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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Richard Luscombe

US public libraries at ‘breaking point’ amid ideological attacks, report finds

a person holds books near a library shelf
A library in Long Beach, California. Photograph: Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Public libraries in the US are “at breaking point” because of an onslaught of political interference, harassment and ideological censorship, a new report published on Tuesday said.

Book bans, cancelled story hours, attacks on librarians, funding cuts and the undoing of libraries’ independent governance are examined by the free expression advocacy group PEN America in its study called Out of Circulation: Expanding Censorship in Public Libraries.

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