Feb 21, 2022
At the core of the American Library Association’s membership of 50,000 public, school, academic, specialty libraries, librarians and allies, is one unifying principle, the right to read. ALA has weathered times of war, political unrest, funding cuts, and censorship. But this moment in time poses its greatest threat, state-backed book banning. ALA President Patty Wong joins us to talk about how book banning laws and book burnings are hurting libraries, librarians, children and communities. Bills have passed or are under consideration in nearly half of US states and the legislation extends beyond books. Librarians can be fined, fired, even imprisoned for keeping censored books on the shelves. What are the books that legislatures and school boards are so threatened by? They include fantasy, books celebrating children of color and virtually anything reflecting the experience of LGBTQ people. ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom tracks bills and acts of antagonism towards librarians and wants you to report (confidentially) what you see. We can all be in the battle to preserve the right to read books that mirror who we are and open doors to what can be. Patty Wong tells us how.