Film and conversation: The Librarians + Jo Guldi
America’s war on books is more than a war on words. In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQIA+ stories – triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of extremism fueling the censorship efforts.
Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work, the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale.
After watching the film, historian Jo Guldi (Emory University) will discuss this documentary with Erik Boekesteijn (KB) and the struggle for knowledge and democracy today. What is preserved, who decides what is visible, and how can citizens regain control of information?
Jo Guldi.
The documentary and discussion afterwards are in English
Jo Guldi is a historian, data scientist, and professor of Quantitative Methods at Emory University. Her work connects historical insights with modern digital methods. She explores the intersection of technology, data, and democracy.
Erik Boekesteijn is a global library motivator and Senior Advisor National Library of the Netherlands. He has worked with hundreds of libraries and other organizations around the world on a variety of challenges. Erik has been awarded as LJ’s Mover and Shaker of the Library World in 2009 and was named Best Librarian in the Netherlands in 2015.