How can we help libraries in the US?
April 18, 2022 5:40 AM Subscribe
I just read “ Censorship battles’ new frontier: Your public library” (WaPost) (archive). Subtitle is, “Conservatives are teaming with politicians to remove books and gut library boards.” What can I do to help fight this?
I already borrow from and donate to my local public library. How can I (or anyone) help on a more national level?
I already borrow from and donate to my local public library. How can I (or anyone) help on a more national level?
Best answer: Yep, it ALL starts locally. And there are so few rational voices in local politics that anything you can do is a great counter to the zealots!
Go to your local library's web site, and find an email address. Send them a note saying what you wrote, above. :7)
Send a note to the local paper saying that banning books is regressive, and that libraries have a duty to share ideas freely. (Expect pushback from ANGRY people; consider armoring/anonymizing your social media accounts before stepping out.)
Show up at a town council meeting (who generally oversee -- but do not manage -- the local library), and during the Public Comment phase simply say that your local public library is doing a great job of promoting access to knowledge for your community. Thank the Councillors for being good stewards & supporters of the library, which subtly co-opts them into also defending freedom to read.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:46 AM on April 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Go to your local library's web site, and find an email address. Send them a note saying what you wrote, above. :7)
Send a note to the local paper saying that banning books is regressive, and that libraries have a duty to share ideas freely. (Expect pushback from ANGRY people; consider armoring/anonymizing your social media accounts before stepping out.)
Show up at a town council meeting (who generally oversee -- but do not manage -- the local library), and during the Public Comment phase simply say that your local public library is doing a great job of promoting access to knowledge for your community. Thank the Councillors for being good stewards & supporters of the library, which subtly co-opts them into also defending freedom to read.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:46 AM on April 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Best answer: On a national level, groups like EveryLibrary (mentioned above), Red Wine and Blue, the American Library Association (generally, but also specifically the Office of Intellectual Freedom), and the American Civil Liberties Union are doing work in this area.
posted by box at 6:54 AM on April 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by box at 6:54 AM on April 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
What they said.
We need people like you on library boards, and if you don't have the time to do that, it helps if you show up for your town/county/city council meetings and advocate for the library, especially during budget time. Where I am at least, it's the school libraries that are most under attack, so it's also helpful to show up to local school board meetings.
posted by missrachael at 7:39 AM on April 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
We need people like you on library boards, and if you don't have the time to do that, it helps if you show up for your town/county/city council meetings and advocate for the library, especially during budget time. Where I am at least, it's the school libraries that are most under attack, so it's also helpful to show up to local school board meetings.
posted by missrachael at 7:39 AM on April 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
To me, the most effective strategy would be a consistent bipartisan one. Conservatives are banning books not only because they always have, but as a reaction against liberals banning books. Advocate against all book bans, even the Dr Seuss ones that have recently been taken off shelves. Otherwise, the message that's clear as day is that the fight is between the left and the right, not the censorious and the liberal.
posted by redlines at 7:53 AM on April 18, 2022
posted by redlines at 7:53 AM on April 18, 2022
@redlines: fwiw…I am assuming the Dr Seuss that you are talking about is the situation where the _publisher_ of the books decided to withdraw some of the books from publication, and also to make some changes to a few graphics on other works. This is entirely a different situation from boards requesting books be removed from libraries.
posted by griffey at 8:20 AM on April 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by griffey at 8:20 AM on April 18, 2022 [9 favorites]
Best answer: I want to nth EveryLibrary and the work they're doing. They're a newer organization on the scene, created to fill in the gap to do the kind of work you want to support. They support local libraries facing challenges and seeking more local funding as a basic part of their mission, and they seem effective. Good folks.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:45 PM on April 18, 2022
posted by bluedaisy at 12:45 PM on April 18, 2022
Best answer: Conservatives are banning books not only because they always have, but as a reaction against liberals banning books.
This is not my take on what has been happening.
Conservatives are banning books because, to my mind, they want to end public schooling in the United States and they want to, broadly speaking, criminalize any learning material that is tolerant of LGBTQ people and concepts, the idea of racism, anything involving diversity, equity and inclusion, people to learn more about how their bodies function (up to and including reproductive rights and abortion information), and things that encourage children to question authority up to and including being rude to their parents. Conservatives do not actually care, broadly speaking, about people who want to take Huck Finn off the shelves and they don't care about Dr. Seuss, though they may crab slightly about "cancel culture" that is not what this is about. This is all about control, and eroding public schooling, and moral panic about the erosion of so-called Christian values.
At a national level there are organizations which are working on this (see Every Library, also the Freedom to Read Foundation, ACLU and others. I don't love this website but it can give good talking points).
If your state is receiving challenges but your location isn't, consider supporting or donating to your state library association (every US state has one and they are very good for boots on the ground actions) and yes, letters to newspapers and call-ins to radio shows that are measured and explain how book bannings hurt everyone can be useful. If you do live in an area affected by book bannings you can connect your local young people with Brooklyn Public Library cards so they can get access to books they may not be able to access in their home or school libraries.
