Around five years ago, librarian Becky Calzada realized something had profoundly changed in the way some members of her community of Leander, Texas — 30 miles north of Austin — interacted with the school library system.
A school librarian for more than 20 years, Calzada — also the first Latina president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) — started hearing about organized groups attending school board meetings to complain about the content of books on the shelves of district libraries.
Over the years, Calzada had occasional meetings with concerned parents questioning why a certain book was age-appropriate, but the coordinated efforts these groups were undertaking at the administrative level were unlike anything she’d seen before.
“When you look at past trends for when parents have questions about books, it was like one person coming to you, not families going to a school board meeting,” Calzada told the Current during a recent interview. “They were not following the traditional path of talking to a librarian or a principal or a teacher. They were going straight to the top.”
At these school board meetings, Calzada said parents were reading passages from books they deemed inappropriate for school-aged children “out of context” and referring to librarians such as her as pedophiles and child groomers.
“They were spreading a lot of misinformation and disinformation about the intentions and purposes of libraries,” Calzada said. “They were spreading lies to communities and using children as a shield.”
In the documentary The Librarians, Calzada and other librarians across the U.S. find themselves on the frontlines of a national battle against conservative groups fighting to ban books from public schools. These attempts are often presented as conflicts over “parental rights,” but they’re usually driven by coordinated campaigns that portray librarians as threats rather than highly qualified educators.
Many times, the targeted books contain LGBTQ+ characters and discussions of gender identity.
For example, the award-winning 2020 coming-of-age novel Flamer by Mike Curato is one book often criticized by conservative groups for featuring a young boy confronting his sexuality during summer camp. Scenes in the book reference masturbation and suicidal ideation.
Conservative groups argue those themes are too mature for high schoolers. Librarians like Calzada argue that censorship ignores the context and intent of these books and cuts off access for the readers they are meant to serve.
Calzada and other librarians contend that books such as Flamer aren’t designed to provoke. Instead, they’re intended to help young readers who feel isolated or unseen make sense of their own experiences.
Removing the books, Calzada said, doesn’t protect children. Rather, it denies them access to materials that promote empathy and serve as a guide for their own lives during challenging and confusing times.
“There’s an agenda to try to remove books around certain marginalized groups like LGBTQ identities,” Calzada said. “When we think about the immediate impact, it affects the people that don’t have access. The school library may be the one place that a student has access to information.”
Last September, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 13, which gives parents and school boards greater control over what students can access in public school libraries. The bill also allows districts to create an advisory council to oversee library books.
According to PEN America, a nonprofit that defends free expression, promotes literature and protects authors’ rights, Texas had the second-highest number of new book bans in the U.S. during the 2024-2025 school year at 1,781 total books.
“When I think about the purpose of libraries, I think about how libraries are spaces where people go to access information,” Calzada said. “We know that information is power, so whoever controls what’s in a library controls the information.”
Along with LGBTQ-themed books being banned, Calzada said right-wing groups also target books centered around race, racism and Black history. Some banned in Texas school districts include Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado.
“Banning these books sends a message that your heritage, your history and people that look like you don’t matter and shouldn’t be on a shelf, which is detrimental,” Calzada said. “I’m Latina, so I think authors like Sandra Cisneros (The House on Mango Street) and Elizabeth Acevedo (The Poet X) bring value with their beautiful stories. When I read them, I see the richness of our culture.”
While Calzada said librarians continue to be the “easy target” for public outrage, she remains committed to her work. She is the co-founder of the FReadom Fighters, a group of Texas librarians fighting censorship and providing a supportive space for librarians. She envisions a brighter future for Texas school libraries, especially when she sees students themselves get involved in making their own decisions about their reading habits.
“I have seen this myself through student action,” Calzada said. “We’ve seen students protest by starting a banned book club. This generation is highly engaged and has a strong sense of student agency. They feel very empowered, and they should. They want to make a difference in the world. They want to be a part of the process.”
The Librarians premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Feb. 9, (check local listings). It also will be available to stream on the PBS app.
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