Your librarians aren’t just softly shushing you in their cardigans — they’re on the frontlines fighting for your rights.
On Saturday, May 2, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center is hosting the San Antonio premiere of The Librarians, a documentary by Kim A. Snyder. The film follows a demand by a right-wing member of the Texas Legislature to remove 850 books from public access that “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”
While the documentary, shown in over 200 theaters, is centered around First Amendment battles in Texas and Florida, it explores efforts to ban books and cut off access to information at U.S. libraries nationwide. In these cases, librarians serve as frontline fighters against censorship.
A panel discussion moderated by Trinity University humanities professor Norma Cantú will follow the screening.
Both the film and Esperanza’s event are intended to educate the public about the growing threat of book bans and their stifling of free expression. Screenings of The Librarians encourage civic discussion and action, according to Amber Alonso, an executive producer on the film.
Originally a lawyer from Texas, Alonso joined the production of The Librarians after a 2023 screening at the Telluride Film Festival. She told the Current that after seeing the film she felt like shouldn’t not be involved in the production.
“I felt like they were fighting for me,” Alonso said.
Many of the books targeted for bans in the U.S. cover LGBTQ+, racial and sexual themes, and representation makes a difference in how people view themselves and their identity, Alonso said. When young adults see themselves represented on the pages of a book, they can feel empowered — and it can save lives, she added.
Alonso expressed admiration for the librarians putting their careers on the line to ensure the public keeps its access to books and information. Although the film doesn’t shy from political realities, the issues at its center aren’t red or blue, she added.
“It’s about freedoms, and it’s about censorship,” Alonso said. “That’s something we really want to take out there, because we think a majority of us can agree that censorship is not a good thing.”
‘What they’re doing is illegal’
One of the Esperanza’s panelists, Suzette Baker, is the former head librarian for the Kingsland branch of Texas’ Llano County Library System. She refused to pull a list of banned books from the shelves of her library, and she was fired for it, she said.
“What they’re doing is illegal. It’s that simple,” Baker said. “I could not be a [part] of a group that was breaking laws and taking away the freedoms that we are guaranteed by our Constitution.”
Baker shared her story in The Librarians, and she intends to discuss her experience further during the Esperanza’s panel.
“All of our stories need to be out there so that people know what’s coming, and people can make their own informed decisions,” Baker said.
Another of Saturday’s panelists, Lucy Ibarra Podmore, a high school librarian and chair of the Texas Library Association Legislative Committee, has noticed a change in how calls to ban books originate.
Podmore experienced a complaint from an individual parent within a few months of becoming a librarian in 2007, she told the Current. However, over the past few years, the calls for removing books are more widely orchestrated.
“These aren’t really organic challenges or concerns brought by individual parents like the one I experienced my first year,” Podmore said. “This is now a very different movement to suppress voices and points of view.”
A parent requesting a specific list of restricted books for their child is fine, Podmore said. It becomes an issue when the requests are part of an orchestrated campaign intended to cut off access to all library visitors.
“It really shouldn’t be in the power of one person to decide what belongs in the library,” Podmore said.
Esperanza will provide a list of resources for attendees who wish to join the fight against censorship. For one, Alonso suggested residents become more civically involved, including voting for school board members and in other local elections.
The Librarians also is available for streaming via PBS.
Free, Doors at 4:30, screening at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, May 2, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, 922 San Pedro Ave., (210) 228-0201, esperanzacenter.org.
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