Since 2016, challenges to books in schools and public libraries have risen dramatically. Between 2021 and 2023, there was a dizzying 128% increase in such challenges, often targeting materials about and written by people in marginalized communities.
In states like Texas and Florida, legislation often categorized as “book bans” gives license to those who would seek to exclude materials from public access and has raised outcry among teachers and librarians — who are legally threatened for not complying with these prohibitive measures. But some states are moving in the opposite direction.
On December 9, New Jersey became the third state to enact a ban on book bans.
The Freedom to Read Act, which establishes requirements for library material in public school libraries and public libraries as well as protections — and legal consequences — for librarians was signed into law on Monday by Governor Phil Murphy (D). According to the new law, boards of education and governing boards of public libraries are not to exclude library materials due to the “origin, background, or views” of either the material itself or the author/creator. Librarians are protected from civil and criminal liability for “good faith actions in complying with the requirements” of the law and are prohibited from engaging in censorship (defined as blocking or suppressing materials). Students and residents are explicitly given the right to check out “any developmentally appropriate library material.”
“[This law] will ensure generations of New Jersey’s children can continue to discover the wonders that await them in the books all around us,” said Murphy at the law’s signing ceremony in Princeton. He continued “Keeping books on the shelves of our libraries is also crucial to ensuring that every child in New Jersey, no matter their zip code or economic status, can access a whole new world of intellectual discovery free of charge.”
That includes, he noted, books with varied and various viewpoints. He extolled this new legislation not only as an important protection for students, educators, and librarians, but as a vital tool to engage parents to be “active partners in every step of their children’s education and intellectual development.”
According to the American Library Association (ALA), in 2023 there were 938 attempts to challenge 4,240 unique titles in schools and libraries across the country — a grim new record. The most attempts came from Florida and Texas. New Jersey saw 14 attempts to challenge 28 books. Nationwide, titles representing LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals, communities, and lived experiences made up 47% of those targeted.
Martha Hixon, a retired New Jersey school librarian who was on hand at the Freedom to Read act signing, was the target of a violent harassment campaign beginning in 2021. The source of the attacks? Five titles — which her school district deemed appropriate — featuring LGBTQ+ themes and characters.
“I am certainly not the only victim of these politically motivated attacks; the students I serve feel the pain too,” she told the assembled crowd. “When the books that described their lived experience were called ‘disgusting,’ ‘obscene,’ and ‘depraved,’ students recognized that those insults were also intended for them.”
“All of this has created a nationwide climate of fear,” she continued, noting that librarians and teachers alike have begun to self-censor titles from collections in order to avoid becoming a target of public ire. “Our own fear censors the material so book-banners don’t have to.”
While the atmosphere at the signing was optimistic there was nevertheless an air of caution.
“I stand here as a proud New Jerseyan, but as an American with a heavy heart,” said Murphy. “I’m incredibly proud of what we’re doing today and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve done … but sadly, due to a now about to be Federal Administration again and the U.S. Supreme Court, which are heavily on the other side of this, it really matters, more than ever before, which state you live in. … We will not be immune from assaults on our values.”
