Book bans have been on the rise across the country in recent years prompting lawmakers to pass legislation to protect libraries and librarians. “Freedom to read” legislation that aims to safeguard access to diverse materials in public and school libraries has been adopted in four states: Illinois, Maryland, California and New Jersey. Some lawmakers are hoping to add Massachusetts to that list.
New Jersey state Sen. Andrew Zwicker said he naively did not think his state had a book-banning issue until he heard Martha Hickson, a retired 20-year New Jersey school librarian, explain the dire effects of book bans on New Jersey libraries.
“And so I was just stunned listening to this and I went up to Martha afterwards and asked her, what could I do as a state legislator,” Zwicker said.
In her speech, Hickson detailed the barrage of harassment that started after a September 2021 school board meeting in which she was called a pornographer, pedophile and child groomer for checking out LGBTQ+ books to students at her high school library. She said she was shunned by her colleagues at school, her car was vandalized and she continues to be trolled online. Hickson said despite the physical and mental toll of the attacks, she continues to share her story and speaks out against book bans. Her story will also be part of the upcoming documentary, “The Librarians.”
“I say to everyone who asks me for advice, you need to talk about it. You can’t hide. Talk, talk, talk until you’re blue in the face, and, eventually, the right person will hear you,” Hickson said.
Zwicker’s conversation with Hickson in 2023 inspired him to work on legislation that would become New Jersey’s Freedom to Read Act.
“Martha was the real catalyst in all of this,” Zwicker said. “I’m just the vessel to get it done, but we don’t get this without all of the support of families across the state. None of this is radical. We’re simply saying you choose what you want to read, period. But you don’t have anyone else make that choice for you. What’s radical about that?”
In Massachusetts last year, state Sen. Julian Cyr and state Rep. John Moran put forth a bill called “An Act Regarding Free Expression,” which was pushed forward but didn’t make it to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk last session. The bill, and similar legislation, is being actively worked on now by lawmakers.
Jennifer Varney, a school librarian in Cambridge and former president of the Massachusetts School Library Association, said she’d like similar anti-book-banning legislation to be passed in the commonwealth with a few specific additions.
“There are two things in particular that I would really love to see: The first is protection for librarians and their jobs,” Varney said. “It is alluded to currently as state statute, but this would spell it out much more clearly and effectively.”
“For librarians who, every time we put together an order list, we have to stop and think, are we ready? What if someone complains? Knowing that the law really has back would be huge,” Varney continued. “More importantly, it’s not just about the librarians. It is about the rights of our students to access information that they need at an age-appropriate level. But it’s just unconscionable to remove access to certain materials from children because someone doesn’t like them. And so I would really like to see that kind of doctrinal removal of books be outlawed.”
And Hickson said ultimately, the focus on book bans isn’t really books at all — it’s freedom.
“What you really have to focus on is your First Amendment right to intellectual freedom,” she said. “That’s what this is about: your right to read any book, not just the particular books that they’re challenging.”
Guests
- New Jersey state Sen. Andrew Zwicker, head sponsor of the state’s Freedom to Read Act
- Jennifer Varney, Cambridge school librarian, former president of the Massachusetts School Library Association
- Martha Hickson, retired veteran New Jersey librarian featured in the upcoming documentary, “The Librarians”
