Controversies about books in American libraries are not new, but they have spiked in number over the past two years. Contentious discussions at library and school board meetings are now regular news across the country and recently reached Fresno County with the passage of the Parents Matter Act by the Board of Supervisors, which calls for a community review committee and the sequestering of children’s books with allegedly controversial themes. 

According to PEN America’s 2023 Report on Book Bans, 3,362 instances of individual books were banned during the 2022-2023 school year, up 33% from the previous year. Most of the books targeted nationwide focus on sexual experiences, gender identity, race and racism, and health and well-being topics. “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe–challenged for race issues and for sexuality and gender content, respectively–are two of the most commonly banned titles for youth, even though both are award-winning, well-regarded pieces of literature. 

But what drives the desire for censorship? What cultural indicators fuel the distrust of books? 

Author, professor, and intellectual freedom scholar Dr. Emily JM Knox will explore this question and more at the 2024 Womack Lecture Series, “Book Banning and the Culture Wars,” hosted by the Fresno State Library on Monday, March 18, 2024. 

The Womack Lecture events include a panel discussion on information ethics and book challenges within our community with Dr. Knox and Fresno State faculty, co-sponsored by the Fresno State Ethics Center. Then, the day’s events will conclude with Knox’s lecture, “Book Banning and the Culture Wars.” 

Knox, whose most recent books include “Foundations of Intellectual Freedom,” “Book Banning in 21st Century America,” and “Foundations of Information Ethics,” will address how the removal, relocation, and restriction of books is now a widespread practice among certain communities across the country, amounting in a de facto form of censorship which affects how our society understands the practice and politics of reading. 

Knox is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include information access, intellectual freedom, and censorship. Her most recent book, “Foundations of Intellectual Freedom” won the 2023 Eli M. Oboler Prize for best-published work in the area of intellectual freedom. She serves on the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship and is also editor of the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. Knox recently testified before Congress for her expertise in intellectual freedom, censorship, and book bans.

The panel discussion will take place in the Fresno State Library lecture hall (room 2206) at 2 p.m. The evening’s Womack Lecture will be held in the Library’s Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery at 6 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public. 

The Womack Lecture is sponsored by the J. Prentise Womack fund, established by the late Rhoda Womack in honor of her husband, a librarian at Fresno State from 1958 to 1970. The annual Womack Lectures are focused on bibliographic or social concerns, as stipulated by the family’s bequest to the Library.

For information or special accommodation for the Library’s Womack Lecture, call 559.278.2403.