This month’s report on attempts to censor library materials in the U.S., and efforts by librarians, parents, students, and concerned citizens to push back against them, includes news from New Hampshire, Maryland, and Alabama, as well as a look at how psychologists are fighting censorship to keep culturally diverse books available to everyone.
In a special video message for ALA, author Judy Blume—whose work has been subjected to numerous challenges and bans across the country—encourages everyone to unite against book bans.
Help protect libraries and win your way to the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2026 Annual Conference in Chicago!
Congratulations to librarian Mychal Threets for being named to the Time100 Creators: Most Influential Digital Voices list for 2025, Time’s inaugural celebration of the digital creators who have emerged to shape our culture. “They are changing what we watch, how we spend our time, what we buy, and how we vote,” says the magazine.
While court cases related to President Trump’s attempt to gut the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Department of Education move forward, we urgently need Congress to ensure that library programs receive full federal funding in the next fiscal year. We need everyone to call and urge Congress to support libraries before the July 21 deadline. It’s vital for the future of our libraries.
Dr. Carla Hayden spoke on Friday at the American Library Association’s 2025 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia, and librarians, library workers, and book lovers in attendance greeted the former Librarian of Congress with a wave of love, respect, and applause when she took the stage. It was an unforgettable, moving tribute to Dr. Hayden, who was unceremoniously fired from her position leading the Library of Congress by President Trump in May.
Libraries and schools across the country are experiencing unprecedented levels of attempts to ban or remove books from their shelves. I Love Libraries will continue to raise awareness by highlighting attempts to censor library materials, as well as efforts by librarians, parents, students, and concerned citizens to push back against them. This report includes news from Florida, Tennessee, and Texas.
In episode 19 of the “How I Library” podcast, show host and I Love Libraries editor Phil Morehart speaks with Nick Brooks. Brooks is the critically acclaimed author of the award-winning young adult (Y.A.) thriller, “Promise Boys,” a filmmaker, and a musician from Washington, D.C. His new book, “Up In Smoke,” is another page-turning Y.A. thriller that follows the events that spiral after a murder is committed during a Black Lives Matter protest. It’s part murder mystery, part call to revolution.
Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden sat down with Robert Costa on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend to discuss a variety of subjects, most notably her May 8 firing by President Trump.
The library world—and Americans in general—received bad news late today when a federal judge declined to block the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The ruling, issued in ALA v. Sonderling, will allow the administration’s cuts at the independent agency while the case proceeds.
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