The Banned Librarians

he conversation around book bans has been simmering for years, but recently the issue boiled over in several New York communities where book challenges made headlines and turned school board meetings into battlegrounds.

In Auburn, a small city in the Finger Lakes region, the controversy started back in 2022, when a group of parents called for the removal of the autobiography All Boys Aren’t Blue. The group wanted the book banned from the high school library, alleging that it was too sexually explicit. Others complained that the book was “promoting” homosexuality.

The parents filed a formal complaint, which was reviewed by the district’s reconsideration committee, as per the district’s policy. The committee ruled that the book should stay on the shelves.

Beth Cuddy, the library media specialist at Auburn High School, and a member of the Auburn Teachers Association who testified at the school board meeting, was gratified by the decision but said that the aftermath was frightening and alienating.

“A narrative was being created that I had some nefarious motives for what I was doing, and social media was then used as a way to fuel this narrative,” Cuddy said. “I felt very uncomfortable just to go to the doctor’s office and say my name, and wondering, ‘Does this person think I’m this horrible evil librarian who’s trying to corrupt the youth of Auburn?’”

In Carmel, a mid-size town abutting Westchester County, a group of parents wanted to remove the autobiography Gender Queer from the high school library shelves, calling it “pornography.” The parents were overruled by the superintendent based on the district’s official book-vetting policy, a determination that was upheld by the school board.

Carmel TA member Karissa O’Reilly, a library media specialist at Carmel High School, was repeatedly called out on social media and accused of trying to promote a political agenda. “Nationally people were hearing about it, and that’s when threats started coming through,” said O’Reilly.

Even with threats overshadowing her work, O’Reilly remained committed to protecting and serving her students. “These books are telling stories of the real world, and this is the real world that our kids are going to be entering, and it’s a real world that some of our kids are already experiencing,” said O’Reilly.

Both incidents are part of a national uptick in book challenges. According to the American Library Association, between 2000 and 2020 there were an average of 265 book challenges a year. In 2021, the number of book challenges jumped to 1,858; in 2022, 2,571; in 2023, a staggering 4,240.

“The right to read is under attack more than it has been in decades,” said New York Library Association President AnnaLee Dragon. “The climate right now for librarians and library workers is difficult, nationwide. We are all facing continually increasing challenges to intellectual freedom and to our core values.” Challenges have taken place in districts across New York, including Clyde-Savannah, Galway, Amherst, Arlington, Brewster, Dobbs Ferry, Hyde Park, North Salem and Pine Plains.

While book challenges and other forms of censorship started out in school libraries, these situations are increasingly occurring in public libraries as well, Dragon added.

Last year, children’s librarian James Grzybowski’s annual Pride display was pulled from the Uniondale Public Library on Long Island.

“Immediately, there were red flags because I’ve been making displays here for my whole career, almost six years, and none of them have ever been moved — ever,” said Grzybowski, a member of the Uniondale Library Association.

It turned out a guest had challenged the display, and the response was to move the display to the back of the library.

“When you strip it all down, it’s almost like people are saying that these types of people —these protected groups — they shouldn’t exist, and if they are in books, those books should be tucked away in a corner where no one can see them.”

Grzybowski and several other members of the Long Island Library Pride Alliance are presenting a panel that addresses these very issues at the upcoming New York Library Association conference, Nov. 6–9 in Syracuse. Titled “The Banned Librarians,” the panel will discuss identity, visibility, and the rise in book challenges in New York.

“They don’t want us to be visible, but visibility is key to making social changes,” Grzybowski said.

To watch librarians speak candidly about the ongoing fight for the freedom to learn, visit nysut.cc/librarian.