American Library Association president Cindy Hohl on why book bans are hard to stop

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2024

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cindy Hohl, the current president of the American Library Association, says the political temperature surrounding book bans has remained at a boiling point. Over the last year of her tenure, Hohl has witnessed librarians exit the profession due to increased stress, ridicule and public pressure to remove certain titles from their libraries–particularly those related to race and LGBTQ+ identity. Although these battles are particularly pronounced in hot spots like Florida and Texas, they're being fought in communities all over the country. In today's episode, NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with Hohl about what librarians can and can't do to push back against this cycle of censorship and what it's like to lead through times of crisis.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. We've got something a little different for you today.
0:07.2	If you're listening to a daily podcast about books, you are probably aware of the Sharp Verizon Book Bands over the past few years.
0:14.8	According to the American Library Association, in 2014, there were 183 unique titles being challenged at school and public libraries.
0:24.3	In 2023, that number rose to 4,240.
0:29.0	There are hotspots where this is going on in places like Florida and Texas,
0:32.8	but it's happening across the country where people ask for books to be removed from library shelves.
0:39.3	This is why I was glad to have an opportunity to interview Cindy Hull.
0:42.6	She is the president of the American Library Association.
0:45.8	They represent librarians nationally and are ostensibly on the front lines in the fight against the book bands.
0:52.8	And yet, as you'll hear in this interview,
0:54.9	librarians are beholden to the community they serve. And because of that, there's only so much
1:00.7	a librarian can do, which I think can be frustrating for someone in Hull's position, both as a librarian
1:07.1	and as a Dakota woman interested in overlooked voices and books.
1:12.2	Our chat about that and how this issue changes during an election year after the break.
1:17.7	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
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1:29.1	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
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1:36.7	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:42.2	Some contexts before we get into the interview, my conversation with ALA President
1:46.6	Cindy Hull happened a little after a county in Florida had to return a number of books
1:52.2	to school library shelves.
	...

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