It’s nice to know that Durango Public Library just put more muscle into its policies, aligning with Colorado’s recently passed SB24-216, the Standards for Decisions Regarding Library Resources, to protect books and materials held by libraries from censorship.
This shows legislation and protocol were hard on the heels of those responsible for the surge of book bans in 2023. This benefits all community members and we couldn’t be happier.
As reported in The Durango Herald on July 18, Luke Alvey-Henderson, director of the library, said the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 1,247 demands to censor library books and other resources last year – a 65% increase from 2022 and the highest level of attacks on books in more than 20 years of monitoring.
In 2023 at Colorado libraries, there were more than 140 challenges to books or content within collections compared with 12 challenges in 2022.
Previously, we’ve opined that 2022 was the year of momentum to pull books off shelves, with 2023 the year of strong, more organized pushback against it.
Although true, while defenders of books mobilized, antics in banning escalated alongside them. The book-banning frenzy had not yet reached its pitch.
Remember, crusades to ban titles could originate from just one person, usually a parent, or small pocket of people. (Durango Public Library, though, already required a separate request for each objectionable item.)
This continues to confuse us. Why would a mother or father touting parental rights want to give any governmental body more control to decide what is appropriate – or not – for our children? We parents are in charge. Why give away our authority?
If our sense of morality is tested, ideally, we talk with our children about it. They learn values from us. Indoctrination is not a worry.
In the new state law, of note is that attempts to ban books at libraries are now subject to the Colorado Open Records Act. An individual trying to force a decision affecting our entire community can be identified. This is a significant change.
Anyone can make a request. It’s just not a private matter as a library user record is. It’s your own business what you like to read. But it’s all of our business if you want to restrict what the public can access.
In the Herald news story, which was shared statewide in the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition newsletter, Alvey-Henderson said, in particular, the law requiring two years to pass between attempts to remove a given title is a welcome addition to the library’s policy.
This offers some insight into the previous potential for relentless requests.
We citizens are getting better at spotting the tricks. We’re familiar with the underhanded, common practice to simply check out a book considered offensive, then recheck out the book, then have another person of the same ideological bent put the book on hold. Check it out, and on and on.
Another of the state law’s standards is that an individual seeking a book’s removal must live within that library service area. Seems basic, right? Apparently, people have reached out to manipulate libraries far from their own communities.
Can you imagine someone in Lamar influencing what Durango library patrons should read? Nonsense.
Also, a library book can’t be pulled while under consideration for removal.
Besides libraries, we’re keeping eyes on educational gag orders and lawsuits with sizable implications for schools. In May 2023, Penguin Random House, authors, parents and PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, filed a federal lawsuit against the Escambia County School District and School Board in Pensacola, Florida, for removing books related to race and the LGBTQ community.
In January 2024, a judge ruled the lawsuit can move forward. But this hasn’t stopped the Escambia County school district from continually yanking books, cutting access to nearly 1,600. The lawsuit covers more than 165 books.
The scope of librarians’ work is broad. The last thing they need is any kind of dust-up over what’s inside books’ covers. It’s enough that they serve every patron who walks through their doors, getting materials into the hands of people whose lives will be enhanced.
Commonality we share with censors? The belief that a book can change a life.
For those determined to control what the rest of us read, mind your own business. Read a book or don’t. But don’t try to erase what we care to know about.
Thankfully, Durango Public Library’s policy updates just made that even less likely.
