US public libraries at ‘breaking point’ amid ideological attacks, report finds

PEN America study details verbal and physical threats to librarians, funding cuts and proliferation of book bans

By Richard Luscombe, Tue 1 Sep 2026 08.30 EDT. Last modified on Wed 2 Sep 2026 11.51 EDT
Share Prefer the Guardian on Google

Public libraries in the US are “at breaking point” because of an onslaught of political interference, harassment and ideological censorship, a new report published on Tuesday said.

Book bans, cancelled story hours, attacks on librarians, funding cuts and the undoing of libraries’ independent governance are examined by the free expression advocacy group PEN America in its study called Out of Circulation: Expanding Censorship in Public Libraries.

“Public libraries can be a foundational democratic institution only if they can speak to everyone and only if librarians’ curation decisions can occur free from partisan pressure or restriction,” the report, compiled by PEN America’s Freedom to Read Project, said.

“However, ongoing political and public pressures are challenging these very principles. Public libraries nationwide are reaching a breaking point.”

The 16-page document relates countless episodes and incidents across the US to support its assertion. They include verbal and physical attacks on librarians, disproportionate targeting of literature featuring LGBTQ+ people, a proliferation of bans on books dealing with gender identity and sexuality, and instances of politically appointed officials installed to override the policies of democratically elected library boards.

In one prominent example, the conservative activist and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines was last year appointed to a library board in Sumner county, Tennessee, which repeatedly voted down a proposal by its chair to remove material she deemed “inappropriate or sexually-explicit, including anything with transgender themes”.

Gaines, an anti-transgender voice who has taken rightwing positions on other issues, including supporting Donald Trump’s often violent immigration crackdown, immediately used social media to brand such books “filth”, and to denounce her new colleagues for “ignoring” Tennessee’s ban on state funding for “woke gender ideology”.

The report points to an Idaho law passed in March that allows city councils to hire and fire library directors, discretion previously granted to appointed library boards; and efforts in Alabama that would have allowed local governments to remove library board members at will, and without cause.

Another trend highlighted by the PEN America report is attacks on drag shows at, or promoted by public libraries. It chronicles bomb threats, protests and a physical assault on a librarian that caused the cancellation of events or story times at libraries in New York, Massachusetts and Nevada.

The group said it had also tracked almost 23,000 book bans in school libraries since 2021, and an expansion to the point where 51% of all book bans attempted nationwide, documented by the American Library Association, came in public libraries.

Read more: US public libraries at ‘breaking point’ amid ideological attacks, report finds – US book bans – The Guardian

Continue/Read Original Article: US public libraries at ‘breaking point’ amid ideological attacks, report finds | US book bans | The Guardian