CHATHAM — A cloud of worry hung over the group of librarians gathered on Jan. 24 at the Eldredge Public Library for the CLAMS network’s annual legislative luncheon. Staff from the 38 member libraries (most of the Cape’s public libraries are members of the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing network) have been watching the number of book challenges grow nationwide and across the state.
On the program were Debby Conrad of Marshfield, a member of the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), and state Sen. Julian Cyr, who both spoke about legislation in the works to protect libraries and librarians from attempts at censorship.
The Outer Cape’s librarians all told the Independent they have seen very few attempts to censor books in their collections, but the national picture is another story. According to the American Library Association (ALA), the number of books challenged in public and school libraries has increased sharply in recent years, with 9,021 books challenged nationwide in 2023 — over 30 times more than in 2020, when 277 books were challenged. Only two books were challenged in Massachusetts libraries in 2020, but in 2023 there were 63.
The ALA has for 20 years compiled data on these censorship attempts from reports filed with its Office for Intellectual Freedom by library professionals and from news stories. The challenges are often aimed at books that feature the experiences of historically marginalized people, according to the association, which found that 47 percent of the books targeted in 2023 featured or were written by LGBTQ people or people of color.
Conrad told the librarians gathered on Jan. 24 that the state of Massachusetts is vulnerable to book bans because it does not have a “right to read” law preventing library materials from being removed for political or ideological reasons. Such laws are on the books in California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington.
Cyr told the Independent after the luncheon that the right to read bill he co-sponsored “is about having a uniform set of policies,” adding, “if there’s going to be a book challenge, we’re asking that it be under the scrutiny of review.”
The proposed law, An Act Regarding Free Expression (Senate bill S.2528), was filed in July 2023. Cyr said he worked with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mass. School Library Association, and the MBLC to come up with what he considers comprehensive protections against censorship. The bill’s latest incarnation, redrafted by the legislature’s Joint Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development, was sent to the Senate Ways and Means Committee last session.
The bill requires the state’s library commissioners to assist public and school libraries in creating clear collection development and book challenge policies, which must align with standards set forth in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights. The law calls for library materials to “present all points of view on current and historical issues” and forbids libraries from excluding materials based on the “origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.”
The bill also protects librarians from punitive actions taken in response to library materials selected in accordance with the approved policy. That’s an important protection, Conrad said at the meeting.
The bill also amends the state’s student bill of rights to include a provision that students have the right to “receive information, including through materials determined to be educational and age-appropriate for inclusion in a school library by the school library teacher.”
“At this sad moment where hate and fear are driving too many policies across the nation, Massachusetts must continue to champion freedom of expression and the right to read,” Cyr said. “We’re home to the nation’s first public library and first public school. We’ve long appreciated that unabridged access to knowledge is key to opportunity.”
The Local View
Book challenges are rare on the Outer Cape. The directors of the Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet public libraries all said they hadn’t seen any book challenges in their time on the job. Nor had the librarians at Nauset High School and the Provincetown Schools.
Orleans Library Director Tavi Prugno said there has not been an uptick in requests to remove books there. In fact, there have been no objections to books or programs at Snow Library in the last five years, he said, adding that in the past 20 he’s dealt with only two challenges to library materials. In each of those cases, the board of trustees reviewed the complaint and ultimately voted to keep the title in the collection.
Eastham Library Director Melanie McKenzie said two books were challenged in 2023: A Court of Thorns and Roses, a fantasy novel by Sarah J. Maas, and Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human, by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan. Both books, which were in the library’s young adult section, had been challenged based on concerns about the treatment of sexuality.
“Most of the time, when someone raises a challenge, it comes from a place of concern,” McKenzie said. “We listen, and we reiterate what our role is in providing access to information in the community. Most of the time it ends there.” No further action was taken in either case.
Chris Kaufmann, director of the Truro Public Library, has had similar experiences, she told the Independent. “I don’t mind people bringing up challenges, because it shows they’re concerned about their public library,” Kaufmann said. “At least then you get to sit down and have a conversation with them.”
She lamented the fact that some patrons try to censor books on their own by moving them from one shelf to another or borrowing and then not returning books to restrict others’ access to them.
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom’s position is that “only parents and guardians have the right and responsibility to determine their children’s — and only their children’s — access to library resources,” according to its Library Bill of Rights. “Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their own children.”
Feds Move to Allow Censorship
On Jan. 24, the same day that the CLAMS network met, the U.S. Dept. of Education announced it had “ended Biden’s book ban hoax.” The department’s Office for Civil Rights had just dismissed 11 complaints related to the removal of books from school libraries.
Hours later, PEN America, a New York nonprofit dedicated to protecting free expression, posted on its website a rebuke of the move, citing over 10,000 instances of removals of books from school libraries in the 2023-24 school year. “Censorship of literature — inside schools or not — deprives young people of the ability to navigate the world around them and their futures,” it reads.
Cyr said the legislation he has proposed wouldn’t explicitly protect against federal attempts to restrict information. At the same time, he said, because Massachusetts libraries are almost entirely funded at the state and local levels, it’s unlikely that a lack of federal funding will interfere with residents’ access to books.
