Florida 24 Network has brought you multiple stories this past year that go in-depth on "book bans" happening across our state.
But the latest controversy comes from Broward County, where library cards have sparked outrage and a sanctuary.
“As with anything, when you try to suppress something, it becomes more popular,” said Allison Grubbs.
Grubbs is the Director of Broward County’s Library Division. She said library patrons have been requesting specific titles of books that had been removed from schools in the district and other areas across the state since 2021.
“The purpose of a library is to make information available to people who seek it. So, when ideas or stories or themes are suppressed, people will naturally turn to their public library to find out more about it,” explains Grubbs.
It’s why the Broward County Library team got to work with creating a new concept.
It started with a Book Sanctuary. It’s a dedicated space, both digitally and physically, where library patrons could get access to over 50 books that had been banned or challenged in other places.
But during national library week at the end of April, library cards were made available to the more than one million library patrons.
The design references familiar historical themes like book burning, with the words "I read banned books."
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive; we have actually had people from out of state ask how they can purchase the library card,” Grubbs said.
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But not everyone has been pleased.
“Given that there are no books banned in the state of Florida, it really makes them look pretty stupid to say that, and really calls into question whether or not those people should be running a library,” said Representative Randy Fine.
Fine believes that the state of Florida has never once banned a book. Rather, it's just been selective in what makes the shelves.
“There’s not a single book banned in the state of Florida. You can read any book you want; this is America. But someone has to decide of the 51 million options,” he emphasized.
Fine continues, “I have a book that is one of those 51 million, and I can claim that out of the logic you’ve put forward that my book has been banned in every school and every library in the state of Florida. Because the argument that is used is that if a book is not in a library, therefore it is banned.”
But according to PEN America, a free speech organization that tracks nationally which schools and libraries are banning books, Fine’s definition is not what makes a book "banned."
“There’s a lot of nuance with how we define a banned book, which we understand can get a little weedy as to when a book is or isn’t banned,” explained Kasey Meehan with the organization.
The director of the Freedom to Read program said, “We spend a lot of time thinking about this. But at the highest level, we would say a banned book is anytime access to a book is removed or diminished.”
Meehan shared that an example of this could be a book that is present in a school’s library. For the sake of the example, we will call the book "test."
In the example, the book test was selected by a teacher to be part of the class curriculum but then it was challenged by parents. The school board then decided to permanently remove the book from all school libraries in the district.
Per PEN America, test is now considered a banned book.
Another example is when the book test was available in an elementary school after parents requested for the book to be made available. But it was removed after the school board challenged it. Yet, the book was not removed in the district's middle and high schools.
Because access was restricted to test, it’s now considered a banned book.
“Our most recent report that PEN America has put out is that Texas and Florida are two of the states that have seen the most instances of books being banned. What’s interesting about Florida is that we have the most school districts in any given state that have been banning books,” explained Meehan.
According to PEN America, from July 1 to Dec 31 of 2022, 13 of Florida’s school districts banned books. The most came out of Escambia County, with 145 books banned.
In early May of this year, PEN America, Penguin Random House, authors, parents, and students filed a federal lawsuit against the Escambia County School District and School Board.
They claimed they violated the first amendment rights of the students, authors and publishers by removing books “based on ideological objections to their contents or disagreement with their messages or themes.”
It also furthers the district violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution “because the books being singled out for possible removal are disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ authors, or which address topics related to race or LGBTQ identity.”
When asked for comment, the Escambia School District said, "We are unable to make comment on pending litigation."
PEN America reports that the first half of the 2022-2023 school year saw a 28% increase in book banning compared to the prior six months. The organization states that in Florida, the reason for the increase could be state legislation.
Governor Ron Desantis passed the parental rights in education law, which critics call "Don’t Say Gay," along with the "Stop the Woke" act. Both restrict teachings of sexuality, gender identity, and diversity.
“That’s where we really step up and say that we believe in this right, this freedom of expression of the right of freedom to read. And to be able to access those different forms of expression,” states Grubbs.
The safe space in Broward said they plan to keep on standing and will be celebrating National Banned Books Week in October.
