Unified School District chose to remove 16 books from high school shelves in February after the group sent a letter saying "pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable content” was being offered to students.
Not every other public speaker seemed to be on the same page as Konderik. One called for supervisors to get rid of the books entirely — or burn them. Others accused the board of breaking state law, citing a statute that bars "explicit s--ual material" from public display. That law includes carveouts for educational materials and works of "serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
Merissa Hamilton, a local conservative activist, said she had sent a list of nearly 300 "explicit child books" to the board so it could reconsider their presence in the county libraries.
"The people are watching. The parents are watching. The attorneys are watching," said Don Adams, a regular commenter at board meetings who has previously made false claims of election fraud. "Take action now, audit the content, update the access policies and remove these materials from the children's section. Do it before someone else has to force you to."
Outside of the board chambers, the two books named by the conservative coalition have proven largely uncontroversial.
Samantha Mears, a spokesperson for the county libraries, said the district had not received any formal requests to remove either of the texts from its collection. She said she was unaware of "any significant comments or incidents" regarding the books at any of the library branches and had no record of any comments being submitted about the titles via the libraries' customer service portal.
Both books also appear popular. Mears said "It's Perfectly Normal" was checked out nine times since the start of the year, and "This Book Is Gay" was checked out six times. She said the books were both added to the library district's collection about a decade ago, and have each been checked out hundreds of times since then.
Mears declined to comment on the board's policy review. But the county libraries' current collection policy appears in line with that of other large library systems across the Valley.
The Arizona Republic examined collection policies for libraries in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler and Glendale. All contained similar collection criteria to the county's policy, and all contained intellectual freedom statements affirming library users' ability to read and speak freely.
"The Library District believes that reading, listening to, and viewing library materials are individual, private matters," the county's current collection policy reads. "While one is free to select or to reject materials for oneself, one cannot restrict the freedom of others to read, view, or inquire."
Library District Director Jeremy Reeder said in a statement that officials will use the pilot program to incorporate feedback from parents and determine whether it makes sense to expand the initiative to other libraries.
He said the library system "remains committed to offer an extensive collection to communities."
Meanwhile, supervisors said in an April 23 meeting that the board was continuing to review its libraries' collection policy.
It's unclear when that probe will be completed. Galvin said he had "no idea" on the timeline of the inquiry, and Brophy McGee noted it will "take some time" to fully address the matter "given the legal issues that have to be navigated."
Again - PUBLIC libraryMat-Su Borough (AK) is asking parents if they want notification any time their children check out a book from the public library - a blatant violation of privacy.
Alaska
https://www.matsusentinel.com/mat-su-...
Mat-Su survey seeks parent input on kids' library checkout alerts, collections
The survey is open to parents of young borough library users.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is surveying parents to learn whether they receive enough information about the materials their children access at local libraries. The survey also includes questions about the variety of materials in the borough’s library collection.
Questions about parent information are tied to ongoing controversy over whether young library users should have access to certain books. They are related to an email alert system was first requested by a Mat-Su Assembly member last year.
The survey applies to borough-operated libraries and will help shape a strategic plan for the library system’s future. It is open through the end of the month.
The survey asks whether parents regularly use the system's online portal to review the materials their children check out and whether they would be interested in receiving email alerts when their children make checkouts.
That alert service isn't currently available under the state-managed online library catalog and management system used throughout the borough. Adding the feature would require a systemwide change by state officials, Borough Community Development Director Jillian Morrissey said in an interview.
No other localities have requested such a system update, Borough Manager Mike Brown told the Assembly during a meeting earlier this month.
Assembly member Dee McKee first requested the email notice system last year in response to ongoing controversy over whether young library patrons should have access to materials that some individuals consider obscene.
Learning whether such notifications are widely desired by borough library patrons could help officials make a case for adding the service, Morrissey said.
The survey also asks parents how they feel about the variety of available borough library materials aimed at school-aged children and young adult readers aged 16 and older, and whether families attend library events.
The survey targets patrons of borough-operated libraries in Sutton, Big Lake, Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek. ...
Parents helping children check out books at borough libraries this month will be asked to take the survey, library officials said. Individuals can also complete the survey at home but will have to manually enter their child's library card number to submit the form.
The May 20 election in Oregon will put the Salem Public Library’s future in the hands of voters. https://savesalemlibrary.carrd.co/
the future of the Eugene Public Library is also in deep limbo.
https://www.registerguard.com/story/n...
