Interview: ALA President Cindy Hohl Discusses Book Bans on NPR’s All Things Considered

The American Library Association’s president, Cindy Hohl, is at the forefront of the fight against book censorship — a fight the ALA and other First Amendment groups have been losing.

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From the Interview:

[Andrew] LIMBONG [NPR}: The push to remove books, particularly books dealing with LGBTQ issues or race in America, has intensified over the past four years. The ALA’s own data has shown that as well as other First Amendment groups such as PEN America. I asked Hohl why this tide has been so hard to stop.

[Cindy] HOHL: Well, when you look at the size of the community, it’s often a point of contention between the residents and library users. They’re not always one and the same.

LIMBONG: In other words, from Hohl’s purview, the people complaining about libraries aren’t necessarily the people using the libraries.

HOHL: And so when we look at well-meaning patrons, constituents, residents and they are making decisions based on misinformation, it is the role of the library and the librarian to help set the record straight.