Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has recently signed a bill into law that prohibits book bans in the state’s public libraries. This remarkable move positions Illinois as the first state in the US to ban book bans. The new law takes effect on January 1, 2024, and stipulates that public libraries that restrict or prohibit materials because of their partisan or doctrinal disapproval will be ineligible for state funding. The legislation resulted from the efforts of Illinois Secretary of State, Alexi Giannoulias, who serves as both the State Librarian and the driving force behind this bill. The new law empowers librarians to decide what books should be made available to readers by trusting their education and experience in the field.
This law takes effect amid growing concerns about book censorship across the United States. In many states, books with LGBTQ+ themes or those by people of color are being removed from schools and libraries. In fact, the American Library Association recently announced that attempts to censor books in schools and public libraries reached their highest level in the past twenty years in 2022, surpassing the previous year’s record. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom and executive director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, praised Illinois’ response stating that the legislation seeks to address “disturbing circumstances of censorship and an environment of suspicion.”
Illinois public libraries seeking to qualify for state funding must adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights or subscribe to a similar pledge. While Giannoulias emphasized that “this should not be a Democrat or Republican issue,” lawmakers’ approval of the bill split along party lines, with Republican opposition.
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