by Barbara Andes, VP Communications
“It was the foremost topic of discussion” at the state’s recent professional conference for librarians [Virginia Library Association] is how Sara Sprague describes book banning and book censorship. Sprague, October RVDW guest speaker, a Roanoke-based attorney, librarian, and consultant, had much to share in her “Freedom to Read: How to Resist Book Bans in Your Community” presentation on Friday, October 27. Her unique perspective, sharpened by the intersection of her professional expertise in law and librarianship, gave attendees a lot to consider and ways to resist the trend toward censorship.
“Book banning is ‘the practice of removing or restricting access to books that are deemed objectionable or inappropriate by some individuals or groups’,” explained Sprague. This can include removing books from school or public libraries, prohibiting books from being used in classrooms or curricula, requiring parental consent or notification for books that contain certain content and even filing lawsuits or complaints against authors, publishers, librarians, or teachers who promote or distribute books. “It’s kind of a catch-all term that can be a little murky, but in all cases is a restriction on freedom to read. When government is the one doing the directing, we get into censorship issues that potentially violate the first amendment.”
Book banning is not a new phenomenon in the US. Throughout our history many books have been challenged or banned for various reasons. But in recent years, it has become more prevalent and organized in Virginia. “At VLA we talked about current American Library Association (ALA) data and Virginia is the state with the second greatest number of book challenges this year at almost 400 titles challenged.”
Sprague presented a chart reflecting the initiators of book bans. “Digging into past and present data and looking at current trends reveal quite a bit. Prior to 2020, most challenges to library books/resources were from a parent who wanted to remove or restrict access to a book their child was reading, individual action regarding an individual title. In 2022 however, 90% of reported challenges were demands to remove or restrict multiple titles; 40% of these were for over 100 books at a time. A little over half of the bans were targeted at school libraries and schools, slightly less in public libraries, with a tiny percentage focused on college libraries or other institutions.”
The roots of the now more prevalent and organized book banning efforts, the opposite of the one parent/one book scenario, come from a few different areas:
Rise of conservative groups such as Moms For Liberty – Aimed at opposing certain topics or representation such as LGBTQIA, racial justice, gender equality, sexual education. Family Foundation of Virginia is another. Astro-turfed efforts with support from national groups that distribute book lists and tactics over social media to local chapters. Levels of harassment at public libraries have driven many out of the profession and may lead to the closure of a library in Front Royal that has been targeted and had its funding removed. (Parents were not satisfied with moving books or putting in parental controls.)
New Virginia state laws – Schools must notify parents of instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and allows them to request alternative materials. But the law defines sexually explicit content broadly and vaguely, leaving room for interpretation and abuse. There have also been recent attempts to challenge material under obscenity laws that have not used much recently.
Lack of VDOE guidance – Without clear guidance from the Virginia Department of Education, individual school districts are more vulnerable to pressure and lawsuits. The model language does not provide for censorship of books in schools or designating books as sexually explicit solely because of the sexual orientation of characters; however, some school departments have included that while others have not.
Larger political shifts – including critical race theory, efforts to defund public schools, and moral panic over trans students.
Plenty of Local Occurrences to Cite
In Roanoke County, the school board has a policy that reflects the VDOE guidance, but application is uneven, and schools must develop procedures for identifying materials. Roanoke County parents now must opt out of weekly emails listing the books a child has checked out of the school library. Last year, Roanoke County School Board attempted to require librarians and library professionals to perform the onerous work of reading all new books and require a committee approval process that does not reflect how things happen in libraries. Such a process does not respect the professional credentials of librarians and teachers. This failed requirement stemmed from the removal of a picture book that contained a trans character.
Montgomery County did not include the statement that queer representation alone was not sexually explicit, which has already led to problems; a parent attempted to have a book removed that she claimed was pornographic. (It wasn’t. The book merely depicted a gay character’s experience.)
There have been successful book removals in Bedford, Franklin, and Henry County.
One woman in Spotsylvania County has challenged over 70 books claiming they are explicit. She succeeded and got many of the titles removed while threatening to sue and recruiting other parents to join her.
Ways to Resist the Trend Toward Censorship
Discuss this publicly and with your groups. This is an issue that has broad agreement across party lines – 84% disagree that one person should be able to remove books for everyone. Over 70% think we should have broad topics covered by books, so focusing our language on freedom and that we are the ones whose freedom is being restricted, our parental rights being threatened.
Support organizations that are working on legal challenges, collecting data about book bans, and educating voters and citizens about the danger of book ban. Consider these:
American Library Association – ALA
Virginia Library Association – VLA
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
PEN America
American Civil Liberties Union – ACLU
Freedom to Read Foundation
Pay attention to and get involved in School Board and Board of Supervisors races. (Remember, Boards of Supervisors and City/Town Councils can affect public library funding.)
Call your state legislators. It is most helpful to call your own legislators – they keep tallies! Multiple terrible bills were defeated last session in both House of Delegate and State Senate on this topic. There will be more coming; there will also be attempts to address this that can use support. Applying pressure is a tactic that works! Sen. Hashmi had tons of calls last year calling librarians groomers and those voices need to be drowned out by others to counteract the rampant misinformation – be louder than the opponent.
Show up at school board meetings in support. Sign up to speak if you are comfortable in that space. Local grassroots groups like Parents for a Common Sense School Board and Red, Wine, & Blue do work around this issue (including raising money for FOIA requests and covering legal expenses for folks targeted for speaking up.
Email School Board members and Board of Supervisors.
Write letters to the editors of your local and regional news outlets.
Attend rallies and events, such as read-ins. Organize your own event. It can be fun.
And EVERYONE can do this – Check out banned books!! Buy banned books!! Help send a message. Checking out banned books from public libraries helps with their circulation statistics, it’s free, and it gets counted.
