State and Local Government Review First published online September 15, 2024
DOI 10.1177/0160323X241280220
Abstract
Public libraries in the United States have historically been sites of political contestation. This ranges from contestation surrounding library funding to the content of library collections. Recently, activism within and against public libraries has become more frequent. This begs the question: how does political contestation in public libraries look today? Using a media analysis of U.S. public library contestation and controversy from 2014 to 2023, this paper presents a framework to categorize library contestation. This framework situates public libraries within an ongoing context of efforts to polarize local political institutions.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