Eugene proposes major budget cuts: Library closures, no CAHOOTS, fewer city services
Eugene's proposed budget would close the downtown library on Sundays and Mondays.
Eugene City Manager Sarah Medary posted a draft of the budget on April 25, calling it one of her most challenging and noting that it would come with “significant service impacts." The budget, which would cover the 2025-27 fiscal period, includes wide-reaching cuts to the downtown Library, Greenhill Humane Society, CAHOOTS and other services. The city would employ fewer workers as well — a total of 34.63 "full-time equivalent" positions would be cut.
...
$2.6 million in cuts to library services (9.2 Full-Time Employees. One FTE is equal to a 40-hour per week position.)
$1.1 million by closing the Amazon Pool (0 FTE).
$1 million by closing the Sheldon Community Center (2.5 FTE).
$854,000 in position vacancy savings (0 FTE).
$289,000 in Community & Cultural Affairs funding realignment (0.5 FTE).
$258,000 in River House funding realignment (0.5 FTE).
Medary recommended closing the Downtown library on Sundays and Mondays and completely closing the Amazon Pool and Sheldon Community Center starting Oct. 1.
Medary recommended pairing the Sunday and Monday downtown library closure with expanded Sunday hours at the Sheldon and Bethel branch libraries to meet the requirements of the library operations levy. The library cuts would result in the layoffs of 4.7 FTE-equivalent of library assistants and a library manager, and close vacant positions for 2.7 FTE of library assistants and 0.8 of a custodian.
"This strategy will reduce access at the downtown location by two days per week, which will impact services for downtown library patrons and reduce access for community members that use the facility as a safe space and as a cooling/warming center in adverse weather events," Medary wrote.
Medary proposed reassigning full-time employees who work at the Amazon Pool and the Sheldon Community Center to other parts of the city's recreation program, but eliminating the temporary employees who serve both: the lifeguards at Amazon Pool and the preschool and afterschool workers at the Sheldon Community Center.
"This will reduce local access to early learning, afterschool programming, summer camps," Medary wrote. "With the closure of Sheldon Community Center, these programs would no longer be available to provide childcare."
She also recommended "vacancy savings" (effectively a hiring freeze) for the department, as well as a pair of funding realignments to allocate positions in Community and Cultural Affairs and the River House outdoor center with the Cultural Services Subfund instead of the main section of the General Fund. This fund is paid for with Transient Lodging Tax paid for by hotel users.
Budget committee member Wendy Simmons voiced concern on the impact of library cuts.
"Multiple programs there serve people of all ages," she said. "They help the most vulnerable, giving them a welcoming and safe place to be, especially in adverse weather conditions, promoting community."
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen wants to introduce a motion to return all of the books banned from the Naval Academy.https://www.capitalgazette.com/2025/0...
Ant-book ban state Minnesota,thanks to Kelly Jensen for this story
The largest school district in Minnesota, Anoka-Hennepin, approved some of the textbooks that the politically-right board didn’t initially like . . . at the expense of delaying implementing state-required diversity, equity, and inclusion lessons as well as social emotional learning curriculum.
https://archive.ph/3wK1q
Anoka-Hennepin school board approves history textbooks after dispute with teachers union
Conservative board members had questioned the content of the books and curricula, prompting criticism from the teachers union.
The board for the state’s largest school district voted to approve social studies textbooks with a series of caveats, including delaying new state standards that mandate ethnic studies for another year. And it chose to table a decision about the future of current social and emotional lessons.
The Anoka-Hennepin board members on Monday approved the purchase of books for U.S. history, world history and AP psychology courses. For the U.S. history course, board members supported a National Geographic textbook. But they directed staff to revise the curriculum for next school year to align with 2011 state standards.
New state standards, which require the teaching of ethnic studies, must be implemented by the 2026-2027 school year. Board members directed staff to develop a pilot U.S. history curriculum for that year with “minimum compliance/balance” to the new standards. World history and AP Psychology curriculum are to come before the board before the fall.
The board also unanimously passed a new English language arts curriculum.
The board did not have a detailed discussion about the history textbooks on Monday. For several hours during an April work session, they discussed the books and curriculum development across several subjects.
During that work session, Board Member Zach Arco questioned how the state measures or enforces standards, wondering if the system has ever been “stress-tested,” and suggested that curriculum plans should include more direct instruction, including lecturing. Those comments prompted pushback from the teachers union, which accused the conservative bloc of board members of micromanaging teachers’ lessons and methods as part of ongoing education culture wars.
