Arguing Book Bans: A Critical Analysis of Public Forums at School Board Meetings

To examine and define issues related to current book banning efforts, I first identified a foundation for this study by discussing the importance of book collections, library origins and resistance to change, and current social and political issues influencing libraries. Through a directed content analysis, I utilized Critical Race Theory’s tenets of whiteness as property and counter-storytelling to analyze a school district’s board meeting public forums. This method and theoretical lens provided understanding for an oppressive library ideology that is promoted at school board meetings. School librarians should instead choose to enact a liberatory library ideology within their libraries.