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A coming-of-age novel about a high school freshman dealing with teen problems and the loss of his best friend, who died by suicide. A series of personal essays exploring the life of a journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist. An autobiography charting a person’s journey of self-identity that grapples with the difficulty of coming out to family and society.
These three books share one thing in common: They are all on the American Library Association’s top 10 most challenged books of 2023 list.
The association saw a 65% surge in book challenges between 2022 and 2023, with 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials and resources.
Additionally, the association found that the number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for 46% of all book challenges in 2023.
While California often feels isolated from the book ban movement, there have been recent attempts in conservative cities, like Huntington Beach and Fresno, to censor books.
The California Freedom to Read Act aims to address these and future attempts by “banning book bans.” The proposed bill would require public libraries to maintain a publicly accessible collection development policy that guides the selection of materials and establishes a process for community members to share their concerns. It would also allow the public to request that materials be reconsidered for inclusion in the library’s collection.
The bill would prohibit library materials from being excluded or limited solely based on subject matter, author or sources, among other things.
The bill is still in the assembly and is awaiting approval of senate amendments before being enacted.
Book bans in Sacramento Public Libraries
In Sacramento, Peter Coyl, director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library, said the book ban movement seen across the country is virtually nonexistent.
“Our numbers don’t align with the [American Library Association] because those numbers are a national number,” Coyl said. “In fact, I don’t know if we’d even consider it a full percentage point because we haven’t had many requests for reconsideration in the last year. Two, maybe three, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an issue.”
Coyl highlighted Huntington Beach and Fresno as examples of this issue in California. In Huntington Beach, the heavily conservative city council tried privatizing the library in what library supporters argued was an ideological effort to censor books and remove librarians.
Meanwhile, in Nov. 2023, a Fresno County supervisor created one of the state’s first citizen review committees for library books, which CalMatters reported in early August could soon decide whether to move material with “sexual references” and “gender-identity content” to a restricted area that could only be accessed with a parent’s permission.
“Those two jurisdictions have implemented, among some others, processes and practices which in essence remove books from the availability of their users,” Coyl stressed. “The purpose of a library is to have information available for people of all walks of life from all viewpoints. I think this bill will allow that to continue to happen, to make the library still freely available so people can have lines of inquiry and discussion about many topics, some of which are offensive but necessary.”
Coyl noted that although California could set an example of how to handle the book ban movement for other states, “what works in one state doesn’t always work in another.”
“And that’s the same with families who use the library,” he remarked. “What your family reads may not be what another parent wants their child to read. As a society, we can’t allow one person’s viewpoint of how they handle things be applied across the entire country for every family.”
Furthermore, Coyl said the Sacramento Public Library — along with most other California public libraries — already has a collection development policy that meets the requirements set forth by the bill.
California State Librarian Greg Lucas will receive these policies and provide “technical assistance” in ensuring they are compliant with the bill’s provisions. He explained that since most libraries already have these policies, his role will be fairly small.
“One of the coolest things about local libraries is that none of them are the same because none of the communities they serve are the same,” he said. “I think it’s inappropriate for the state of California, which isn’t part of that community, to say, ‘You need to do X.’ Our role is to take a look and we’ll check the boxes.”
Lucas, who has served as state librarian since 2014, argued that the bill instead looks to ensure a more measured process based on facts, providing people with an avenue to present their views with a “yardstick of factors.”
“It brings a lot more order to that chaos,” he said.
Lucas also noted that libraries will always have at least one book that speaks to someone but not to another person.
“As the state librarian, I say, ‘So what if it doesn’t speak to you?’” Lucas emphasized. “Let’s give everyone a little bit of space and a little bit of appreciation for our differences, which is what makes California such an amazing space.”
“California is the most diverse group of people that have ever been brought together in the history of human civilization as equals,” he continued. “That diversity has led to all kinds of amazing things, like the creativity and the cross-thinking that comes from being in contact with people who aren’t exactly like you. Because libraries do reflect the communities they’re in, they reflect that kind of diversity and should reflect that kind of diversity.”
