Yesterday, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, with his guest, perennial book challenger Bonnie Wallace, held a press conference to make this draconian, anti-democratic pronouncement: “We’re coming for the books.” They waved booklists in the air and labeled books as filth and vulgar, something even women ‘couldn’t see.’ Then the Lt. Governor threatened school districts with reducing their academic rating if a single offending book was found.
Now we all know libraries are not dangerous and dark places, but thriving centers where our students meet, grow, and learn. But libraries have become a political pawn.
If this all seems familiar(deja vu anyone?), it’s because five years ago, when we launched the Texas FReadom Fighters, the same thing happened. It was also an election year and an aspiring Attorney General candidate hoped to make a splash by releasing his own so called book list, as is portrayed in the Emmy nominated The Librarians Film. The 400 + title book list was riddled with books that were not sensitive in any shape or fashion, like books about quinceañeras or student rights and titles about race or LGBTQ families. Some districts overreacted, while others kept their heads, and some rewrote their policies again and again. Over the last five years, the Texas legislature has passed two bills to regulate and control library books and the purchasing process, creating elaborate hoops for purchasing books. (As though that is one of the state’s biggest problems). The effort was meant to get out the vote in suburban Texas, and now we find ourselves here again, in a close election, school libraries and public schools becoming pawns for an outrage campaign and a distraction from the work that schools should really be focused on: teaching our students.
We also know that both then and now, there has been a lack of academic rigor applied to these lists that are circulated. We should all be asking
Who created this latest list?
What is their qualification for reviewing materials for teens or children?
What is their agenda behind creating the list?
Do they even have children in our schools?
Are they even from Texas?
What qualifies a book to be put on this list?
Are they considering the work as a whole, which the Supreme Court decision Pico v. Island trees requires?
We know from the data what most parents think. Parents didn’t like extremist book banning board takeovers and over the last four years have overturned many of the book banning school boards in local elections. We also know because districts were required to post book purchase lists for review and most districts have seen zero parents look at the list to review. Zero. This is clearly not most parents’ biggest concern about their schools.
We also know the harms of these bills on access for students. Some districts refused to purchase a single book title last year out of caution, penalizing all of our kids, who couldn’t get a new book about Artemis or the Olympics or any current event. Some districts cut classic titles which were written for “adults” like The Odyssey, even though students in their schools needed those books for their college preparation courses and the books had literary merit.
So our call to action is this:
If you are a parent or community member, stand up for libraries during the next legislative session. Join Texas Freedom to Read Project or Unite Against Book Bans to help. Speak up on social media when you see misleading posts about libraries. And most importantly, vote for and campaign for candidates who support our public schools and libraries.
If you are a school district administrator, don’t overreact. You are an academic officer and should use best practices. After five years, you have local policies to rely on which you should follow. This is yet another politicized moment and overreacting protects no one, because there will always be another list. Draw on the experts in your building or network to use a measured approach aligned with your policies.
If you are a librarian, use best practices for continuing to follow your local and state policy. Talk to other librarians about your concerns or decisions. Do not react out of fear, but thoughtfully consider your purchases. Reach out to ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom or to us for support if needed. Be your best self and we are here to help. It’s been five years, and we get the strain and the challenges, and we are here for you.
Libraries are a source of joy and learning in our schools. They are not a dark den of danger that politicians portray in order to get votes. Librarians care deeply about creating future readers and are a dedicated member of their school team. Let’s not lose sight of that and let’s support our libraries.
