“I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves. … The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.”
— Indiana-born writer Kurt Vonnegut, “A Man Without a Country,” 2005
Banned Books Week is Oct. 1-7, and not a moment too soon. Efforts to ban or restrict what people can read in school and public libraries is at a feverish level. As always, your best recourse is to read whatever you like and ignore those who would pull a book from your hands or your kid’s hands. Regarding the latter, we trust parents.
We likewise beg leaders of our local public and school libraries to stand firm for the freedoms of conscience enshrined in the First Amendment. Please don’t let bullies push around librarians who are guided by subject-matter expertise rather than by some political agenda.
We believe every liberty-loving person should be troubled by an ongoing, well-funded crusade targeting libraries and librarians. Its objectives, if not its tentacles, are reaching into local libraries in Columbus and elsewhere in Indiana to censor anything they find objectionable.
The American Library Association reported that from January to August of this year, there were 695 attempts to censor library materials in which 1,915 unique titles were challenged. That’s a 20% increase over the same period in 2022, which saw record numbers of book-ban attempts.
We have repeatedly raised alarms in this space about people who seek to tell someone else which library books they may or may not read. At its core, this is an assault on freedom of conscience if not an assault on thinking itself.
We cannot express this in any simpler terms: If you don’t want to read something, don’t. But you have no right to tell another person what they can read from a library shelf — a shelf paid for by everyone’s tax dollars and accessible to all.
Lindsay Schubiner, Western States Center’s director of programs, said these book-banning efforts are part of a larger goal to push democratic institutions out of public life, School Library Journal editor Kathy Ishizuka wrote recently. “It’s important to be clear-eyed about the fundamental misalignment with democratic values,” Schubiner said.
We mentioned earlier that the best recourse is to read what you like, but getting activated on the side of freedom is also good. Toward that end, here are a couple of local Banned Book Week events:
- “Freedom to Read-In” is planned for 4 to 7 p.m. to “Celebrate Banned Books Week and your freedom to read” with Bartholomew County Public Library librarians on the plaza at 536 Fifth St., Columbus. The library says readers may bring their own book or choose to read a book from a display of those frequently targeted by would-be book banners.
- “Let Freedom Read: Teaching with Banned Books” will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday in the Summerville Room of the Columbus Learning Center at IUPUC, 4555 Central Ave, Columbus.
Being libraries, both of these events are free and open to the public. If you like freedom, check them out.