Monday’s vote on textbooks and literacy curriculum represented a rare sign of unity among the school board.
The six-member board has been split politically since the start of 2024, when it failed to elect a chair. It’s stalled repeatedly over issues including district spending, diversity policies and even physics textbooks.
...
Several teachers made public comments urging the board to respect district staff recommendations and to understand the lengthy, detailed curriculum development process. On Monday night, dozens of teachers rallied before the meeting to protest what the union said was the board’s micromanaging of what and how educators teach.
“I do trust the teachers,” Arco said on Monday, explaining that he doesn’t understand curriculum recommendations that include more direct instruction for literacy lessons but less lecture time in other subjects. “The question is ‘Which teachers should I trust?’ Because the reality is there’s not a broad consensus on a lot of things we discussed.”
On Monday, the board opted to table a vote on whether to keep, amend or scrap the district’s current social and emotional learning curriculum in favor of writing one in-house to align with district priorities.
“We waste so much time on this program, it blows my mind,” said Board Member Matt Audette of current social and emotional learning plans, saying he considers it “poison for our kids.”
Other board members pushed back, saying the lessons are valued by parents and school administrators. District staff also expressed concern about the district’s capacity to deliver a new plan.
This relates to books - books like The Big Bath House and Bodies Are Cool are NOT you know what and the MN Supreme Court just stated that more or less.Minnesota Supreme Court: Female breasts are not lewd or inherently s--ual and can be exposed in public
https://archive.ph/4WzY7#selection-47...
Robin Stevenson shares how her book Pride Puppy showed up before the Supreme Court case Mahmoud vs. Taylor.https://macleans.ca/society/how-my-lg...
"There is nothing in these illustrations that is remotely inappropriate for young kids. When I’ve read Pride Puppy to kids, they usually want to tell me about their own dogs’ names, or about a time they fell over, like the kid in the book. They like it when the puppy makes a mess, and when the dog and family are reunited. But some people object to LGBTQ+ people and families being in books at all—and rather than admit that, they misrepresent books like mine. "
"Over the days following the SCOTUS hearing, Justice Gorsuch’s false information was quickly picked up by the far-right. Fox News amplified it further, hosting book ban proponents like Moms 4 Liberty who expressed horror at the (imaginary) content of our book. I tried to focus on the many supportive messages from those who loved Pride Puppy, and I celebrated the spring launch of my new picture book...
SCOTUS will make its ruling by the end of June. Throughout history, there have been many topics parents have objected to on religious grounds: Divorce. Evolution. Women having careers. Interfaith marriage. Magic. Pacifism. The list of potential objections is endless—and if teachers have to allow students to opt out of every potential objectionable topic, it is hard to imagine how public schools could function. "
Over the last few years, an anti-LGBTQ+ movement has been taking hold here as well. Luckily, Canada has a long-standing legal precedent around the issue of LGBTQ+ books in schools. More than two decades ago, in Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36, our Supreme Court ruled that the local school board could not impose its religious values and ban LGBTQ+ picture books. "Tolerance is always age-appropriate,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote. “Children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home.”
"All our children, regardless of their family’s religious faith or views—and regardless of their connection to the LGBTQ+ community—attend public schools together. Their schools have a responsibility to make sure that they all feel seen, supported and welcome. It is not reasonable to expect public school teachers to be complicit in hiding the existence of an entire group of people. And there is no way for a school to make LGBTQ+ students and families invisible without doing tremendous harm to all their students."
"Children are not harmed by inclusive picture books. They are harmed by shame, and by invisibility, and by the idea that their families are too controversial to be acknowledged. It’s not books children need protection from—it’s hate and discrimination."
AlabamaRobertsdale Public Library preemptively censoring books for young people with their new parental opt-in card requirements.
Robertsdale approves library and its policies in new resolution
https://gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/ro...
The Robertsdale Public Library recently updated its policies to comply with state code. According to library Director Cynthia Nall, children ages 5 through 17 are required to have a parental consent form. Parents can choose a library card for their child that enables what kind of books and materials they can check out. Parents also have the ability to choose a library card with options including restrictions to the children section only or a card with no restrictions, which grants them permission to check out books and materials from all sections of the library. City Council Member Ruthie Campbell confirmed these policies were approved by the Alabama Public Library Services (APLS).
