Pen America, Penguin Random House, and a group of authors and local parents have filed a federal lawsuit against the Escambia County, FL school district. According to a release, this is “a first-of-its-kind challenge to unlawful censorship” as it brings parents, authors, and a publisher together to fight escalating book bans. The lawsuit argues that the county’s removal and restriction of books–the majority of which focus on “race, racism, and LGBTQ identities” and are by BIPOC and/or LGBTQ authors–from school libraries violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The suit aims to have the district […]
Book Bans
Calling Attention to Banned Books Lifts Them Up
Open Road has found that highlighting banned and challenged books in targeted promotions significantly drives awareness and sales. In their initial marketing efforts to “highly targeted segments of power readers” identified by the company’s data science and machine learning technology, “The initial response from readers has been extraordinary, with unheard-of open rates above 75 percent on segmented email sends.” As a result, the company is rolling out a Free Voices marketing initiative, open to all publishers, that can promote ebook editions (which require “limited time, consumer-friendly ebook pricing”), print and audio editions, or both. Chief marketing officer Peter McCarthy says […]
ALA Report: Book Ban Attempts Almost Doubled in 2022
The American Library Association released a new report on Thursday about the total amount of attempted book bans and restrictions in 2022, which they say almost doubled from the previous year. The AP writes, “More than 1,200 challenges were compiled by the association in 2022, nearly double the then-record total from 2021 and by far the most since the ALA began keeping data 20 years ago.” The ALA’s findings are based on media reports, as well as accounts from libraries, and they say “the numbers might be far higher.” Rather than attempting to ban or restrict access to one book […]
Bill to Limit Library E-Book Lending Fails in VA Senate
A bill failed in the Virginia state senate yesterday that would have prevented publishers from imposing limits on lending electronic material. The Committee on General Laws and Technology voted 15-0 to block the bill. The bill stipulated that a publisher’s contract with a library could not “Preclude…the Library from licensing any electronic literary material;” “Restrict the number of licenses for any electronic literary material that a library may acquire after the same item is made available to the public;” “Require a library to pay a cost-per-circulation fee to loan any electronic literary material, unless substantially lower in aggregate than the […]
Congress Said to Prepare Resolutions Opposing School Book Bans
Following the alarming rise of selective local banning of books in various school systems, both the House and Senate are reported to be preparing resolutions “to protect the rights of students to learn.” Resolutions are expression of sentiment, however, and are not laws. From coverage in Politico, which has seen a draft, the resolution “expresses concern about the spreading problem of book banning and proliferating threats to freedom of expression in the United States” and “reaffirms the United States’ commitment to supporting writers’ freedom of expression, and the freedom of all Americans to read books without government censorship.” It also […]
Virginia State Court Dismisses Obscenity Case
The Virginia State Court has dismissed a case petitioning to have Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Sarah Maas’ fantasy romance A Court of Mist and Fury declared “obscene for minors” under an obscure state statute. Retired Judge Pamela S. Baskervill was assigned the case after all local judges recused themselves. She called the statute “facially invalid” and “unconstitutional on its face in that it authorizes a prior restraint that violates the First Amendment and the Constitution of Virginia” and ordered it removed from the docket. Lawyers representing the authors and publishers, the ACLU, Barnes & Noble, and “a coalition […]