It's worth noting that there is a difference between what's happening in schools (direct legislation that affects books) and what is happening in public libraries (some of this but also library boards being stacked with conservative talking-point people who do not care about the library) so getting as many people as possible to join school boards and library boards so that they are out and paying attention when/if the conservatives come for their region.
posted by jessamyn at 12:49 PM on April 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
This is not my take on what has been happening.
Conservatives are banning books because, to my mind, they want to end public schooling in the United States and they want to, broadly speaking, criminalize any learning material that is tolerant of LGBTQ people and concepts, the idea of racism, anything involving diversity, equity and inclusion, people to learn more about how their bodies function (up to and including reproductive rights and abortion information), and things that encourage children to question authority up to and including being rude to their parents. Conservatives do not actually care, broadly speaking, about people who want to take Huck Finn off the shelves and they don't care about Dr. Seuss, though they may crab slightly about "cancel culture" that is not what this is about. This is all about control, and eroding public schooling, and moral panic about the erosion of so-called Christian values.
At a national level there are organizations which are working on this (see Every Library, also the Freedom to Read Foundation, ACLU and others. I don't love this website but it can give good talking points).
If your state is receiving challenges but your location isn't, consider supporting or donating to your state library association (every US state has one and they are very good for boots on the ground actions) and yes, letters to newspapers and call-ins to radio shows that are measured and explain how book bannings hurt everyone can be useful. If you do live in an area affected by book bannings you can connect your local young people with Brooklyn Public Library cards so they can get access to books they may not be able to access in their home or school libraries.
It's worth noting that there is a difference between what's happening in schools (direct legislation that affects books) and what is happening in public libraries (some of this but also library boards being stacked with conservative talking-point people who do not care about the library) so getting as many people as possible to join school boards and library boards so that they are out and paying attention when/if the conservatives come for their region.
posted by jessamyn at 12:49 PM on April 18, 2022 [10 favorites]
Best answer: @redline: "Conservatives are banning books not only because they always have, but as a reaction against liberals banning books."
I disagreevehemently vociferously.
The closest I can come to "Dems banning books" was two African-American legislators in New Jersey state assembly introduced a non-binding resolution calling on school districts in New Jersey in 2019 to ban Huck Finn due to its repeated use of the n-word and other racist attitudes. Keeping in mind, that those who use those attitudes are portrayed negatively in the book.
The two African-American legislators are of course, Dems, and this is often picked up by "Conservative Media" as an instance of "Dems ban books too". IMHO, it's not the same.
One of the co-authors of the resolution, when interviewed by Politoco, claimed that she introduced the resolution as a response by a bullying incident where a student was charged with cyberbullying black students with racial epithets and lynching threats. She told Politico that while the book was NOT a part of the incident, she believes there are enough books that do NOT have the attitude included and would prefer to see Huck Finn gone from the curriculum.
This is an issue even prominent African-Americans do not agree on. The Nobel Laureate African-American author, Toni Morrison, said the first time she read Huck Finn she was alarmed, but she came to like the book upon re-reading. She called attempts to ban the book "a purist yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children", which is way more elegant than I can ever put it.
Indeed, I see WAY MORE attempts by the conservative side to ban books that don't align with their ideals, often just as Toni Morrison stated: shallow appeal to adults instead of educating children. It's basically a modern version of "no see'em, no problem". It appeals to emotion, rather than logic.
The most recent example of Florida rejecting 41% of MATH TEXT BOOKS for violating CRT and other "guidelines" shows how "sensitive" they are to this as an issue.
posted by kschang at 4:15 PM on April 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
I disagree
The closest I can come to "Dems banning books" was two African-American legislators in New Jersey state assembly introduced a non-binding resolution calling on school districts in New Jersey in 2019 to ban Huck Finn due to its repeated use of the n-word and other racist attitudes. Keeping in mind, that those who use those attitudes are portrayed negatively in the book.
The two African-American legislators are of course, Dems, and this is often picked up by "Conservative Media" as an instance of "Dems ban books too". IMHO, it's not the same.
One of the co-authors of the resolution, when interviewed by Politoco, claimed that she introduced the resolution as a response by a bullying incident where a student was charged with cyberbullying black students with racial epithets and lynching threats. She told Politico that while the book was NOT a part of the incident, she believes there are enough books that do NOT have the attitude included and would prefer to see Huck Finn gone from the curriculum.
This is an issue even prominent African-Americans do not agree on. The Nobel Laureate African-American author, Toni Morrison, said the first time she read Huck Finn she was alarmed, but she came to like the book upon re-reading. She called attempts to ban the book "a purist yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children", which is way more elegant than I can ever put it.
Indeed, I see WAY MORE attempts by the conservative side to ban books that don't align with their ideals, often just as Toni Morrison stated: shallow appeal to adults instead of educating children. It's basically a modern version of "no see'em, no problem". It appeals to emotion, rather than logic.
The most recent example of Florida rejecting 41% of MATH TEXT BOOKS for violating CRT and other "guidelines" shows how "sensitive" they are to this as an issue.
posted by kschang at 4:15 PM on April 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you all for the input!
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:30 AM on April 20, 2022
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 5:30 AM on April 20, 2022
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On a national level, the most active organization doing work in this area is EveryLibrary. They do amazing work, and help local libraries around the country.
posted by griffey at 6:26 AM on April 18, 2022 [7 favorites]