As public facing workers, librarians are resourceful and well-educated heroes who – especially in urban areas – find themselves assisting marginalized and vulnerable populations who may find themselves with limited options regarding where they are allowed to exist. In addition to this sort of social work, librarians are also crucial actors in democracies, defending free speech and access to information. Unsurprisingly, they are increasingly under attack by the Trump administration. PEN America, a free expression advocacy group, just released its study – “Out of Circulation: Expanding Censorship in Public Libraries” – where it found that libraries are at a breaking point amidst a barrage of consistent ideological and fascist-feeling attacks.
The report illuminates escalating political interference, censorship, harassment, and funding pressures. Book bans, cancelled events, threats against library staff, and efforts to weaken libraries’ independent governance have all been documented. LGBTQ+ materials, as well as books addressing gender identity and sexuality, have been disproportionately targeted, with some conservative “activists” characterizing such materials as sexually inappropriate or “woke.” The report also describes governmental overreach to gain greater control over library boards and directors. Libraries hosting or promoting drag-related programming have faced intense opposition, including protests, bomb threats, physical violence, and event cancellations. The report contextualizes public-library censorship within the startling expansion of book challenges in the US; it notes that nearly 23,000 bans have been documented in school libraries since 2021, and that public libraries now account for 51% of book-ban attempts, as tracked by the American Library Association.
