The American Library Association (ALA) released a new report Thursday about book banning in the country. It found attempted book bans and information restrictions at school and public libraries continue to increase, setting a record in 2022. The report says there were 1,200 known challenges in 2022. That is almost double the number from the year before, and it had also been record setting. The ALA began collecting the data 20 years ago. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. She said the last two years have been frightening, tiring, and angering.

美国图书馆协会 (ALA) 周四发布了一份关于该国禁书的新报告。它发现学校和公共图书馆的图书禁令和信息限制尝试继续增加，并在 2022 年创下了记录。报告称，2022 年已知的挑战有 1,200 个。这几乎是前一年的两倍，而且记录设置。 ALA 于 20 年前开始收集数据。 “我从未见过这样的事情，”负责 ALA 知识自由办公室的黛博拉考德威尔斯通说。她说过去两年令人恐惧、疲惫和愤怒。

The report also says the way restrictions are requested has changed. A few years ago, challenges were usually from parents and community members concerned about an individual book, the ALA says. Now, the requests are often for several removals, and organized by national groups such as Moms for Liberty. Their goal is “unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Last year, more than 2,500 different books were objected to, compared to 1,858 in 2021 and just 566 in 2019. In many cases, hundreds of books were challenged in a single request. The ALA bases its findings on media accounts and voluntary reporting from libraries. It says the numbers might be far higher.

该报告还说，请求限制的方式已经改变。 ALA 表示，几年前，挑战通常来自家长和社区成员对某本书的关注。现在，这些请求通常是多次移除，并由 Moms for Liberty 等全国性团体组织。他们的目标是“统一、教育和授权父母在各级政府捍卫他们为人父母的权利。”去年，有 2,500 多本不同的书籍遭到反对，而 2021 年有 1,858 本书，而 2019 年只有 566 本书。在许多情况下，数百本书在一次请求中受到质疑。 ALA 的调查结果基于媒体报道和图书馆的自愿报告。它说这个数字可能要高得多。

Librarians around the country have told of being harassed and threatened with violence or legal action. Caldwell-Stone says that some books have been targeted because of racist language. But she says the majority of requests for removal are for works with LGBTIQA+ or racial themes. Bills easing the restriction of books have been proposed or passed in Arizona, Iowa, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, among other states. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis has approved laws to review reading materials and limit classroom discussion of gender identity and race. Books removed in Florida include John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Colleen Hoover’s Hopeless, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

全国各地的图书馆员都曾受到骚扰，并受到暴力或法律诉讼的威胁。考德威尔-斯通说，有些书因为种族主义语言而成为攻击目标。但她说，大多数删除请求都是针对具有 LGBTIQA+ 或种族主题的作品。亚利桑那州、爱荷华州、得克萨斯州、密苏里州和俄克拉荷马州等州已经提出或通过了放宽书籍限制的法案。在佛罗里达州，州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯 (Ron DeSantis) 已批准审查阅读材料并限制课堂讨论性别认同和种族的法律。在佛罗里达州下架的书籍包括约翰·格林的《寻找阿拉斯加》、科琳·胡佛的《绝望》和玛格丽特·阿特伍德的《使女的故事》。

DeSantis has called reports of mass bannings a “hoax.” He said earlier this month that some people “are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.” Some books do come back. Officials at Florida’s Duval County Public Schools were widely criticized after they removed Roberto Clemente: The Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is a children’s book about of the late baseball star from Puerto Rico. In February, they announced the book would again be available, explaining they had needed to examine it and make sure it did not violate any state laws.

德桑蒂斯称有关大规模禁令的报道是“骗局”。他本月早些时候表示，有些人“正试图利用我们的学校进行洗脑”。有些书确实回来了。佛罗里达州杜瓦尔县公立学校的官员在删除罗伯托克莱门特：匹兹堡海盗的骄傲后受到广泛批评。这是一本关于已故波多黎各棒球明星的儿童读物。 2 月，他们宣布这本书将再次上市，并解释说他们需要对其进行检查并确保它没有违反任何州法律。