2024 Librarian of the Year weighs in on book ban controversy

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Did you know more than 10,000 books are banned in American Public Schools for the 2023-2024 academic year? It’s a report that surfaced from PEN America during ‘National Banned Books Week,’ when advocates across the nation called attention to challenged and censored literature.

Book bans have been around for decades, but in the past two to three years, there has been an uptick. That’s according to Lisa Varga, executive director of the Virginia Library Association and 2024 Librarian of the Year by Library Journal. She shares an opposing viewpoint of the bans , and believes in diversity on bookshelves in schools and libraries.

Books often challenged represent Black voices, vulgarity, controversial aspects of history, violence, sex and gender identity.

“This is a violation of the First Amendment,” says Varga. “When you intentionally remove items because of viewpoint discrimination, that violates the First Amendment rights of others.”

Currently, Virginia ranks fifth with Texas and Florida topping the list for most challenged titles in the country. In the Commonwealth, there have been 25 attempts to embargo access to books and 387 titles disputed.

The most frequently banned books in school districts here are “ Gender Queer ,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Out of Darkness.”

On the contrary, many parents suggest the books are too obscene. And it appears Governor Glenn Youngkin is backing them. He vetoed a bill in March that would have prevented book bans.

“There’s this belief out there that educators and librarians don’t want parents involved in their kids educations, and that’s just not true,” she says. “Libraries are there to support everyone. Our goal is to protect the First Amendment and to make sure that people aren’t violating that by dictating what is and what isn’t in the library.”

The American Library Association reports for the year of 2024, there were more than 1100 unique titles challenged in the U.S.

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