Robertsdale City Council approved the new policies during a meeting on April 21, passing a resolution acknowledging "national and state news" and concerns over "age appropriateness" and accessibility of library content to children, seeking "to reassure its residents that it remains firm to its commitment to maintain" a family-friendly environment by supporting the Robertsdale Public Library and its new policies.
"This policy places the Robertsdale Public Library in line with new standards that are currently being implemented and developed across the state," the resolution states.
Mod
https://macleans.ca/society/how-my-lg...-..."
Just another reason to fight against Donald Trump and his silly acolytes! I used to feel relatively safe in Canada but with Trump's constant threats against Canadian sovereignty and that American homophobia, transphobia and all-encompassing hatred and bigotry are infecting the world, no one is safe from Beelzebub Donald and his satanic and putrid cabal of goose-stepping robots.
Erica S Perl talks about having an author visit canceled, how she fought back, and how she won.https://www.slj.com/story/My-School-V...
A Virginia elementary school principal abruptly cancelled [her] visit by email, with no explanation or interest in rescheduling or paying [her]. [She later learned a] parent had complained because of a social media video [she] had made celebrating Pride month. In it, I mention that Snail, a character in my Whale, Quail, Snail early reader series (illustrated by Sam Ailey), is nonbinary. Most snails are. “It’s a fiction series,” I add, “but that’s a fact.”
A scientific fact. As many kids know, most snails have both male and female reproductive parts. ..
And Katherine Applegate had a community reading event cancelled following complaints about a nonbinary tree character in her book, Wishtree.
...
"I wish I could tell you that my story ended amicably with the return of my visit to the school’s calendar. That’s not what happened.
Instead, after [she] asked for [her] fee, the principal turned the matter over to the district’s lawyers. The principal then informed the school librarian, who booked [the author] visit, that she might have to pay.. out of her own pocket. [Erica Perl then] told her "I would not take her money, no matter what happened. I was extra-outraged that the principal was threatening to make her pay for the 'crime' of setting up an author visit."
... [Erica Perl is] not just a children’s book author, [but also a] former trial lawyer. "So instead of walking away muttering about injustice, I spent some quality time with my contract."
"That’s right, my author contract. Whenever I am invited to visit a school, my booking agent draws up a contract—and this visit was no exception. " According to one clause, if an appearance is cancelled with less than 30 days notice, the school is required to pay my entire fee plus any non-refundable travel expenses. The principal had cancelled ... 28 days before the visit.
[The] contract also says that cancelling [a] visit due to book banning, or other objections based on my “race, sexual orientation, worldview, politics, cultural perspective, or any other factors” did not relieve the school of its financial obligations. And finally, [the] contract specifies that the contract is governed by the law of the state where [the author lives], not the law of the state where the school is located. "So if I wanted to sue for breach of contract, I could simply file papers in my local courthouse (no legal expertise or degree required!).
She did and the school paid her fee.
"It’s not the win I wanted, because that would have had me standing in front of a gymnasium full of elementary school students. But it is a victory, as I see it, for all authors, especially in this current climate. It confirms that we are working artists who deserve protection from discriminatory politics and practices and must be paid under the terms of our contracts."
"Ninety-nine percent of the time, you won’t need to go to court. I have been visiting schools for nearly 20 years, and this is the first time I have. But in this environment, I am so glad to have that protection.
To all librarians, my win says that you matter, too. So, while the school board’s decision to pay me fell far short of the best outcome, it honored the commitment the librarian made to me and validated her position.
Book and author challenges are not going away. But even Snail would agree that this is not a time to retreat into our shells.
In my case, one parent prevented an entire elementary school student body—over 400 kids—from having an author visit. That is a shame because, as any school librarian will tell you, author visits are transformative. In Kansas City last week, a boy lingered in my book-signing line to tell me all about the book series he’s writing himself. His librarian looked incredulous. After he left, she turned to me, 'I’ve never heard him say more than two words.' "
Wendy Voulopos was appointed to the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, public library board by a republican county council and is eager to start banning books.https://lancasteronline.com/news/loca...
An East Hempfield woman who says she hopes to give parents more control over what books and other materials children are exposed to at local libraries on Tuesday was appointed to the Lancaster County Library System board.
Republican county Commissioners Ray D’Agostino and Josh Parsons appointed Wendy Voulopos, a vocal critic of the canceled Drag Queen Story Hour at the Lancaster Public Library last year and supporter of East Hempfield supervisors’ decision to end township donations to the city library.
