“No one wants to be censored”

More than 10,000 books were banned from public schools during the 2023-2024 academic year, according to a new PEN America report. Data from the American Library Association shows that while the country saw a decline in the first eight months of 2024, the number of bans and challenges still exceeds that of 2020, when the increase began.

Book banning, which the ALA defines as restricting access to materials through temporary or indefinite removal, was THE subject of heated debate in courts and classrooms, libraries and living rooms.

It caused a wave of advocacy. “Banned Books Week” is one such initiative, and librarians in “book sanctuaries” stand in solidarity with school libraries facing challenges and bans from politicians and parents alike.

Libraries establish “book sanctuaries” to protect the right to read

While protests — rallies, holding literacy events, or even lawsuits — are central to much of the fight against book bans, some libraries are taking quieter, just as influential, steps.

In 2022, the Chicago Public Library declared itself a book sanctuary, or “a physical or digital space that actively protects the freedom to read.” Book sanctuaries can exist in classrooms, libraries, coffee shops, bookstores, and even personal collections. Among other things, they collect banned or contested books and make them available to readers.

Chicago has a decades-long history of fighting book bans. It was the first public library in the country to issue a statement of intellectual freedom in 1936, even before the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights. It even housed the ALA when it was first established, says Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown.

“As these book challenges were growing, we were really at a point (where) we were reflecting on our history and our core values ​​and realizing that we wanted to remind everyone of what we stood for,” Brown says.

From there, the movement cascaded. Libraries from all over the country came to Chicago. Today there are more than 4,000 book sanctuaries in the US

The Hoboken Public Library became New Jersey’s first book sanctuary in 2023 after hosting a banned book reading workshop that drew flak on social media, mostly from outside the community. Taking a position as a book sanctuary was a way to “reinforce the statement of the majority,” says library director Jennie Pu. The community has been overwhelmingly supportive, she says. Later, the entire city declared itself a Sanctuary City of Books.

“This statement to the world that says we don’t censor, we don’t ban books. In fact, we actively collect books and stories that are banned,” says Pu.

Most Americans do not support banning books. An ALA poll of nearly 1,500 voters and public school parents found that 71 percent oppose removing the books from public libraries, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. A 2023 NPR poll found similar numbers across party lines.

Book sanctuaries enjoy broad community support

In Kentucky, the Paris-Bourbon County Library declared itself a “First Amendment Library” after a family challenged 102 books in a short period. Most of the headlines related to the experiences of marginalized people. Taking them out would have been “antithetical to everything we believed in,” director Mark Adler told USA TODAY.

He waited until a board meeting to make the decision – if the community agreed to the removal, he would have resigned. If challenged, he “stays and fights for them.”

Those opposed to removing the cards outnumbered supporters by hundreds.

“We had people from across the political spectrum, we have people from both major parties on (the board) and they were very supportive. They don’t feel that anyone has the right to tell someone else what to read, and certainly not to tell someone else’s children what to read,” says Adler.

Recent US legislation allows the removal and objection of school library titles that contain sexual content, even if that content is not pornographic. Some have used this provision to challenge headlines that contain mention of sexual violence or an LGBTQ+ person or relationship.

According to the American Library Association, 47% of the 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship in 2023 were about or by LGBTQ+ people and people of color.

“Our collections have to be diverse and a reflection of our society that we live in, which means you can’t just have one kind of point of view represented,” says Pu. “(Book sanctuaries) provide at least some basic protection so that a librarian can do our job and curate a thoughtful and diverse collection of all kinds of voices.”

Even in Texas, a state with the second highest number of book bans, the Harris County Public Library system felt an outpouring of support when it declared itself and its branches a book sanctuary.

As schools around them pulled titles off the shelves, Principal Edward Melton felt the need to have a safe place for students to access information outside of the classroom. While being a book sanctuary offers no legal buffers, it helps staff feel comfortable doing their jobs without the threat of retaliation. It’s also comforting to know that the Commissioner’s Court, the local governing body, supports the right to read in Harris County, Melton says.

“We initially thought this would be treading in shark-infested water – it really wasn’t that experience,” he says.

Since passing the resolution last year, Harris County has embraced the fight against book bans. The county authorized a downtown mural protesting the book ban. They also host concerts and book talks for Banned Books Week.

Chicago enjoyed equally broad support. A year after the public library declared itself a book sanctuary, Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill making Illinois the first state to ban book bans.

“A fundamental right that people really embrace”

Much of the book banning debate gets lost in semantics, Melton says. He tackled the problem by going back to the basics. When he uses the phrases “intellectual freedom” and “censorship,” he says people are connecting the dots about what’s really going on.

Similarly, that’s why Adler and the Paris-Bourbon County Library opted for the phrase “First Amendment Library.”

“I don’t care what your background is, what you’re interested in reading,” Adler says. “If you’re interested or want to learn something, it’s my responsibility as a librarian to help you find your material.”

Before becoming a book sanctuary, Melton recommends that librarians first have a thoughtful conversation with local government officials to get past the other politically charged language they might have heard.

“In America, nobody wants to be censored. Everyone wants to be able to have intellectual freedom in terms of choosing what they read or choosing the information they consume,” says Melton. “It’s a fundamental right that people really embrace. So if you start talking about taking away someone’s intellectual freedom, then the community really gets up in arms.”

And while libraries are on the front lines, Brown says anyone can get involved. For influencers, it could be making a video about banned books. For coffee shops and bookstores, they could display frequently contested titles.

“The more voices we have that emphasize the importance of this, that aren’t necessarily working in the field, the more it sends a message that this is an important issue and it’s something that affects people,” Brown says.

Contributed by: Anna Kaufman

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Libraries are becoming ‘book sanctuaries’ to fight book bans