REVIEW: THAT LIBRARIAN: THE FIGHT AGAINST BOOK BANNING IN AMERICA, by Amanda Jones
Foundational to the idea of democracy is the free public library, first established in Franklin, Mass., in 1790 by a vote of the town’s citizens. A wave of libraries spread across the country after the Civil War. About half of those were funded by Andrew Carnegie — including two built in Savannah. Today’s public libraries offer digital resources, story hours, meeting rooms, and maker spaces — all carefully curated by professional librarians.
Amanda Jones, an internationally-recognized school librarian and reading teacher in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, found herself caught up in a nationwide censorship effort that has brought a tidal wave of book challenges since 2020. Jones, who holds degrees in both library science and English teaching, taught the love of reading to children in the small town where she grew up attending a Southern Baptist church and voting Republican — including for Donald Trump in 2016.
When she heard about a book banning campaign targeting the local public library, Jones went to the library board meeting and, as a private citizen, exercised her First Amendment right by speaking out against censorship and for intellectual freedom.
In retaliation, a group called “Citizens for a New Louisiana” began an online harassment campaign against Jones, falsely claiming she was “fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid’s [sic] section” and that she “advocates teaching anal sex to 11 year old kids.”
What Jones had said was that “white Christian nationalists” were challenging “books from LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC authors and characters” and that “no one portion of the community should dictate what the rest of the citizens have access to.”
For that, Jones was labeled a “groomer” and “pedo,” ostracized by many in her hometown, and forced to arm herself after receiving death threats.
That Librarian details the mental and physical toll the online harassment took on her, as well as the kangaroo-court atmosphere when she filed a defamation suit against the group and her two main attackers. Last month, the Supreme Court of Louisiana found that Jones’ defamation complaint had not been tried on the merits and sent the case back for a jury trial.
Jones also offers practical tips for fighting back against censorship and urges citizens to organize alliances supporting local libraries “before things go south” so that they can be ready when attacks come.
Many challenges, she notes, use context-free excerpts posted online by a site that rates how “vulgar” a book is on a scale of 0 to 5. Challengers then flood libraries with inaccurate cut-and-paste activism — a similar tactic used to challenge registered voters leading up to the 2024 Presidential election.
“America should be alarmed at the thought of books being pulled from shelves because of a few well-organized people with agendas that have more to do with divisive politics than books, education, and libraries,” Jones warns. “And we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”
Hardback, $29.99, Bloomsbury Publishing. Also available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.
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