A lot has happened in the world of politics and book banning over the last month. Trump has sent the National Guard into DC and is threatening to do the same in Chicago. Book banning news is ramping up with the start of the new school year. The Institute of Museum and Library Services’s future hangs in the balance with the end of the federal fiscal year approaching. Time to take a deep breath and dive in. Best not to be unprepared.
Trump vs. Publishing & Libraries
DC bookstores are seeing a decline in sales as the presence of the National Guard has driven away potential customers. Funding cuts jeopardize interlibrary loan services in rural Florida libraries. Small bookstores and the future of liberalism. The National Endowment for the Arts has canceled its 2026 Creative Writing Fellowships “due to the agency ‘updating its grant making policy priorities to focus funding on projects that reflect the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the Administration.’” Attorneys general implore the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island to protect IMLS before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th.Censorship News
The next book banning target? Romance novels. Plus, the dangerous legal strategy coming for our books: book banning as a form of protected government speech. How the Satanic Panic fueled book bans in America. The vague language of book banning legislation is hitting art history books because of their depictions of nudity. Censorship posts to revisit as the new school year begins. Some Texas school districts are fighting back against the state’s book banning. Under threat from the state, Florida public schools are banning these 55+ books without review. “Last school year’s reports from the Florida Board of Education showed that a majority of the hundreds of books removed from public school libraries for review were returned with restrictions for age and parental consent.” A new law in New Hampshire will make children’s public library records available to their parents, thereby erasing a child’s right to privacy under patron confidentiality laws. Maryland’s Office of the Inspector General for Education has raised concerns about the Somerset County Public Schools Board of Education, where board members are the ones selecting and approving new book purchases – NOT trained librarians. Fairhope, Alabama voters largely rejected a slate of conservative library trustee candidates during their August 26th election. “Francis Howell School District [MO] paid a conservative consultant thousands of dollars in fees for services that were not approved by the Board of Education nor by the district, according to documents obtained by St. Louis Public Radio.” Jordan Adams of J.C. Adams Consulting offers services to review K-12 curriculum and materials for age-appropriate content, which if you will remember, is a service already provided by the teachers and library staff employed by the district. A Shelbyville (KY) church has encouraged its members to check out LGBTQ+ books from the public library with the intention of never returning them, calling it “an act of civil disobedience.” This is gross on its own, but what’s even more gross is the feature image for the article. Please stop giving these people legitimacy. “The Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill that librarians from across the state say will eliminate young adult and teenage sections from public libraries, calling it unnecessary and harmful to the state’s youth.” Penguin Random House is pushing forward in their lawsuit against Idaho’s book banning law. The Long Beach Public Library (CA) will open up its ebook collection to teens across the country as part of the Books Unbanned initiative. The Edmonton Public School District is removing over 200 library books to comply with a recent provincial directive on banning books with “inappropriate sexual content.” Or are they? Margaret Atwood wrote a scathing Twitter post in response to the directive, and now the government is halting the ban “until further notice.”Want to stay even more up-to-date on book censorship news? Make sure you’re also subscribed to our Literary Activism newsletter.
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