Giannoulias testifies against book bans and restrictions in U.S. Senate committee

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias was in Washington, D.C. this week to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee regarding a new state law aimed at deterring book bans.

Giannoulias, whose position also includes the title of “state librarian,” this spring championed legislation allowing his office to withhold state money from public libraries if they ban books. On Tuesday, he told the Senate panel that public libraries have become “thunderdomes of controversy and strife” across the country.

“We want our schools and libraries to be open and welcoming settings for education, not cultural battlefields,” he said during his testimony. “This legislation aims to unify our communities and seeks to restore a right that some of us may have grown to take for granted – the freedom to think for ourselves.”

Giannoulias said he hoped other states would “look toward Illinois” to adopt similar legislation to “protect the right to read freely and without fear of retribution.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, convened the hearing dubbed “Book Bans: How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature.” It was in reference to a report from the American Library Association which calculated there were more than 1,200 demands to censor books and other library materials last year – nearly double the number of similar requests in 2021.

While no specific legislation was considered in the hearing, much of the discussion centered around who should decide the content that is available in public libraries – including school libraries – across the country.