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Writer's pictureTayler Simon

Beyond Book Bans: How to Save Our Public Libraries

Updated: Nov 7

Liberation is Lit founder and CEO Tayler Simon writes about the conservative push to ban books and control public libraries

By Tayler Simon: Liberation is Lit (CUBNSC)


I am bouncing in the seat with glee as we make our way downtown to the “big” library, my seatbelt attempting to hold my small body securely. We turn off Assembly Street to the back parking lot of the Main Branch of the Richland Library. We walk inside with all the giant windows where I feel even small. This library felt like my whole world.


I patiently wade through the stacks of books on tape with my mother, looking for the tree on their spines that indicates the audiobook company, Griot Audio, or letting my mom and me know that it is a book written by a Black author. After she gets her books, we head down to the basement level for the children’s section. I luxuriate in browsing for my own books and get to play with the puzzles. The outing to the giant Main Branch library continued to be the premiere outing for me even through my high school years.


The library has always been a safe place for me: the huge Main Branch, the smaller Southeast Branch where I volunteered in middle and high school, and each one of my school libraries where I was a member of the Readers Union and a library assistant. I found myself in books, and they brought all different worlds to little, old me in Columbia, South Carolina.


The Rise of Book Bans and Censorship


All of a sudden, libraries are seen as a threat, a place of “indoctrination” for the children. We are currently living in a world of moral panic initiated by right-wing extremists, and books and libraries are the primary targets. It started with an attack on concepts such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). In 2021, the American Library Association noticed the highest amount of challenges and removals since they began tracking in 1990, and the number has been skyrocketing ever since.


Book censorship has different levels, but every attempt to ban or challenge a book is a form of censorship that goes against our First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. Below is a list of the different types of censorship that affect books:


  • Restriction: intentionally limiting access to books by all who may want them. For example, putting books behind a desk so that patrons have to ask to borrow them and denying them if they don’t meet specific requirements (such as age).

  • Redaction: intentionally editing or removal of material from a book. For example, omitting sections from textbooks (like they did in Texas)

  • Relocation: intentionally moving a book from one area of the library to another. Greenville libraries did this with all their books with transgender characters in juvenile and young adult sections.

  • Removal: (also known as a book ban) intentionally removing a book off the shelves in a library or from teaching curriculum.


Earlier this year, South Carolina passed a few bills that make book censorship easier than ever. Regulation 43-170 (R-43-170) gives the South Carolina Department of Education the power to select books for schools and school libraries throughout the state, set a two-prong test that school boards must use to determine whether or not materials are appropriate for minors under 17, and create a “uniform” process for school board trustees to use when someone files a book complaint. South Carolina also passed a budget, Proviso 27.1, that increases budgets for libraries, but with the stipulation that they must “certify to the State library that their county libraries do not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of seventeen in children’s, youth, or teen book sections of libraries and are only made available with explicit parental consent.”


The consequences of these regulations are far-reaching and instill fear within library boards and school districts. Greenville County school districts have put a stop to book fairs, claiming that they won’t be able to screen all the books coming in for inappropriate materials (like a company like Scholastic would ever allow age-inappropriate material within their catalog). York County libraries will no longer purchase new books for their juvenile and young adult sections “indefinitely as we work to ensure we are in full compliance with any new regulations.” 


With the rise of the outspoken “parental rights” groups such as Moms for Liberty (backed by the authors of Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation), conservative extremists gaining power in all levels of government (including school and library boards), and harmful legislation being codified, we are laying the groundwork for the erosion of public education and institutions.


How Attacking Public Libraries Is the First Step to Dismantling Public Education


Everyone has been talking about the dangers of the colossal 920-page document titled Project 2025, which outlines the plans if conservatives take power and Trump is elected. What many people do not know is that the plan has already been in motion. Project 2025 specifically connects “the ruling and cultural elite today” to schools and libraries. Three significant ways Project 2025 targets libraries are outlined below:


  • Suggests Schools and Public Libraries are Purveyors of Pornography: Project 2025 aims to link any content containing mentions of LGBTQ+ subjects as inherently pornographic, regardless of the lack of explicit sexual content. By doing this, they hope to spread distrust, anxiety, and outrage toward schools and public libraries. Some states are even going to the extreme of trying to criminalize librarians for sharing these types of books.

  • Eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS): The IMLS distributes funds to library and museum programs nationwide. Eliminating this source of federal funding for libraries will affect already tight budgets, which will result in restricted hours, staff layoffs, and cuts to programs that help with technology education, workforce development, and enriching community education. 

  • Overhaul Accreditation Processes in Higher Education: They propose to prevent accrediting agencies from enforcing DEI policies and eliminate protections for the governance of state-supported colleges, limiting access for a diverse student body and faculty. The diminishment or dismantling of higher education will also immediately impact academic libraries, both or access of diverse reading materials and contributions from the research of diverse faculty.


Project 2025 also calls for the end of the U.S. Department of Education. This loss of centralized federal funding and oversight would affect the consistency and quality of educational standards between states. Ellen Weaver, the South Carolina Superintendent of Education, is already introducing controversial initiatives such as cutting ties with the South Carolina Association for School Librarians, creating a partnership with PragerU, a media company pushing “American values” through an anti-woke lens, and passing regulations such as the unpopular R-43-170. With more and more hand-picked conservative state board of education superintendents, public education will get worse for states across the country.


Book censorship is also connected to dismantling public education. The burden placed on school and library staff wastes taxpayer dollars, especially since these professionals already have processes in place to screen materials before they are even purchased for shelves. This article breaks down the cost of a single book that is challenged:


  • $155 for each member of the review committee to receive the book being challenged (in this case, Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson)

  • If a book takes 2 hours (which is not so realistic because this book is 464 pages) to read and hourly pay for committee members is $15 an hour, for seven people, that costs $210 

  • The total for a single book to be reviewed is $365.


These expenses add up. One school district in Florida spent over $100,000 in legal fees to defend their decision in a book ban. Another school district in Indiana spent over $300,000 to review all the materials in their public library to remove books off shelves (and several comic books were removed in error). By putting these burdens on taxpayer-funded institutions, the far-right hopes to leverage taxpayer outrage so that these institutions become privatized. Privatizing schools and libraries makes them more inaccessible to most people who rely on them.


What Can You Do To Save Libraries

There are several things you can do to save libraries:


  1. VOTE: Presidential elections are important. However, local elections are just as important. Pay attention to elections for school board, city council, and state representatives. These are the folks who are in charge of the libraries and schools that you interact with directly.

  2. Show Up to Board Meetings: Attend your local library and school board meetings. Make your voice heard when it comes to the decisions they make about the children they affect in our communities. If you can’t show up, write to them or call when you have time and make sure you review their agendas, which are available publicly. Use your voice!

  3. Stay on top of what is happening: The Literary Activism newsletter through Book Riot and the EveryLibrary newsletter are great resources for what is happening across the country. The ACLU of SC is also a great resource for information about what is happening locally.


Regardless of whether we have children in the school system or not, it is our responsibility to protect public education and the fate of our future generations. When we live in an educated society, we all win. It impacts all of us.



Contributor Disclaimer

The views, opinions, and perspectives expressed in articles, blogs, or other content contributed by guest writers and contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official stance, beliefs, or values of the Columbia Urban Broadcast Network (CUBN). While we encourage diverse voices and welcome thoughtful dialogue, CUBN does not assume responsibility for the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of any statements made by contributors.

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