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I want to personally invite you to
watch The Librarians, a new
documentary about censorship,
libraries, and the fight for the right to read, premiering next week on Independent Lens on
PBS.
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I’m hoping you watch this film not
just because it is an interesting story about censorship and
discrimination in libraries and schools. I hope you watch because this
is a story that is important to me professionally and
personally.
The people featured in the
documentary are more than just characters in an interesting
movie.
They are real librarians, parents,
and educators who showed up with integrity, courage, and resolve,
often at significant personal cost, to protect the right to read in
their school and public libraries. Many of them are friends and
colleagues.
I can vouch for the truth of what
this documentary shows.
Find your local showing of The
Librarians on Season 27, episode 6 of Independent Lens using TV Insider here.
Or find it streaming on the PBS app starting February
9th.
I want you to meet these people and
see their dedication, integrity, and powerful work firsthand. I would
like you to meet Carolyn Foote, who is now a Fellow with the
EveryLibrary Institute, co-founded the Texas Freadom Fighters to
counter censorship in schools; Martha Hixon, who currently serves on
our board of directors and never wavers in her defense of LGBTQ
students. Amanda Jones, who was maligned and attacked by political
leaders in Louisiana; Laney Hawes, who co-founded the Texas Freedom to Read project (which your
donations have helped fund) to support every school district like she
did for her own; and Julie Miller, who fought back against the lies
behind some of the most weaponized book ban campaigns in American
history.
The Librarians captures the earliest days of the current
censorship crisis when book challenges were being supercharged by
political actors not just to discredit institutions or malign
individual librarians, but to use censorship itself as a tool of
discrimination and erasure. I know this because EveryLibrary was there
for many of the people in the film, as partners and allies while it
was happening. I know it because the story of attempts to censor books
and campaigns to fight for the First Amendment continue to this
day.
You can donate today to help us continue to fight against
book bans across the United States.
The timing of this premiere is
important. It launches at the very start of Library Lovers Week 2026,
when EveryLibrary is hosting a series of author conversations that
center reading, libraries, and access to books, because that is
exactly what is at stake. I hope you’ll watch the film on PBS. I also
hope you’ll join us for the Library Lovers Week panels, both live and
on demand, and engage with this moment alongside authors, readers, and
advocates from across the country.
You can learn more about our author
events from February 9 to 13 and RSVP at
www.libraryloversweek.org.
Films like The Librarians and our Library Lovers Week panels are not
about abstract concepts. They are about what is really happening in
communities across America, and about the unique and powerful role
librarians, parents, and local stakeholders can play when they stand
up for what they believe. I look forward to hearing what you
think.
John Chrastka
https://www.everylibrary.org/
You
may donate here or by check or money order (US Funds
only) made out to:
EveryLibrary
P.O. Box 406
45 E.
Burlington St.
Riverside, IL 60546
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