The First American Union Understood The Necessity of Public Libraries and Education: Book Censorship News for June 28, 2024

Free public libraries took off over the following decades. Part of that was thanks in part to Carnegie — himself a union buster, despite claiming to be pro-union — and part of it was that the work of public libraries was professionalized via the American Library Association in 1876. Public education strengthened in this era as well. Boston was the first city to establish a public high school in 1821, and education became a professionalized career through the mid-1800s. Fewer students received their education in one-room schoolhouses, and more were able to attend a multi-grade level school paid for by tax money. Note, of course, that the -isms mentioned above applied here in spades, as schools for girls and people of color were limited and had access to less capital and talent.

It is of no surprise that when social, political, and economic power seems to be in more hands, rather than fewer, public institutions that become targets of ire from the few. The schools and libraries become places from which to remove money (hello, New York Public Library, reeling with ongoing budget cuts despite the same city funding paying for an unbelievably baffling 86-person public relations team for just the New York Police Department) and where propaganda can flourish (see the United Daughters of the Confederacy).

Union popularity and decline mirror the power we see in politics; that’s why teacher unions have been hard-hit in the same states where book bans have been especially abundant in the last few years. In an era of rhetoric around the unpopularity of unions — despite the waves of meaningful and successful protests and strikes in 2022 — it comes as little surprise that two of the most beneficial institutions for the people demanded by unions nearly 200 years ago, schools and libraries, would become the targets for the power-hungry now, too. Remove access to taxpayer education and libraries that serve the people rather than the powerful, and you remove the few remaining places of democracy.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. That’s why it is critical to understand the purpose of erasure and oppression and that bans on books aren’t about the individual titles. They’re about the public institutions envisioned by the people for liberation from the few who hold and wield power. See the recent stories in Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida.

These attacks are not new. None of the targets are new. We’ve got to stop being surprised. As we stare down another maddening election, we need to shout louder, push harder, and demand better. All of the tools are already at our disposal.

Book Censorship News: June 28, 2024

• 26 books, all LGBTQ+ titles, were pulled from shelves in Citrus County, Florida, public libraries “for review” after complaints.
• A Pride book display was burned at a Portland, Oregon, bookstore.
• From the front lines of the battle over books in Llano County Public Library (TX).
• Staring down a lawsuit, the new policies in Prattville Public Library (AL) would not outright ban LGBTQ+ books. Outright.
• But don’t worry, some outright elsewhere in Alabama: “While Minton had proposed an amendment to the code changes that would have kept books dealing with ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ out of sections for minors, that language did not make the final version of the code changes. Instead, the code says libraries cannot have books with ‘sexually explicit’ content or other content ‘deemed inappropriate for minors’ in areas designated for minors. The rules did not clearly indicate who would be responsible for ‘deeming’ what material is ‘inappropriate,’ but guidance sent from APLS director Nancy Pack to library directors Tuesday clarified that those definitions will be left to local library boards. Minton told Sims that she had found that Hokes Bluff had many books that would need to be removed, and looked through the catalog with Sims in an attempt to find examples.” It’s up to local boards to decide on what “inappropriate” material may be available in youth sections of the library unless someone from the government has a different idea.
• Parents in Lodi Unified School District (CA) can opt their kids out of “inappropriate” books.
• We know it cost Jamestown Public Library $54,500 to review books in order to be in compliance with North Dakota’s book ban law. Here are costs at some other libraries in the state.
• The recall petition against City Councilor Steve Dillard in Seaside, Oregon, has enough signatures. Dillard has been behind a push to ban books in the local public library there.
• The latest from Iron River Public Library (WI), which has been under attack for a year from book banners, now angling to get the library defunded.
• Despite protests from bigots, the Reno Public Library (NV) held a well-attended Drag Story Hour.
• “In Cameron, Missouri, about 45 minutes northeast of Kansas City, the public school board and administration have been surreptitiously cutting off access to award-winning titles, and engaging in alleged skullduggery resulting in removing materials from school shelves. Intellectual freedom advocates on the ground note an overabundance of credulity toward Cameron school administrators on the part of the board, as well as violation of the board’s own policies — such as its policy manual’s section on objectives for the selection of library materials — in pursuit of shielding the youth from today’s conservative cultural bugaboos. Chief among these: the reality that LGBTQ+ people do indeed exist, and might even be interested in reading books in which their lives and experiences are reflected. Parents and educators point to Cameron administrators’ use of a suspicious review platform, BookLooks, which says its ‘mission is to inform parents on what is in these books being made available to children in schools.’” Oh, administrators using Moms For Liberty’s unprofessional review site to make decisions about books available to students in a school? Shocker.
• The new book and curriculum policies at Frances Howell Schools (MO) are draconian. The sign in the image from an educator here says it all.
• Speaking of draconian rules, the new book banning law in South Carolina schools goes into effect soon. See this story for more info on how destructive this bill is and how the State Education Department Supervisor deserves a lot more heat for underhanded tactics to get this through.
• A Fort Worth, Texas, Christian group is threatening to remove the school district’s trustees because of the content in 90 books they don’t like.
• One book banner went to the Washoe County School Board (NV) and just read from American Psycho to the board. He was told to stop, but he didn’t because these people don’t listen. They just perform.
• And in the public libraries of Washoe County, there is a book banning sympathist and champion of defunding the library on the board.
• St. Francis Xavier Catholic Secondary School (Milton, Ontario) has removed The Hate U Give from its curriculum following parental complaints.
• Sunol Glen Unified School District (CA) has been dealing with two board members whose tenure has been about pushing book bans and anti-trans related policies and now, their seats are up for recall.