'It's Been Devastating': A Q&A With The Top Librarian Fighting The GOP's Book Bans

"The weaponization of libraries ... is a bludgeon that’s scaring people everywhere," said American Library Association President Emily Drabinski.

It’s that time of year again: National Library Week! A time to celebrate the endless adventures that children can experience in books that are free and accessible to all, and the safe spaces that libraries provide for learning and creating a sense of community.

Or, it’s a time to reflect on how we got to a place where librarians are living in constant fear. They have become the targets of Republican politicians and far-right groups like Moms for Liberty that are hellbent on banning books about LGBTQ+ people, people of color and racism. Some librarians are quitting their jobs because of constant harassment; others are getting fired for refusing to clear shelves of books that conservatives don’t like.

More recently, and perhaps most alarmingly, the GOP’s censorship campaign has shifted from book bans to legislation threatening librarians with jail time.

The Idaho state House in 2022 passed a bill that would send librarians to jail for a year for checking out books to a minor that some might consider harmful. That bill never became law. But this month, the Idaho Legislature sent another bill to the governor requiring librarians to move “harmful materials” out of reach from minors or face lawsuits. Those include books that mention “any act of … homosexuality.”

In West Virginia, the state House passed a bill in February that would make librarians criminally liable if a minor comes across content that some might consider obscene. Critics of this bill warned it could result in challenges to even classic books, and lead to criminal charges being levied against librarians over books with any descriptions of sex.