Illinois is banning book bans.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday signed a bill into law to block public schools and libraries from banning books, calling it the first law of its kind in the country. Any such institution caught scrapping materials because of “partisan or doctrinal” disapproval will be ineligible for state funding as of Jan. 1, 2024, when the new law goes into effect.
“Book bans are about censorship, marginalizing people, marginalizing ideas and facts. Regimes banned books, not democracies,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said during a bill signing ceremony at a Chicago library. “We refuse to let a vitriolic strain of white nationalism coursing through our country determine whose histories are told, not in Illinois.”
The new law comes amid a push to pull certain texts from library shelves and school curriculum, particularly those about LGBTQ+ topics as well as works by people of color. According to the American Library Association, attempts to censor books hit a 20-year high in 2022 — twice as many as 2021, the previous record.
“We are not saying that every book should be in every single library,” said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, who is also the state librarian and the mastermind behind the bill. “What this law does is it says, let’s trust our experience and education of our librarians to decide what books should be in circulation.”
In order to be eligible for state funding, Illinois public libraries must adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which holds that “materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation,” or subscribe to a similar pledge.