Pub crawl raises awareness of book bans


"Through this event we can educate people on the importance of access to information and knowledge," McGuire said. "Those are very powerful things and why would we want to put that at risk?" 

Starting at 5 p.m. at the Redwood City Public Library, located at 1044 Middlefield Road, participants can bar crawl through downtown with fellow supporters of the foundation to enjoy drinks at 17 establishments until 9 p.m. Each pub will feature two banned books and a foundation volunteer to answer questions and celebrate with the group. 

Featured titles will include "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll, and "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson and more. 

"Literature can be edifying, but it's also entertainment, it's being able to access another world from another person's perspective," McGuire said. "We want to keep making that available." 

Challenges of unique titles in the United States surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching the highest level documented, according to the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. 

"We want to maintain access to information, books and literature," McGuire said. "The idea that we're going to start banning books because a set of individuals have contrary opinions, most people don't want that to happen." 

The impact of book bans has a ripple effect that goes beyond the removal of certain titles from libraries, McGuire said. Aspiring authors are discouraged to share their stories and books are preemptively removed from shelves to avoid challenges, he said. 

The resources and time required of librarians to respond to challenged titles — in addition to the documented rise of harassment and threats they face across the country — ultimately detract from day-to-day library duties.

"Because the penalties can be severe for a library, such as legal challenges, libraries are just pulling stuff off because they're just concerned," McGuire said. "Even those challenges take time away from library staff's primary jobs which is helping people find information." 

Although the Redwood City Public Library has not banned any books itself, the library has received occasional challenges to books, which are evaluated by a staff member that has expertise in the material's subject area, said Interim Library Director Sarah LaTorra.

Oftentimes, concerns are raised about what section a title is categorized in, LaTorra said. The library has children, teen and adult sections, but does not restrict access to any section. 

"The library does not take on the role of parent in determining the types of materials that can be checked out for use," LaTorra said. "We allow parents to make the determination of what standards they want to put in a palace for their children and teens."  

While the library is "happy to take customer suggestions under consideration," the foundation is unwavering in its effort to oppose book bans, even if they are predominantly being documented in more conservative areas. 

"It always seems to start small and then all of a sudden we're not paying attention and it's on our doorstep," McGuire said. "If people can't get access to material that's about them or for them, that's unconscionable." 

Tickets to participate in the crawl are $55 and include discounted drinks and small bites at the participating locations. All proceeds go toward the Redwood City Library Foundation's effort to support ongoing and new projects spearheaded by the public library. Go to rclfdn.org/events for more information.

"People could be supporting the local library and at the same time are getting out into the community," McGuire said. "It's a great, low impact way to show support."

ana@smdailyjournal.com

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