Banned book movement creeping into West Texas libraries
By Madisen King, madiseki@ttu.edu
School and public librarians are worried about how the banned book movement will affect their libraries after government officials and parents alike are deeming some topics inappropriate for children.
Florida, Iowa and Texas are the three states with the most cases of banned books in their schools thus far, with the eastern areas of Texas being most affected in the state so far.
Vickie Jurado, Librarian at Shallowater High School, said some book bans that have been proposed to her library.
“In our [school] library, we have some books that we have had to pull off the shelf because of content that wasn’t deemed as appropriate,” Jurado said. “There are certain lists we’ve had to follow.”
Jurado confirmed that these lists are governmental.
PEN America, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the protection of free speech and expression, conducted research about school book bans from 2021-2024, and found that Texas had 538 cases of book bans, affecting 12 districts.
Between 2021 and 2024, 6,143 titles and 4,563 artists have been affected by these book bans.
Some of the most prominent authors on the lists include Ellen Hopkins, Stephen King and Colleen Hoover, according to PEN America.
Hoover is one of the authors that is banned from the shelves at Shallowater High School, Jurado said.
Between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, the number of book bans increased nearly three-fold from 3,362 to 10,046.
PEN America said the subject matter of the books could be divided up as follows:
Grief and death – 59%
Sex or related to sex – 57%
Characters were of people of color – 44%
Characters were LGBTQ+ people – 39%
Addressed empowerment or self-esteem – 37%
Public libraries in Lubbock have been less affected by government-issued book bans, but must still deal with parents wanting books taken off their shelves.
“We have policies in place, so if there’s a book that somebody feels shouldn’t be part of the collection, they can petition to have it removed, so there is a process for that,” said Ashley Oglesby, the branch manager at Groves Branch Public Library. “As far as just automatically having to take books out, we don’t have anything like that.”
According to an article by Christopher J. Ferguson, professor and co-chair of psychology at Stetson University, kids who read “edgier books” or play violent video games along with their parents can be taught more lessons than kids who do these activities individually. Ferguson’s research suggests that reading banned books does not correlate with violent behaviors and may be positive overall.
“I feel that in a high school setting, there are some history books that probably should be in our library,” said Jurado, the Shallowater High School librarian. “My personal stance is if you don’t mind what your kid reads, then I would suggest a public library…
“Do I feel there should be a ban on some books?” she continued. “ It goes back to school rule and what you want your students to be exposed to. Parents should be the ones that unveil some information to their kids.”
“I can understand the perspective of a parent, but at the same time, it’s a parent’s responsibility to choose what things are available to them,” said Oglesby, the branch manager at Groves Branch Public Library. “It’s a library's responsibility to provide information to people.
“Personally, I feel like we should just have the information. It’s out there and each person that wants to come through the doors can choose and pick up what books they want to pick up. I don’t like book bans. I don’t like censorship.”
To see if your school has been affected by book bans, check out the PEN America index.
