Book champions talk about rights, costs

The Moscow League of Women Voters invited North Central Idaho Alliance cofounders Heather Stout and Mary Ann Funk to speak about their work against book banning in Idaho on Wednesday in the 1912 Center.

Funk and Stout discussed how the proposed bans in Idaho affect libraries and the community. Book bans, they said, impacted every library patron’s First Amendment rights and the price tag associated with filtering the libraries.

Stout and Funk were librarians in Lewiston before retiring and cofounding the alliance. Stout worked at the Lewiston City Library with a focus on early literacy and youth services. Funk taught high school English in Kansas before moving to Idaho and working for 34 years as a school librarian for Lewiston School District.

The North Central Idaho Alliance is affiliated with the national nonprofit Fight for the First, which was developed by EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that supports libraries and communities to defend free speech.

“The members of the North Idaho Central Alliance are committed to helping empower our local communities,” Stout said.

Stout said a reading sit-in Jan. 13 in Boise drew 400 people who read from books and discussed the importance of free speech. At a meeting the next Monday, Stout said there were 400 people signed up to talk against possible legislation about book bannings.

The cost of these bans add up, Stout said. According to a report from EveryLibrary in the Lewisville, Texas, Independent School District it would take 158 hours and $3,000 to ban one book and cost around $3.6 million for the state. In Florida, the report said it costs between $34,000 and $135,000 per library or school.

“As book bans legislation increases across the nation, so does the cost,” Funk said.

Stout said a survey conducted in November 2023 by Book Riot and the EveryLibrary Institute found 90% of parents felt comfortable with their children selecting their own materials and 82% of parents trusted school librarians to select age-appropriate materials for the library.

“No student is forced to read something they don’t want to read,” Funk said.

Funk and Stout said libraries have processes in place for challenging books, and librarians will work with parents if they are concerned about material their children bring home. But they said many libraries have sections with materials already organized into appropriate sections for childrens, young adults and adult. Funk and Stout said both libraries they worked at had processes in place for handling challenged books or materials and took those processes seriously.

“A school library is a place for young minds to learn and grow,” Funk said.

Funk and Stout said those interested in opposing book bans should write to their legislators, attend school board and city council meetings and testify at state legislator meetings when possible.

“All students deserve to see themselves reflected in the shelves,” Funk said.

Kali Nelson can be reached at knelson@dnews.com.