Voulopos is now running for a seat on the township board in this month’s Republican primary.
On Monday, Voulopos said she was interested in joining the library system board to help create “community standards” for programming at local libraries, that includes categorizing books at libraries so parents have control over what their children can access.
She said she does not support “banning books,” but wants certain books categorized so parents who don’t want their child exposed to them can avoid them. It’s a position she’s posted about frequently on the private Facebook page of Moms for Liberty’s Lancaster County chapter.
“It’s a shared service for everyone in the community, and so I think there does need to be some community standards that really support the people that fund it,” Voulopos said. “It’s taxpayer funded.”
She may be joining the wrong board. Since the Drag Queen Story Hour controversy last year, the system board and staff have taken pains to emphasize they do not have any power to control programming at local libraries.
“We have no role or legal authority in determining or approving the content of library events; those decisions are in the hands of the local library boards and are governed by the policies set within their own communities,” reads a statement the board released in March 2024.
Also in the year since the story hour dispute, municipalities across Lancaster County have cut funding to local libraries.
D’Agostino nominated Voulopos for her business background and because the Hempfield area did not have representation on the board, he said.
Voulopos said she worked for a business that provided IT services to companies.
...
Democratic county Commissioner Alice Yoder was the lone vote against Voulopos. Yoder instead proposed appointing a former university librarian and an IT executive at Franklin & Marshall College, Carrie Rampp. Yoder recommended Rampp last year for a board appointment, but did not get support from Parsons or D’Agostino.
Alabama library leader wants to stop children from reading books with transgender characters https://www.al.com/news/2025/05/alaba...
An Alabama library board leader believes children should not be able to read library books about transgender people.
At a meeting Thursday, Amy Minton introduced a consideration to restrict children from reading “any library material that encourages, promotes or contains positive portrayals of transgender procedures, gender ideology or the concept of more than two genders.”
The language is modeled on a new state law, “What is a Woman,” and on two recent executive orders issued by President Donald Trump that target transgender health care and certain procedures.
The state library board did not vote on the consideration, but it did adopt a new policy to regulate “s--ually explicit” content, in an ongoing effort to stop children from accessing books some people consider objectionable. The new policy uses the same definition used by adult bookstores.
More than 30 people from around the state packed into the room for a chance to speak on the topic. Most spoke about protecting libraries, while a handful insisted on protecting children by moving books to the adult section.
“Reading has always been such a blessing to me,” said Betsy Pringle, a Mountain Brook High sophomore. “I stopped being able to walk around the time I learned to read and instead of my world getting smaller, it grew in epic proportions. In books I’ve climbed mountains, performed magic and traveled the world, I have learned skills such as empathy and kindness.”
The new rule attempts to clarify which books libraries cannot allow children to access. It defines “s--ually explicit” content as (view spoiler)
About a dozen people spoke about the continuing situation in Fairhope, including the library director and the president of the board. For nearly two years, some residents have complained about s--ually inappropriate books for children, while others trust the librarians.
The state library board suspended funding to the library for not following the state code, even though library staff said they were told they were in compliance.
While the state board didn’t vote on any decisions regarding the Fairhope library’s funding, many people spoke in support of resuming their funding and leaving decision-making to them.
“Our library has followed every policy that you have put forth, including creating a parental card system back in September of 2024,” according to Cheryl Corvo, a Fairhope resident. “But because they didn’t cave to your demands to remove books, books that have been reviewed and cleared multiple times using APLS’ code, you punish them. That’s not leadership. That is retaliation.”
Creepy lady.Behind one parent’s mission to ban books in all South Carolina schools | Opinion https://www.thestate.com/opinion/arti...
New York-Students play integral role in Zweig document placement in banned book exhibit
https://www.fredonia.edu/news/article...
A banned book installation in Greece includes a Stefan Zweig document, thanks to students working in Special Collections and Archives.
A document facsimile from Reed Library's renowned Stefan Zweig Collection will be included in an upcoming art installation and exhibit at the American College of Greece in Athens.
...
Jasmine Johnson, a senior majoring in Drawing and Painting and Art History from Fallsburg, NY, spent the spring semester studying abroad in Greece. She brought the document – Expose of an Inexpensive Series of German Books, a Series Independent of any Government Restrictions (SZ-AP2/W-H177a.2) – to the attention of the installation's curators at the American College of Greece.
