Trump-style censorship is just asking British librarians Alison Hex

andOr all its talk about freedom of expression, the Trump administration appears noticeably comfortable with censorship. Earlier this year, children who were studying in Pentagon (US Military Service) schools were prevented from reaching libraries for a week while officials reviewed their shelves for addresses that may “relate to sexual ideology or discriminatory stock ideology topics.” Trump’s presidency injected new energy in the Ban Ban Movement, which has been boiling for years on the right of the United States. You may think that censorship of school libraries will not be completely imagined in Britain. You will be wrong.

I worked as a 10 -year library secretary, and now I study the Master of Library Studies and Information Studies in UCL. After the epidemic, I began to notice signs of a frightening similar trend. It broke out in the spring of 2022, when a Catholic School in Karwaidon called Simon James GreenThe author of prominent gay children, to throw a modern. Catholics managed the truth in the United States of America a campaign that encourages readers to contact school and protest the event (one of the readers said, somewhat unreasonable, that Green’s visit to the school was “100 % like the issue like the ongoing war in Ukraine”). The committee responsible for the school issued a statement indicating that the event should be canceled, the teachers were beaten, and the story reached the national press.

It made me think: How many librarians in schools were under pressure to remove books from their shelves? one Scan Later that year, it was found that 26 % of library secretaries “sometimes” were asked to monitor materials. In 2024, at the same time, an index on censorship Survey 53 school libraries secretariesMore than half of them were asked to remove books. I was keen to hear librarians about where these requests came from, and how they were dealing with them, so I decided to do my own studies. I met 10 UK librarians about the challenges they faced. Their responses were interesting – disturbing.

Most of the requests to remove books came from parents, and all these requests related to books that explored LGBT+topics. Some books have emerged over and over again: The ALICE Oseman series from Heartstopper graph Novels, which focus on a relationship between two schools; Billy courage Written by Tom Perseval, about a boy who is wearing his favorite superpline, nature girl, for the World Book Day; This book is gay Written by Juno Dawson. Some librarians have received signed messages from parents who are asking them to remove certain books. At other times, the messages were sent unknown. One of the librarians told me that they found a bulletin produced by an American -right religious group, which is not different from the Catholic truth, on one of the offices in their library.

Based on what I saw and heard, there is an increase in these requests since the epidemic. Perhaps this is because parents have become more aware of what their children read during the intense home education period. It may also be symptoms of our febrile political culture. Over the past three years, the events of Drag Queen Story – a popular coordination that includes large quantities of shine and stories that target children – have been – Target Organized by Turning Point UK, a British branch of the American extremist political organization, and the White National Group A national alternative. Will it be very surprising if the amount of huge coverage that the British press for the cultural war topics has turned against some parents who ask to remove certain books from school libraries?

I find it difficult to see these requests as an insult to school library secretaries. These professionals do years of training and devote a great time to time and care to create a selection of books that will enrich children’s learning and expand their horizons. They are also keen to ensure that books are suitable for age and responding to the curriculum (LGBTQ content is included as a legal part of relationships and sexual education). Unfortunately, librarians are often at the lowest end of the school’s hierarchy. They are Most of them are womenMost of them are on very low salaries. Their sector is weak: some high schools have Closing Because of the pressures of financing. A quarter of schools in Wales do not have a library, while two thirds of the school libraries in Scotland do not have a library budget at all.

It is much easier to write a letter to a library secretary asking them to remove a book more than the truly harmful and harmful materials that children are exposed to (which, by the way, has nothing to do with books like Billy’s Braverry). The blaming of social media platforms was blaming to encourage bullying Eating disordersAnd strengthening the influencers who Leading women’s hatred. Banning books will not only pay young people online to obtain answers, as they are likely to face content produced by people who are not interested in equipping them with the information and skills they need to move in the world. In the era of digital exposure and misleading, librarians play a more vital role than ever. We must trust them to take their jobs.