New bill targeting book censorship at libraries leads to partisan clash

People who want to ban books have called librarian Martha Hickson a pornographer, a pedophile, and a groomer of children.

They’ve so vilely trolled her on social media that she struggles with anxiety, insomnia, and hair loss. They even reported her to local police and prosecutors, accusing her of breaking obscenity laws.

“Let’s get this straight: I’m a librarian,” said Hickson, who works at North Hunterdon High School. “Probably the most — until about three years ago — boring, benign profession most people could think of, and for reasons I cannot fully comprehend, we have become public enemy number one, all because we professionally curate, with our master’s degree-level training, collections of books and library materials that represent the needs and interests of the community we serve.”

So Hickson fully supports new legislation intended to standardize library book challenges in New Jersey and protect librarians from harassment, criminal charges, and lawsuits.

The bill, dubbed the “Freedom to Read Act,” was scheduled for its first hearing Thursday in the Senate’s education committee, but sponsors Sens. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex) and Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) pulled it from consideration Wednesday after hearing that some libraries were “confused” about it and one Democratic committee member hadn’t committed to supporting it.

It’s now scheduled to be heard on March 14.

Zwicker and Ruiz introduced the proposal late last month amid a record-breaking rise in book-banning attempts nationally. It’s a cause Zwicker championed in the last legislative session, too, with a bill that would have prohibited libraries from censoring books and withheld state funding from those that did so.

This time, Zwicker is taking a different approach.

The bill still would generally prohibit censorship, especially if it’s rooted in objections to the author’s origin, background, or views.

But under the new legislation, libraries statewide would have uniform guidelines to evaluate book challenges, and only people with a “vested interest” in the school or community library, such as a parent, student, or resident, would be allowed to request a book’s removal.

The bill also would protect librarians from criminal and civil liability and allow them to sue people who harass them for emotional distress and defamation.

Under the bill, school boards would be allowed to limit access to certain library materials rather than removing them altogether, such as restricting books with more mature themes to later grades. And when district officials reject a book challenge, new challenges would have to wait at least one year to be considered.

“It’s just outrageous that it’s 2024, and we are again debating censoring of books,” Zwicker told the New Jersey Monitor Wednesday.

Conservatives and parental rights groups call the New Jersey bill the “Freedom to Groom Act.” Republican legislators have slammed it, too.

“If parents need to provide consent for their child to view explicit material at the movies or when purchasing certain video games, why should it be any different when obscene material is checked out at a school or public library,” Sen. James Holzapfel (R-Ocean) said in a statement Wednesday.

Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon) has two children at North Hunterdon High School and spoke at the school board’s meeting two weeks ago to ask board members to “instill a standard” for library books.

Last week, he issued a statement calling Zwicker “Sick Zwick” and librarians’ conduct “criminal.” He accused schools of “curating a collection of books that appeal to prurient interests, promote exploring sexual deviance with minors and finding information about fetishes on the internet.”

The Washington Post found last year that many book challenges around the country were launched by the same small group of people, many of whom had no ties to the communities and schools where they sought to censor materials.

One critic who told legislators he would testify against the bill is Dan Kleinman, a Texas-based blogger who last year launched the World Library Association as an alternative to the American Library Association, which has led the charge nationally against banning books. Zwicker said neutralizing that meddling minority of out-of-towners is one of his goals.

“We already live in a system where a parent has the ability to limit what their child does or doesn’t read. But we should never live in a system where someone else gets to choose what your child gets to read. A small number of people, if they had their way, would dictate what the rest of us and our children could choose to read. And that’s un-American,” he said.

Republican legislators also have introduced several book bills, including one that would require districts to post a list of all school library materials online and another that would require school districts to make textbooks and school materials available for inspection by parents and guardians.

Librarians around New Jersey remain steadfast in standing against critics.

“We’re seeing challenges that — I’m 54 years old — I haven’t seen in my life,” said Brett Bonfield, executive director of the New Jersey Library Association.

Bonfield said book challenges in the past tended to be dealt with “in conversations.” People trusted librarians, and concerns typically got addressed by the library adding books that reflected different or more nuanced viewpoints, rather than removing materials, he added.

“The First Amendment is like the first amendment. It’s the first one, the most fundamental American value, freedom of speech,” Bonfield said. “It was one of the ideals for democracy, and it’s so intrinsic to my understanding, and I think to most Americans’ understanding, of democracy that we present a broad range of views that people are allowed to have the autonomy to read. And libraries are fundamental to that.”

Hickson echoed that sentiment, saying the books driving critics’ complaints are far from pornography.

“Is there material that contains some sexual content in a high school library? Yes, there is,” Hickson said. “That is because there are human beings aged 14 to 18 who Mother Nature has endowed with an interest in sex. It’s how the human race replenishes itself and Mother Nature has activated the hormones during adolescence. They have a natural interest in the topic and they deserve to receive accurate, factual information about it. Actual factual information about human sexual behavior is not pornography.”