Ben Franklin championed libraries and believed that access to books was essential to democratic life and public intelligence. He argued in 1740 that every school should contain its own library. Libraries expanded across the United States, now totaling 124,903 institutions, including 97,000 school libraries. Florida enacted House Bill 1069 to ban materials defined as "pornographic" or depicting sexual content from school libraries, risking widespread removal of books. Judge Carlos Mendoza struck down HB 1069, blocking the law's enforcement. PEN America reported widespread book bans during 2022-23, with 153 districts in 33 states affected and a disproportionate number in Florida.
Ben Franklin is famous for his love of books, voracious reading habits, and belief that reading books was an essential part of democratic life. Franklin, who was the father of America's public libraries, believed that libraries would help make "the common Tradesmen and Farmers as intelligent as most Gentlemen from other Countries." As early as 1740, Franklin argued that every school should also contain its own library.
Without them, the right to read, which has long been part of our First Amendment tradition, would have been reserved for people who have the means to acquire books. Today, the American Library Association reports that there are 124,903 libraries of all kinds in the United States, 97,000 of which are school libraries. During the 2022-23 school year, book bans occurred in 153 districts in 33 states.
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