Censorship Wins and Setbacks, Plus More News for Library Workers

It’s time for another library news round up, and this week the updates are all across the emotional spectrum. We have some key censorship wins, some notable censorship setbacks, innovative programs, and hilariously unhinged videos from libraries on social media.

Let’s dive in.

Library News Updates

• Barnes and Noble, Follett, and Mackin are all entering the public library market after the collapse of Baker & Taylor.
• ALA announces staffing reductions, including Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the longtime director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom.
• The Enoch Pratt Free Library (MD) will no longer offer digital downloads via Hoopla due to rising costs.
• The Harvard librarian fighting to change the cost of eBook contracts for public libraries.

Cool Library Updates

• The Toronto Public Library is doing innovative work on a couple of fronts: they launched an initiative to combat loneliness among senior citizens, and offered an accessible job expo specifically geared towards neurodivergent people and people with autism.
• Singapore’s National Library Board opened a popup Star Wars library at the Changi Airport, which will be open until January 24, 2026.
• Libraries are sharing hilariously unhinged videos on social media.

Censorship News

• A federal judge has ruled that Texas’ book ratings law (aka Texas House Bill 900) is unconstitutional.
• New Braunfels ISD (TX) voted to shut down all but the elementary school libraries in the district in order ensure their collections are compliant with the state’s Senate Bill 13, which requires that school libraries remain free of “harmful material,” “indecent content,” and “profane content.” The libraries have since reopened after removing 80+ books and creating a portal for parents to challenge books.
• Another judge chips away at the First Amendment rights of library patrons with the recent decision in the lawsuit against the Escambia County school district (FL).
• Related: Despite budgetary pressures, Escambia County School District spends big bucks on banning books.
• A Virginia district judge has ordered the Department of Defense to restore all banned books to department school shelves.
• “South Carolina public school librarians and students filed a lawsuit […] asking a federal court to block enforcement of the state’s unconstitutional book banning regulation and a classroom censorship memo issued by the state education superintendent.”
• A federal judge has dismissed an Ohio teacher’s lawsuit, which claimed that the teacher’s constitutional rights were violated when she was suspended without pay for keeping LGBTQ+ books in her classroom. The judge said that the claim did not meet the legal threshold for constitutional violations, and that “‘[t]eachers do not have a First Amendment right to make their own ‘curricular and pedagogical choices’ in a public school…The district pays her to instruct students, and as part of that, it has the right to specify the materials that she uses to accomplish that objective.'”
• Anythink Libraries in Colorado will be offering free digital access to 300 banned & challenged books to all state residents.
• Former Campbell County Library (WY) director Terri Lesley has been awarded $700,000 in a lawsuit that alleges she was fired for refusing to remove “inappropriate” children’s books.
• Also in Wyoming, a bill has advanced out of committee that would target “sexually explicit” books by removing them from school libraries and relocating them to the adult sections of public libraries.
• A Utah state audit says that the current state book bans may not go far enough, and that there are still “notable amounts” of sexual content in school libraries.
• Meanwhile, Utah quietly bans its 19th book from all state public schools.