As Book Bans Increase Nationally, ELPL Celebrates Intellectual Freedom

The East Lansing Public Library kicked off Freedom to Read Week with a performance of a selected scene from “Inherit the Wind,” a Michigan State University theater production, and a discussion about intellectual freedom.

The event, “Intellectual Freedom at the Theatre,” was part of Freedom to Read Week which runs Sept. 22-28 with the theme of “Freed Between the Lines.”

“It was great,” said Robert Roznowski, the play’s director. “We talked about banned books and plays throughout history, why they were banned and how they connect to historical aspects of the time such as fascism.”

The scene selected was from the climax of the play, an intense courtroom debate about teaching evolution in public schools. 

Roznowski criticized groups that challenge book availability, like Moms for Liberty.  

These groups “change the ideas of free thought for a very narrow minded way of approaching education,” he said. 

Also known as “Banned Books Week,” the East Lansing Public Library and others, including the Michigan Library Association, have begun to refer to the tradition as “Freedom to Read Week” highlight a more positive perspective, according to ELPL Director Kevin King.

Banned Books Week was founded by Judith F. Krug in 1982. Krug was the director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and a longtime First Amendment activist. 

“There were the most books banned and challenged last year since they’ve started keeping track,” King said. “More than three times the number the first year they counted.”

There was a 65% increase in demands for censorship of library resources from 2022 to 2023, according to the ALA.

Of these bans and challenges, a disproportionate number target marginalized voices.

“47% of the titles last year were LGBTQIA+ or BIPOC,” King said. 

King stressed the importance of these books for young people learning about themselves and the world. 

“It’s concerning,” he said. “There are communities in states like Florida and Texas, where they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep books off the shelves instead of putting that money back into the school system.”

The example King gave was a community in Florida which spent over $100,000 to keep the children’s book “Tango Makes Three” off of school library shelves. The book is about two male penguins that form a family together. 

“Librarians have taken the stance that they are not there to parent, they are there to make sure the community has everything they need to succeed,” King said. “And one of those things is access to information about things you might not agree with, because that’s how we learn about the world around us.

“There’s a great quote you learn in library school, ‘If your library doesn’t have something that offends you, we’re not doing our job,’” he said. 

Libraries are for everyone and Freedom to Read Week celebrates the never ending struggle to keep it that way.

“We should have something for everybody, no matter what,” King said. “We’re one of the last democratic, small D, institutions in most communities. You don’t have to pay for anything. Just come in, sit down, read a book, use the computer, relax and feel safe. There are not many places you can do that anymore.

“We’re pretty proud of that and to be able to speak out against anyone who wants to interrupt that right to read and that freedom to be yourself,” he said.

The ELPL invites the community to visit and see the displays, read commonly a banned book and even collect some fun buttons. Sept. 28 will mark the end of Freedom to Read Week with a special, pre-release screening of the film “Banned Together”. You can register here for the event.