DALLAS — Increased threats of violence directed at public libraries and their workers across the country must be investigated, leaders of the American Library Association wrote in a letter to the FBI this week.
Multiple bombing or shooting threats in the past two weeks have forced temporary closures of libraries in Fort Worth, Denver, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Hawaii, according to the association’s Sept. 27 letter.
Last week, libraries in Fort Worth were closed after police received what they said at the time was a credible bomb threat at multiple facilities. Other North Texas cities close to Fort Worth also received threatening emails, according to the police department.
A Fort Worth city employee received an email that threatened multiple libraries, according to a news release. Police had said the IP address, a numeric designation that identifies its location on the internet, used to send the threat appeared to originate outside of the country, and officials did not believe there was an ongoing threat.
On Sept. 29, police noted that no arrests were made and no credible threats were located.
The bombing and shooting threats the five areas received “come on the heels of other threats to library workers in school and public libraries, who have been increasingly targeted by violent disruptions of programs and verbal threats of physical harm, as well as attacks on social media platforms over the past year,” the association’s executive board said in the letter.
In recent months, fights over books and book bans in schools and libraries have erupted at board meetings and online. Much of the debate has centered around those materials that address LGBTQ issues, topics around race and history, or titles by authors of color.
Though the association didn’t link the threats to opposition to certain materials and programs, it did note concerns about specific library workers receiving personal threats “some of which include the disclosure of personal details and false and defamatory claims.”
The letter, which was also sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, asked FBI Director Chris Wray to initiate an investigation into the threats.
“Given the seriousness and proliferation of these threats of violence and other acts of intimidation increasingly taking place in America’s libraries, we are gravely concerned for the safety of library workers and the millions of Americans who visit libraries each day,” the association’s board noted.
Last week, a new report noted that Texas leads the nation in school book bans.
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