Thursday Actions for National Library Week
Hold your elected representatives accountable!
Today’s actions are all about knowing what’s happening on the ground in your state, and taking pre-emptive action against censorship. Read on for what to do!
THURSDAY, APRIL 27: THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE
Action #1 - Research whether any elected officials in your state, city, county, or region have passed an anti-book ban resolution.
Right now, the state of Illinois is considering legislation that would make state grants to libraries (~$61 million dollars) contingent on local governments having a written policy prohibiting book bans.
Are your elected officials doing something similar to stand up against book bans? Today is the perfect day to warm up your search engine and find out which of your elected officials—whether they’re on your local town council, city council, county board, or elsewhere—needs to hear from you.
Action #2 - Send a sample anti-book ban resolution to your local elected officials and urge them to adopt it.
If our local governments aren’t actively fighting book bans and censorship, then it’s up to us to hold them accountable.
Now that you know what’s happening (or more likely, what ISN’T happening), you can take the next step: asking your representatives to pass an anti-book ban resolution. Here’s how to do it:
Know which elected body is in charge of your local library - is it a city council? A library board? A county board? If you don’t know, search online for your municipality’s or county’s name and “school board” or “library board.” From there, most websites will include the email address and/or other contact information for each of the board members, as well as a general email account for the board. You may alternatively seek to call your local library or school to ask for the contact information of these officials. It’s a good practice to include all of the members of the board in the email or letter that you submit (it makes it much tougher to ignore).
Visit FTP’s Library Defender Resource Center to download Word document copies of sample resolutions (we have two options to choose from - they’re both great and have been passed by other cities and jurisdictions).
Type in your local city or municipality’s name in the highlighted portions of the resolution document, and make any changes that feel important for your specific community.
Copy and paste this language into your email (or modify it as you see fit):
Dear [Names of Elected Officials],
I’m writing to you as a concerned constituent of [your city, town, or library district]. As you have probably seen, censorship and book bans are on the rise - this year alone, the American Library Association has recorded more than 1200 attempts to ban books. Meanwhile, we know that the vast majority of people across the political spectrum like and trust their public libraries, and are opposed to book bans.
I believe that here in [name of your community], we can trust individuals to make their own decisions about what they read and believe. Along with my neighbors and family, I am asking you to please reject any efforts to ban books and to reaffirm your commitment to intellectual freedom.
To that end, please find attached a sample resolution that rejects censorship and book banning; I strongly urge you to add this resolution (or a similar statement) to the agenda and to vote to adopt it at your next regular meeting.
Thank you for everything you do on behalf of [your community name] and for your dedication to public service!
Sincerely,
[your name]
Attach your sample resolution and hit send! That’s it, you did it!
Optional Bonus Step: Tell us about it! We’d love to know if this process worked for you - just reply to this email and let us know how it went. We very much want to hear your story (and be able to share it, with your permission).
Stay tuned for more actions tomorrow!
Resource Round-Up:
Check out this incredible illustrated article from the very talented Ariel Aberg-Riger on The Fight for the American Public Library (and read all the way to the end to see a shoutout to For The People - that’s you!).
Snag and post any of our custom FTP graphics on social media about your support for libraries.
Get your Library Defender gear here.
For a deep dive into one Texas community where book-banning candidates are running for school board, check out this profile, "Let's Talk about Spring Branch ISD" by
. It's a detailed look at how the folks benefiting from local structural inequalities are the same ones who don’t want their kids learning about structural racism. It's a great examination of a specific community by someone who knows it deeply and who's providing critical on-the-ground reporting for local voters.