About Us
The fight for intellectual freedom has never been more urgent. Across the country, schools and libraries are under coordinated assault. Extremist networks are promoting legislation that bans books, limits classroom discussion, and erases entire communities from curricula. These bans often target books that center Black history, queer identity, immigrant narratives, and social justice themes—threatening the diversity that defines American public education.
With over 4,000 book challenges recorded last year—many orchestrated by politically affiliated and ideological organizations, and filed en masse using pre-written complaint templates—the crisis of censorship, book banning, and escalating threats against educators and librarians is only growing. State laws in places like Florida and Missouri allow a single objection to result in the removal of a book district-wide, with no expert review or educational input.
At the same time, librarians and educators are facing harassment, job loss, and criminal charges for simply upholding students’ rights to read. Public libraries are being defunded for refusing to remove inclusive titles, and the federal agency that supports them—the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—is now under direct threat.
Proposed federal budgets have called for the elimination of IMLS altogether, jeopardizing critical funding streams that sustain public and school libraries in every state. Without IMLS, programs that provide books to underserved children, build digital literacy skills, and expand library access in rural and low-income communities would disappear. More than 120,000 libraries across the country rely on IMLS-backed programs, including essential services like interlibrary loan systems, workforce training, and summer reading initiatives that combat learning loss. These are not luxuries—they are lifelines.
Weakening IMLS doesn’t just reduce federal support—it opens the door for more ideological control over what libraries can offer, especially in vulnerable communities. The loss of this foundational agency would set back decades of progress in ensuring equitable access to knowledge and opportunity.
This is not just about books. It’s about democracy, access to truth, and the future of education in America. We do this work because every student deserves the freedom to think critically, engage openly, and grow into an informed citizen. And we know that when libraries are silenced and teachers are punished, entire communities lose their voice.
We refuse to let that happen.