The document discloses Zweig advocating for a library to retain books that were banned in Germany under National Socialism.
According to Co-curator Jennifer Nelson Kotsaras, the installation "explores current or historical restrictions on books through the creation of an underground library" to be experienced by visitors of the gallery.
Restrictions on minors’ access to s--ually explicit library books advances in Texas Househttps://www.dallasnews.com/news/polit...
Public libraries would be required to vet children’s sections and seek parental consent for those materials to be checked out by readers under 18.
Libraries could face up to $10,000 per violation if they were found to have made s--ually explicit materials – defined broadly in the bill – accessible to children under House Bill 3225, by Rep. Daniel Alders, R-Tyler.
The proposal passed on a party-line vote of 82-53.
...
Democrats argued the bill would ensnare books about basic adolescent s--ual health issues, such as (view spoiler) that teenagers desperately need access to under their own terms.
Without easy access to these books — whether they’re nonfiction with pictures or fiction works of teenagers making decisions about s-x — teens will turn to more dangerous sources, such as strangers on the internet, often before they ever think of talking to their parents, said Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, Harris County’s former chief prosecutor over human trafficking cases.
“The over-s--ualization of children is a problem, but it is not happening in your public libraries,” Johnson said. “For all these parents who always say, ‘I don’t want my kid to get access to this information,’ I promise you, they are getting access to the information. And the sources you should not be afraid of are in the public library.”
A Democrat-driven attempt to lower the age to 13 was defeated on a party-line vote of 86-58.
The legislation doesn’t ban minors from accessing the materials — it just empowers parents to control when that happens, Rep. Brent Money, R-Greenville, said.
“Neither this bill nor this amendment has anything to do with what kids can or cannot or should or should not look at,” Money said during the debate. “It’s about whether the parents should be the ones to decide.”
Democrats also unsuccessfully attempted to create adults-only sections and prohibit books from being included based on political leanings.
Opponents pointed out that the legislation would likely require parental consent for classic novels taught in high school — such as As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller — while it excludes religious works such as The Bible.
Not to mention young adult fiction by authors like Judy Blume that helped her and other teenagers make sense of adolescent angst and sexual situations, said Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood.
“The question is, are books really a part of the problem, or are they part of something that helps teenagers engage in a healthy manner?” Zwiener said. “I would rather have our teenagers read a book by Judy Blume than go on Reddit and see what the internet has to offer.”
Utah bans 18th book from public schoolsAn adult book but still, censorship.
https://www.kpcw.org/state-regional/2...
The Utah State Board of Education has banned another book from public school libraries statewide. That brings the number of banned books to 18 since 2024.
In Utah books or other content can be banned if at least three districts deem it inappropriate.
..
All titles on the board’s list were available for students in grades 7 through 12 or 9 through 12.
The much beleaguered Patmos Library in Jamestown, Michigan won their millage but still closed.In west Michigan, library that survived LGBTQ book flap closes as staffers quit |
https://www.bridgemi.com/talent-educa...
Patmos Library is closed temporarily after the majority of its staff resigned last week
The library has been the focal point of a long-running battle over LGBTQ-themed books
The Ottawa County library is one of several around the state embroiled in culture war fights
A few feet away from the children’s section of the Patmos Public Library, adults argued Monday over who are the better Christians.
A version of that debate has been going on ... for three years. Starting with a feud over LGBTQ-themed books, the culture war took a turn last week, when five librarians quit in a dispute with a recently-elected, politically conservative board of directors.
The resignations forced the library to close its doors. It’s unclear when it will be able to hire enough staff to reopen.
In their resignation letter, librarians accused board members of “rude, disrespectful and unprofessional behavior.”
Monday night, about 150 people gathered in the library...
One speaker quoted a Bible verse from Corinthians to support the librarians who had just quit, while another referenced a verse in Matthew to support the library board.
One woman suggested that “Satan is trying hard to destroy this library.”
No doubt, it’s been a devilish three years for the library serving this community of 10,000. In the spring of 2022, residents began raising concerns about a handful of LGBTQ-themed graphic novels in the young adult section of the library.
Among the controversial books is “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” which includes illustrations of s-x acts. That book, which had been shelved in the adult section of the library, is now located behind the counter.
Several other books with illustrations of same-sex relationships remain in the library’s young adult section.
