Illinois could pass an Anti Book Banning Law
There is a bill in the Illinois House that would target libraries in the state that ban books, here is what you need to know...
According to an article from nbcchicago.com, there is a bill in Illinois that is being discussed that would take funding away from any library in the state of Illinois that "bans" books. In the article they say...
"A bill recommended by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, HB 2789, would withhold funding from public libraries that ban books for “personal or partisan” reasons.“This is an alarming phenomenon that’s occurring throughout the nation, including Illinois, which is designed to polarize and disrupt our communities,” he said. There were 67 attempts to ban books in Illinois in 2022, an increase from the previous year, according to the American Library Association."
I got to be honest I had no idea that there were 67 attempts in the Land of Lincoln to ban books last year.
Where this bill gets fuzzy for me is the idea that you can't ban a book for "personal or partisan" reasons... so what can you ban a book for? Also, who decides that a book was banned for partisan or personal reasons? For example, if a librarian decides to ban a book does she have to submit the exact reason why, or as long as it is deemed it isn't personal or partisan the librarian is good to ban whatever books they want?
As you can see I have a lot of questions about this... Overall, I am not a fan of banning books, I think that people (especially kids) need to have fair warning about what the book is about and the context in which it was written. Where do you stand on this issue?