Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law a measure that he claims will make Illinois, the first state to outlaw the ban on books in the country.

Illinois public libraries which restrict or ban material because of “partisan” or “doctrinal”, disapproval, will not be eligible for state funding after Jan. 1, 2024 when the new legislation comes into effect.

Alexi Giannoulias is the Illinois Secretary of state and also the state librarian, and was the driving power behind the legislation. This law says that we should trust the experience and knowledge of our librarians in deciding what books to put into circulation.

This new law is in place as states throughout the U.S. try to remove books from schools and libraries that are about LGBTQ+ themes or written by people of colour. In March, the American Library Association announced that attempts to censor public and school libraries had reached a record high of 20 years in 2022. This was twice as many as in 2021.

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“Illinois’ legislation is a response to the disturbing circumstances of censorship, and the environment of suspicion,” Deborah Caldwell Stone, director of American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom as well as executive director of Freedom to Read Foundation.

Illinois public libraries that wish to receive state funding must either adopt the American Library Association Library Bill of Rights which states “materials shouldn’t be excluded based on the origin, background or views of those who contributed to their creation” or sign a similar pledge.

Anne Stava Murray, a Downers Grove Democrat Representative in the Illinois House of Representatives, sponsored the bill after a district school board was under pressure to ban certain materials from the school library.

Stava-Murray, who signed the bill at a downtown Chicago children’s book library on Monday, said that while it is true that children need guidance and that some ideas may be objectionable, using local government as a weapon to enforce one-size fits all standards to the community out of reasons of bigotry or to substitute for active, involved parenting was wrong.

Despite Giannoulias’ assertion that “this should not be a Democrat issue or Republican issue”, lawmakers’ approval of the legislation splintered along party lines with Republicans opposing it.

In an email, House Minority leader Tony McCombie, who voted against this measure, said, “I support local controls.” “Our caucus doesn’t believe in banning any books. However, we do think that the content should be taken into consideration when placing books on the shelves.”