Lawmakers in the Texas state House have passed a bill that would ban any "sexually explicit books" from school libraries and even restrict material from students who have parental consent to read it. If you drive just about an hour and a half west from the Texas State Capitol building in Austin, you'll hit Lanno County, where local officials threatened to close the county's multi-branch library system entirely rather than allow books deemed "pornographic filth" to remain on library shelves. Texas leads the rest of the U.S. with 438 total book bans this year, but their librarians are holding their ground. Shirley Robinson, Executive Director of the Texas Library Association says, “There is a lot of chaos and confusion in the profession. People are afraid for their jobs, they’re being attacked on social media for doing their job without any sort of agenda, they’re being approached and called names.” The stakes are high for libraries, librarians, and the future of this nation. April 23, 2023
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