The Right To Read
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By Claire Booth Tomorrow
is Right to Read Day .
It’s
the start of National Library Week, which has been a thing for years. But this
year the American Library Association decided to turn the first day of this
week into a defense of reading freedom. It’s now a national call to action, and
it’s desperately needed.
Book
banning attempts reached record levels in 2022. According to the ALA, more than
half of the states in the U.S. have passed or proposed legislation to remove
library books, punish library workers who make certain books accessible, and eliminate
access to books by LGBTQ and BIPOC authors.
The
ALA’s permanent initiative, Unite Against Book Bans, promotes a very simple
position: people should be trusted to make their own decisions about what
they read and believe.
“That’s
why ALA created Unite Against Book Bans: to be a collective voice in defending
the right to read,” ALA president Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said in a
statement.
So
how can you make noise in defense of reading? Here are five ALA suggestions: - Check out and read a challenged book in your area, or a book banned somewhere else. - Attend a library board or school board meeting. - Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper in support of reading freedom. - Report censorship. You can do that here . - Stay up to date on censorship news and reading advocacy. Libraries are one of our most important societal resources. Let's protect them.
