The Queue: Library News for the Week Ending July 11, 2025
Among the week's headlines: Rhode Island enacts the strongest 'freedom to read' law yet; a Georgia librarian fired for including an LGBTQ+ book in a library display is getting community support for her reinstatement; and North Carolina Governor Josh Stein vetoes several anti-DEI bills.
Circling back to a headline that got a bit buried ahead of the July 4 holiday, freedom to read advocates have notched a major victory in Rhode Island, as Governor Dan McKee on July 2 signed the state's new 'freedom to read' bill into law. With the signing, the number of states that have now enacted laws to protect the freedom to read is in the double digits, a notable achievement in just two years since Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced the first such effort, at the 2023 ALA Annual Conference.
Janine L. Weisman
Furthermore, advocates this week are praising Rhode Island's bill as the most powerful such legislation yet, and a potential model for the nation.
In a release this week, PEN America pointed to the law's "safeguards for both public and school libraries, protections for librarians and staff," and, perhaps most noteworthy, Rhode Island's law being the first to guarantee writers and readers "a special right of action" against censorship.
“Rhode Island’s Freedom to Read Act is the strongest of any freedom to read laws enacted to date. We applaud the advocates and legislators who brought this legislation to fruition, and Governor McKee for signing it into law. The law’s robust protections for librarians, writers, and readers set an exemplary model that we hope to see other states replicate,” said Laura Benitez, state policy manager at PEN America. “As the Trump administration and book-banning groups continue their attacks on libraries and free speech, we urge legislators nationwide to make their states safe havens for the freedom to read. You can never be too prepared to stop book bans.”
Amid Book Bans, Pride Events in Libraries Were Tempered This Year
Kelly Jensen
Over at Book Riot, Kelly Jensen leads off her weekly censorship news column with a report on this year's Pride events in libraries. And, sadly, amid book bans and the ongoing attacks on libraries, she reports that it was another quiet Pride month.
"In an era of heightened scrutiny and legitimate fear over safety, more and more libraries have thrown in the towel on celebrating Pride. What felt like a quiet censorship of Pride in 2024 has gotten much more obvious in 2025," Jensen writes. "We can thank fear as much as we can and should be shamed by the ways LGBTQ+ people have simply been pushed aside in a moment where championing their voices, stories, experiences, and existence is more crucial than ever."
Community Steps Up for Librarian Fired Over LGBTQ+ Book Display
Ross Williams
Some excellent reporting by the Georgia Recorder, is revealing more facts about how and why a Georgia librarian came to be fired for including a book about a transgender child in a display, and how the community has responded.
Emails and text messages obtained through an open records request by the Recorder show that Pierce County Library Manager Lavonnia Moore was fired after a group called Alliance for Faith and Family reportedly put out a call for people to complain, a call that was taken up by at least one member of the library's board.
"In text messages with Pierce County Manager Raphel Maddox and a human resources staffer from the day Moore was fired, Pierce County Library Board Member Lana Blankenship, who also works in the county finance department, reposted Alliance for Faith and Family’s calls to fire Moore. 'I am so mad right now,' Blankenship said with an angry emoji. 'She needs to go immediately.'" the article states. "The county produced 77 files, some of which were repeat copies of emails sent by the same person to multiple recipients in the government. Accounting for duplicates, about four times as many people contacted the government in favor of reinstating Moore than did firing her."
Meanwhile, the records request also yielded an email from an attorney representing Moore informing county officials "of a wrongful termination suit and calling on them to hang onto any documents that may become evidence."
FCC Argues that Challenge to School Bus Wi-Fi Should be Dismissed
Jericho Casper
Via Broadband Brreakfast, the FCC is arguing that a recent Supreme Court decision should lead to the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the FCC's program to to fund Wi-Fi on school buses.
"In briefs filed Wednesday, the FCC and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to dismiss Molak v. FCC, arguing the petitioners–led by child safety advocate Maurine Molak–lack standing under the Supreme Court’s June 18 ruling in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas," the article notes.
The case, Molak v. FCC, challenges the legality of extending the FCC’s E-Rate program to school buses, an initiative that was first announced from the stage at the 2023 ALA Annual Conference by then FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
The future of the program is still uncertain, even if the case is dismissed, however. As Words & Money reported in May, the Senate has passed a resolution, introduced by Texas senator Ted Cruz, to spike the program with Cruz attempting to cast the issue as one of online safety for kids.
Ohio Libraries Brace for Budget Cuts
Talia Milewich
WOUB Public Media reports that Ohio Libraries are bracing for potential cuts in the wake of the state's new two-year budget.
"Any future legislature or even governor could, with the stroke of a pen, eliminate our funding,” Nick Tepe, director of Athens County Public Libraries. Tepe says this makes it difficult to make long-term plans for the libraries as this reduces the predictability of their funding," the report notes. "The fund has received 1.7% of the general revenue fund, which was divided among all 251 public library systems in the state. Forty-eight of those library systems completely rely on those funds for operations. But now this amount could change from one budget to the next. Even at the fixed amount, libraries were struggling to manage their operations."
North Carolina Governor Vetoes Anti-DEI Bills
GARY D. ROBERTSON
The Associated Press reports that North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has vetoed several anti-DEI related bills.
"North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed on Thursday three anti-DEI bills and another measure that in part would target transgender rights. His actions set up more showdowns with Republican lawmakers who pitch the legislation as doing away with structured racial bias in government and public education, protecting women and empowering parents," the AP report notes. "The measures cutting or eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state and local governments, K-12 public schools and the university system have been a major priority for GOP lawmakers."
In a statement, Stein criticized the GOP's agenda in pursing the bills.
“At a time when teachers, law enforcement, and state employees need pay raises and people need shorter lines at the DMV, the legislature failed to pass a budget and, instead, wants to distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us," Stein said. "These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education.”
Alberta Bans 'Sexually Explicit' Books in Schools
Kevin Sabo
Oh, Canada. Via Yukon News, here's one U.S. export Canadian schools and libraries could do without: book bans.
"The Government of Alberta has introduced new school library standards through a ministerial order issued on July 10. Alberta's governing United Conservative Party Government decided to act on the matter, noting a lack of consistent standards across school libraries and several books being deemed inappropriate being brought to the government's attention," the report notes. "Any books containing sexually explicit content, such as those flagged by the minister leading to these rules, will need to be removed from school collections by Oct. 1, 2025."
And Finally This Week...
Dan Rodricks
Knowing that we like to close with good news when we can, Dan Rodricks at the Baltimore Fishbowl obliges with a piece in praise of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, which former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden led for more than two decades before heading to Washington.
"After poring over the long, long list of things to do at Pratt branches, it strikes me that the institution, founded in the 19th Century, fully understands the community it serves in the 21st Century," he writes. "Far beyond lending books, the Pratt has established programming that both responds to need and inspires lifelong learning. In all its listings, you hear the voice of a librarian beckoning, 'Come and try this.' Try making a film without a camera. Take a class in flower arrangements. Learn how to turn a discarded book into a gift, or how to make your own paint from plants, or how to fix a bicycle. Take a stab at paper quilling, even if you don’t know what that is."