Voters defunded the library twice, rejecting millages that provided 84% of the library’s budget. The library would have closed by the fall of 2023 if not for donations that poured in from around the country, including $50,000 from romance novelist Nora Roberts.
After the library agreed to put labels to the inside covers of all books, giving readers a brief overview of the genre and subject matter, the community voted to approve an operating millage.
Tensions rose again last fall, when a slate of six candidates supported by Ottawa Impact, a political group closely aligned with evangelical Christian organizations and involved in the original book protests, won all the seats on the board of directors.
One of the recently elected members displayed a large, home-made sign in her front lawn in 2022 that accused Patmos librarians of wanting to “groom our kids.”
...
Patmos Library is closed temporarily after the majority of its staff resigned last week
The library has been the focal point of a long-running battle over LGBTQ-themed books
The Ottawa County library is one of several around the state embroiled in culture war fights
JAMESTOWN TOWNSHIP — A few feet away from the children’s section of the Patmos Public Library, adults argued Monday over who are the better Christians.
A version of that debate has been going on in this train depot-themed library near Hudsonville in Ottawa County for three years. Starting with a feud over LGBTQ-themed books, the culture war took a turn last week, when five librarians quit in a dispute with a recently-elected, politically conservative board of directors.
The resignations forced the library to close its doors. It’s unclear when it will be able to hire enough staff to reopen.
In their resignation letter, librarians accused board members of “rude, disrespectful and unprofessional behavior.”
Monday night, about 150 people gathered in the library, where the circulation desk was dark and large swaths of the typically bustling building were blocked off.
One speaker quoted a Bible verse from Corinthians to support the librarians who had just quit, while another referenced a verse in Matthew to support the library board.
Related:
Donations pour in after Michigan town defunded library over LGBTQ books
Lapeer library keeps LGBTQ-themed books, but more battles loom
One woman suggested that “Satan is trying hard to destroy this library.”
No doubt, it’s been a devilish three years for the library serving this community of 10,000. In the spring of 2022, residents began raising concerns about a handful of LGBTQ-themed graphic novels in the young adult section of the library.
Among the controversial books is “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” which includes illustrations of sex acts. That book, which had been shelved in the adult section of the library, is now located behind the counter.
Several other books with illustrations of same-sex relationships remain in the library’s young adult section.
Voters defunded the library twice, rejecting millages that provided 84% of the library’s budget. The library would have closed by the fall of 2023 if not for donations that poured in from around the country, including $50,000 from romance novelist Nora Roberts.
After the library agreed to put labels to the inside covers of all books, giving readers a brief overview of the genre and subject matter, the community voted to approve an operating millage.
Tensions rose again last fall, when a slate of six candidates supported by Ottawa Impact, a political group closely aligned with evangelical Christian organizations and involved in the original book protests, won all the seats on the board of directors.
Librarian Jordan Kazen carries items out of the Patmos Library in Ottawa County, Michigan.
Librarian Jordan Kazen leaves Patmos Library with her possessions after resigning. She was among five library staff members who quit last week. (Ron French/Bridge Michigan)
One of the recently elected members displayed a large, home-made sign in her front lawn in 2022 that accused Patmos librarians of wanting to “groom our kids.”
Board President Alaina Kwiatkowski read a statement at Monday’s meeting saying the board is disappointed in the resignations and won’t discuss personnel issues.
“While this change has presented some challenges, we are working diligently to ensure a thoughtful and stable transition,” read a statement posted by the board on the library’s website. “As we regroup and rebuild our team, the library will be temporarily closed for a short period of time.”
Deb Mikula, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said she could not recall another Michigan library closing because of staff walking off the job.
Mikula said tensions have been high at a handful of public libraries around the state in recent years over s--ual-themed books on the shelves.
“Too often we’re faced with (views that are) so far right and so far left,” Mikula said.
About 30 people spoke at the board meeting, roughly split between those calling for board members to resign, and those thanking the board for their work.
As the meeting ended, the former librarians cleaned out their desks and Kwiatkowski announced that the building's locks would be changed the next morning.
Township resident Ryan Bowman left disappointed. “There's so much we agree on, like my kids love a good summer program,” Bowman said. There’s just a few things that are at the fringe that we have differences of opinion. Let's just respect those and get this thing back up and running.”
Children's Books
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The Day the Books Disappeared (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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I think it is totally hilarious how Donald Trump and the Republicans are helping Liberals and Socialists attain and/or retain power and leaving especially extremist social conservatives with egg on their faces.