Freedom to Read
American libraries are facing unprecedented censorship attacks. Larra Clark from the American Library Association shares lessons on argumentation and policymaking.
American public libraries are facing an alarming surge in organized efforts to censor books and restrict access to information. From coordinated campaigns to remove LGBTQ+ and race-related titles, to demands by state governments to dictate the historical narratives available to communities, libraries are on the frontlines of the battle to preserve intellectual freedom.
Deputy Director Larra Clark has worked on library policy and advocacy for more than two decades. Clark coordinates policy for the American Library Association and the Public Library Association. I heard her speak in October in Barcelona and reached back if she would share her knowledge on how libraries can build policies to defend their community members’ right to read.
Larra Clark:”The change that we're seeing is more of an organized attempt to decide for everybody in a community by a minority group of people.”
Tommi: This might be a question that you've answered quite a few times. But why is intellectual freedom such an essential part of public libraries?
Larra: The way that I have talked about it for all of this time in a way that I think people can hear it across a political spectrum, is that it's about ensuring that there is a wide range of resources and programs and services to meet the needs of everybody in our community. [Intellectual freedom is about protecting the rights of library users to read and seek information freely. For me, it's about that marketplace of ideas. And I think that is the risk when a small group of people want to remove things that they object to, because they're making that decision for everybody else.
Tommi: You mentioned that you started in this work when the censorship attempts were around Harry Potter. What has changed in in the intellectual freedom challenges let’s say in the last decade?
Larra: Libraries have always had policies for reconsideration. So if a parent said:” Wait, how did this book get on the shelf? I'm concerned that it feels a little bit mature for my child”, they could have a conversation with the librarian. What I hear from our members is that that did and still happens today. This is really powerful and important. We want to protect that conversation about people understanding what's in the library and what they can choose.
The change that we're seeing is more of an organized attempt to decide for everybody in a community by a minority group of people. That's the difference. It's not an individual, it's an organized group, or even a state government or a local government guiding the public interpretation of our history and our cultural record. It's asserting a mandatory view of how we understand our past and what's available to us in our present. And I think that is the most significant difference.
It’s also important to recognize that this is disproportionately impacting readers, writers and librarians of color and folks in the LGBT community. You know, censorship affects all of us in terms of closing doors to inquiry, to read and learn and think. But it really dramatically targets most these folks who already have been at the margins. I think this organization, in fact, has been in part a reaction to the increasing diversity of stories that are available to us and celebrating that.
Also, it's not one book. Organized groups frequentlyu seek to remove multiple titles at one time. It's a series of books that are shared online and organized against. It's been a huge explosion over the last three to five years.
Tommi: So what I'm hearing is that it’s state governments and organized groups taking action to dictate an interpretation of history and present. And it’s disproportionately focused on questions of race and LGBTQ issues.
Larra: I think one of the most crystal example of this is the book And Tango Makes Three. It's a children's book about penguins. It's incredible that there has been this idea that this is a book about sex. Of course it's not. It’s male penguins raising a chick. It does not have anything to do with sex. It’s really just about love and family and finding love. I think it's one of the more dangerous things that we've seen is that kind of a conflation of any non-heterosexual person or relationship represented means that its somehow obscene or inappropriate for young people.
Tommi: You said that this is organized. Who is driving this movement?
Larra: There's a few different groups. One of the ones that is the most visible in the United States is Moms for Liberty. It was founded in Florida in January 2021. It now has more than 250 chapters in 42 states. It's been tied to party politics and to legacy conservative organizations like the Leadership Institute and the Heritage Foundation. So it's been funded and supported at an institutional level.
(See WPTV News clip on the organization)
There was a report from PEN America and they estimate that in 2024 there was at least 50 groups across the country that are working to remove books they object to from libraries. Of the 300 chapters that they have tracked, 73% of those were formed after 2020. So it's been this really big growth with support from long standing conservative forces.
Tommi: What is the impact of this to libraries?
Larra: Every book challenge takes staff time and attention away from other things that we could be doing. It's affecting morale, combined with the pandemic impacts and the mental health challenges. It can even lead to people feeling unsafe when they are personally threatened online or their family is threatened. In the most extreme cases, we've seen bomb threats. And it can impact library funding, as well.
One example of what this looks like is a library colleague shared that she had a patron request for a book that had been reviewed and added to the collection. Somebody took that book to the police department in that library. The library staff were threatened with a police investigation and somebody in a political position was trying to make this a political issue saying they will take the librarian to court. So the librarian had to get legal counsel, which is expensive, and ensure that she was able to protect herself and her staff. Ultimately, the book was retained. It went through the right process. But it is a change where policymakers are looking at criminal prosecution or civil fees against library staff.
Tommi: What are the best practices to deal with these censorship efforts that you see?
Larra: The most important thing is to be prepared. Libraries need to have clear policies with a consistent application. The other thing that is really important is to build and strengthen networks of support. Censors really are a minority, and when that voice gets very loud, it can be hard to remember that this is a small group of people. It's rarely the majority, even in a conservative community. So building and strengthening networks of support and ensuring that you have clear communications quickly to city leadership and board members.
On a personal level, try not to take it personally, to listen actively and acknowledge the concerns that library patrons may have, and to look for solutions and finding that common ground. Emphasizing that every book is not going to be the right book for every reader. So how can we find another resource? It’s also important to remind decisionmakers about all of the work that's happening in libraries, not just book challenges.
On the policies themselves, my colleagues in the field are learning some of the important practices.
First, we want people to have read the book. Part of what happens in these online lists is that it's extractions of, a “bad” line or a paragraph, where bad means sexually explicit, racist or transphobic. These issues can cut across a spectrum of belief systems. It goes to legal precedent as well, going all the way back to James Joyce that you don't look only at a line or a paragraph. You have to consider the work as a whole. So a library may requiere people seeking to remove a book to have read the book.
Second, you can only challenge a single title at a time.
Third, you have live within the library service area. Most U.S. public libraries are funded predominantly at the local level through local tax dollars so they build their collections and services to meet the needs of their local communities. So to reduce the likelihood of outside groups deciding for that community, you know, have them be a member of the community and or a person who has a library card.
Tommi: What are the arguments you see working?
Larra: The American Library Association has done some message testing and we have shared some of those messages that we see cut across a political spectrum of voters and parents. Some of those messages are focusing on reading, that reading is a foundational skill, critical to learning and exercising our democratic freedom.
Also, focusing on the fact that parents can decide for themselves and with their families, but they shouldn't decide for other people.
And that removing and banning books from public libraries is a slippery slope to government censorship and the erosion of our country's commitment to freedom of expression. Because most of us do not want somebody else to tell us what to do and that is part of the beauty of the library. That it is a forum for people to choose and to remind people that there are many resources available to them through the library.
10-Step Checklist for Libraries or Artistic Institutions
Have an intellectual freedom policy, including a request for reconsideration practice, in place before you need.
Require that people must have read the book before challenging it.
Require that people can challenge one item at a time.
Require that only members of your community can challenge an item.
Have a communication strategy in place.
Educate your governing bodies on intellectual freedom before a crisis.
Report annually to your governing board on intellectual freedom.
Provide staff training on tough conversations.
Support other libraries. Reach out to a library director when they face challenges.
Build local support before you need it for instance through collaboration with universities, writers’ associations, staff associations and unions and civil society groups.
For more on ways to promote and secure intellectual freedom, visit UniteAgainstBookBans.org. And to close things off, here is the amazing John Oliver explaining how amazing libraries are.