Criminalizing Librarians

Criminalizing Librarians:

Threats and Realities

Mariame Kaba, 2025

Design by Cindy Lau

Artwork by Erik Ruin

Research support by

Noah Berlatsky

Libraries offer the possibility of knowledge and self-empowerment to all. Because they are at least potentially a force for equality, and because those in power often view knowledge as dangerous, libraries have sometimes been seen as dangerous themselves.

Most often, attacks on libraries focus on books—various interest groups have tried to remove a wide range of books from library shelves. Sometimes, though, librarians who take the egalitarian mission of the library seriously have also become targets of their communities or of the state.

In this essay, Mariame Kaba walks readers through the history of assaults on librarians—including librarians persecuted during Red Scares and the violence against activists desegregating libraries during the Civil Rights Movement—contemporary threats, and examples of library workers pushing back as we continue the long haul of protecting our libraries and the people who work in them.