Increasing Censorship in US Public Libraries, PEN America Report Warns

On September 1st, PEN America released a report titled “Out of Circulation: Expanding Censorship in Public Libraries.” As the headline suggests, the report details how public pressure campaigns and political efforts have led to an increase in censorship within US public libraries since 2021. 

The project comes out of PEN’s larger efforts to track book bans across the United States. The organization defines book bans as “any action taken against a book based on its content” that leads to the partial or complete removal of a book’s availability. While the report describes how censorship methods used by politicians and public pressure campaigns are certainly not limited to straightforward book bans, the underlying goal of diminishing accessibility remains the same. Most often these censorship efforts target titles that deal with themes of race, gender, or LGBTQ+ identity. The effect is thus to “disproportionately limit representation of historically marginalized groups.”

ALA president Maria McCauley in speaking about the PEN America’s September 1st report, emphasized the importance of raising awareness about censorship in public libraries:

“By bringing greater attention to issues such as censorship, harassment, and political pressure, this reporting helps inform the public about what is at stake when library professionals’ ability to serve all people is undermined.”

The report discusses censorship in public libraries in terms of operational, administrative, and personnel based attacks. The operational tactics that PEN outlines are direct means of restricting a community’s access to books. Removal of book displays, cancellation of storytimes and author events, and outright book bans are all instances of censorship that the report describes occurring across the US. Reshelving mandates, or “aging up,” certain titles in order to restrict access for the books’ intended demographic, is another common means of censorship in public libraries. Kasey Meehan, director of PEN’s Freedom to Read program, emphasized that this tactic is one she has seen used more frequently over the past two years. 

PEN’s research outlines how administrative policies are what pave the way for these operational censorship efforts. The report describes instances where state governments have made library funding dependent on adhering to ideologically biased guidelines. Other cases include the passage of laws that allow for discretionary hiring and firing of library leadership. The report asserts that, in tandem with the aforementioned operational tactics, these actions serve as “attempts to dismantle and disrupt broader library systems.” 

As the personnel primarily responsible for library collections, book displays, and the implementation of board policies, librarians often face the brunt of censorship campaigns in public libraries. Along with policies of at-will termination, the PEN report lists numerous instances of librarians facing verbal, physical, and sexual harassment from members of the public. Additionally, librarians have experienced deprofessionalization as state governments target the American Library Association (ALA), accusing it of operating with a biased, progressive agenda. Meehan pointed out that the PEN report is “unique” in its ability to detail the ways that the ALA has been targeted, as the ALA is not necessarily able to do so itself. 

While “Out of Circulation” is not the first report that PEN has released on book banning efforts, it is the first that has focused on public libraries. Through its Banned in the USA series, the organization has released numerous reports since 2021 that highlight censorship campaigns in public schools. Other organizations, such as the ALA and the EveryLibrary Institute, have long released articles on censorship efforts in US public libraries, and Meehan described how PEN’s prior focus on public schools was intended to address the fact that there wasn’t anyone tracking censorship in that space. After receiving additional funding, PEN was able to put together this report on censorship in public libraries.