Something Lucas said he’s already been doing is providing public libraries with a five-step guide on hosting book challenges, created by the state library and California School Library Association.
The five steps include investigation and inventory; creating a collection development policy; getting approval from a governing board; raising awareness about the plan; and not making exceptions to an adopted policy.
How Sacramento has addressed the book ban movement
Since book ban movements largely target public institutions like libraries and schools, independent bookstores and nonprofit organizations have led the charge against them by actively promoting the most targeted books.
Mauricio Torres, a board member for Lavender Library, explained that the volunteer-run nonprofit library and community space has been repeatedly targeted by vandalism and graffiti — often featuring hate speech — because of the LGBTQ+ books and materials it offers the community.
A mural Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, behind Lavender Library at 1414 21st St. in Sacramento. It depicts Tammie Crittindon-Lewis, the mother of a Black trans performer from Sacramento who was killed in New Orleans in 2017.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
“We’re living through a backlash against LGBTQ+ rights,” Torres said. “The country is increasingly hostile towards trans people simply for existing.”
According to the American Library Association, book titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LBGTQ+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47% of those targeted in censorship attempts last year.
Since its founding in 1997, Lavender Library has been a sanctuary for the LGBTQ+ community housing books, magazines, archival materials and various media that represent the community’s collective queer histories.
Torres stressed the importance of keeping banned books on Lavender Library’s shelves arguing that they “represent the diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ people.”
“Our stories deserve to be told and no one should have to live in fear because of who they are,” he asserted. “Banning books is harmful because it denies people their humanity – it denies our existence.”
Furthermore, he argued that these books offer a sense of identity and belonging and let people know that they “don’t have to live in fear or hide who they are.”
Malaya Etheridge, 22, recently started working at Underground Books, a bookstore located at 2814 35th St. known as the “literary hub of Oak Park” since the closing of the only library in the community in the 1970s.
Malaya Etheridge, 22, reshelves books Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at Underground Books located at 2814 35th St. in Sacramento.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
The recent Howard graduate argued that books reflect their communities and that the bookstore brings “knowledge and the culture in book form to the community.”
“People of color should focus on those books that are targeted to be banned to see what knowledge is in those books that’s causing this uproar,” Etheridge remarked. “I’m not sure why book bans are becoming a thing or have been becoming prominent when knowledge is power and everybody deserves it.”
Brenna Bellavance, who has worked for the bookstore for a year, explained that they make a point of stocking books that regularly get banned.
“This is a Black bookstore, but as the area has become more diverse, we do our best to reflect that diversity within this bookstore making sure that people always see themselves someplace in books,” she stated. “It’s incredibly important, especially to the community here, that they see themselves reflected in the literature around them.”
Capital Books, located at 1011 K St., is another store that highlights banned LGBTQ+ and BIPOC books that have been targeted.
Capital Books Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at 1011 K St. in Sacramento.Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio
Zoe Cecil has been a bookseller there for about a year and said she’s interested in what does and doesn’t make it onto the banned book lists.
“As a bookseller, I’m an advocate for reading everything that’s out there, and this bookstore is open-minded and diverse in the kind of books that we carry,” Cecil said. “It’s just an interesting part of my job to see what books — some that I’ve read — are getting banned.”
Cecil said she is aware of the California Freedom to Read Act and is happy to hear that state representatives are doing something to address the issue. She also highlighted the collaborative relationship independent bookstores have with their libraries.
“By offering the books that are being banned … we’re really catering to the community and making sure that they have access to the information that we think they should have access to,” she stressed. “We try to offer as many options as possible that allow people to have access to LGBTQ+ and BIPOC books. We have an entire section that is just for those books and books written by those authors, so we are huge advocates.”
In partnership with the Sacramento Public Library, Capital Books is hosting the Fantasy Masquerade Ball on Saturday, Nov. 9. The event will be held at the Tsakopoulos Library Galleria located at the Sacramento Central Library.
The ball was inspired by several fantasy romance books including “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “Fourth Wing.” The library provided the space and is sponsoring the event to support the bookstore, which is one of the library’s book vendors.
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