The Real Cause of the Book Ban Crisis

Each October, the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) hosts US Media Literacy Week. The observance highlights the need for increased media literacy and presents strategies for achieving it. There are many reasons the mission is vital today, and one has to do with libraries and the work of EveryLibrary: the book ban crisis.

Many factors have contributed to the sharp rise in book challenges in public and school libraries over the past few years (some of them difficult to take seriously, and yet there they are). But poor media literacy is both a direct contributor and an underlying factor. As usual, libraries remain at the forefront of media literacy education and are also among the foremost targets of efforts to pull certain books from shelves and underfund or eliminate library programs.

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What Is Media Literacy?

NAMLE defines media literacy as the “ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.” It defines “media” as electronic, digital, print, or artistic visuals used to convey messaging. Unfortunately, that messaging all too often lacks many things: a factual basis, unbiased reporting, or context to explain details that might not be clear to a casual reader. When people take in messaging coming at them from all directions without being able to evaluate it against several criteria, they can develop viewpoints and beliefs that are skewed away from reality.

It’s a major source of book challenges, and it happens in multiple ways:

• Out-of-Context Quotes. Book challengers will pull an excerpt from a book and share it online to prove that it is dangerous or inappropriate. Without the full context of the book, others online may decide it should be banned without ever reading it.

• Coordinated Campaigns. Increasingly, groups work together to try to have specific books banned. They share each other’s posts, creating echo chambers with others who have similar beliefs. In fact, the American Library Association reports that the vast majority of book challenges come from organized groups rather than concerned individuals or parents.

• Copy-Paste Book Challenges. The groups most active in coordinating these challenges, often at the national level, create databases of books they want banned. Then people are encouraged to download the full list and send it to every school or library board they know of, whether or not they’re a member of that community.

• Posts Going Viral. The more people involved, the faster the posts and misinformation spread. Since search engines reward high-traffic info, they become more prominent, and people think they’re trustworthy because of their high search rankings.

• Grandstanding. People will appear at school and library board meetings, demanding that certain books be banned. They use the out-of-context quote tactic, reading a section they deem unacceptable, and try to force the boards to act quickly to ban the books rather than go through a standard review process. In many cases, they bring dozens (and in some instances, hundreds) of supporters to back them up, which can be intimidating.

Unfortunately, it’s common for people who might otherwise take a more measured approach to be swept up in group efforts, especially parents who may easily believe what they hear or read about so-called harmful books. A post from someone they trust on social media, a TikTok video, or an article about a school board meeting that included crowds demanding bans can quickly seem reliable to someone who wants to feel like they’re protecting their children.

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De-Escalating and Educating

Librarians have many tools at hand to manage and de-escalate these situations, including:

• Implementing comprehensive, detailed policies for acquisitions and book challenges

• Creating policies under which only community members (or, in school libraries, parents or guardians of enrolled students) can challenge a book

• Developing formal request forms that require challengers to confirm they have read the entire work, helping prevent grandstanding at public meetings

• Holding training sessions for staff on how to manage angry challengers, using resources such as those from the American Library Association

• Providing role-play training to teach library workers how to calm tense situations with active listening, empathy, and reflective comments rather than arguments

• Offering media literacy education and training for children and adults

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What Can You Do?

There’s no doubt that libraries are under siege. It can leave nonlibrarians frustrated and anxious, wishing there were ways they could fight media illiteracy and book bans. It is possible to help your local library by doing any (or all!) of the following.

Donate

Libraries need adequate funding to provide media literacy education and dedicate staff time to addressing book challenges. Funding is often a target of groups seeking to restrict access to books. If you can, donate to your library or its related nonprofit foundation. This is the ultimate antidote to the age of misinformation.

Build a Pro-Library, Pro-Media Literacy Coalition

Don’t let the book banners be the only people who organize. Bring together a group of like-minded people and begin your own outreach. Talk to librarians, school and library board members, and local politicians about the importance of libraries. Write letters to the local media. Also? Read the books others want banned so you can knowledgeably support libraries having them.

Volunteer

If you or someone you know has expertise in media literacy, consider volunteering to run a program at the library. If not, offer to host an inclusive story hour or a book club focused on banned books.

What can you do to practice the media literacy skills discussed above? Commit to tracing the source of the next viral outrage post you see before sharing it. Sometimes it takes only a few moments to do that research, but when in doubt, remember that your local librarian is your best resource for fact-checking.

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

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