Thursday, February 13, 2025

Valentines For Anti-Book Censorship Advocates via Kelly Jensen

At the beginning of the year I had a post entitled, "We are Terrible at Communicating Who We Are, What We Do, and Why-- Make a Commitment to do Better in 2025." I gave a few examples where you could go to find some help with this task. One of those was from Kelly Jensen in an article over at Book Riot entitled, "How to Explain Book Bans to Those Who Want to Understand."

I used Jensen's piece to remind all of us how we spend too much time trying to counter those who attack us and not nearly enough time communicating exactly what is going on to the vast majority of library users (and actually the vast majority of Americans) who support the freedom to read. It happens to me all of the time. People who know I am in the field ask me to explain what is going on to them. They don't understand, don't realize how bad it is, and when they find out what is going on, they are shocked and want to help.

That's where Jensen's advice comes into play. We all have our known supporters, those patrons who are always thanking us for everything we do, not to mention our Friends of the Library groups. Why not use Valentine's Day to give our supporters and way they can show their appreciation and give back at the same time?

That's exactly what Jensen did in her newsletter this week as she made some ironic and cheeky Valentine's cards that you can share with your supporters and encourage them to pass on. She also included a link to the post I mentioned above as well as two more helpful posts meant to help our patrons support us. Now, the next time someone asks you what they can do to help, you have somewhere to point them.

Please note, the credit for all of the Valentines goes to Kelly Jensen herself. I have linked each to her newsletter where they first appeared. Please click through to grab them and consider signing up to get her newsletter in your inbox as well.

Below is the full post with permission to repost from Jensen.

Valentines For Anti-Book Censorship Advocates

I remember a phone call with another anti-book censorship advocate way back in the early days of the current wave. I’d had this idea to make some slightly snarky, facts-driven Valentines to educate people on what was truly going on.

The idea didn’t come to fruition then and that’s probably for good. Now that we have such a better handle on the realities of book censorship and on the ongoing attacks against public institutions of democracy like libraries and schools, the information that such a project could convey is clearer and more direct.

In lieu of a longer newsletter this week–the roundup from last week’s anti-library, pro-book banning bills being floated across the US was a big, heavy lift–let’s celebrate the season of love with a reminder of how love requires effort and action to remain.

Feel free to share these however you’d like. I’ve noted both the newsletters where I cover book censorship information, my personal one here and my work one, Literary Activism, over on Book Riot. Three specific posts were useful in crafting these messages, as they are perhaps a starter kit for anyone interested in learning more about the realities of censorship and library attacks today: