Governor Phil Murphy attends the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemoration Launch at Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan, NJ Friday, November 1, 2024.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed the Freedom to Read Act into law on Monday, banning libraries and public schools from banning books.
“Across the nation, we have seen attempts to suppress and censor the stories and experiences of others,” Murphy said in a statement. “I’m proud to amplify the voices of our past and present, as there is no better way for our children to prepare for the future than to read freely.”
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On social media, Murphy also stated that “reading freely is key to helping our children become lifelong learners.”
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Today I signed the Freedom to Read Act to prevent arbitrary book bans & protect access to age-appropriate materials in our schools and libraries.
We have seen politicized attempts to ban and censor books — reading freely is key to helping our children become lifelong learners.
“Part of our responsibility as educators and education policymakers is to empower students by providing access to diverse ideas, knowledge, and perspectives,” added New Jersey acting Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer. “The Freedom to Read Act demonstrates our commitment to the educational excellence that defines our state. Through this legislation, we are protecting the integrity of our libraries that are curated by dedicated professionals and making those resources available to help every student to grow as a critical thinker.”
The law is not set to take effect for a year, but the New Jersey state librarian and state education commissioner can implement it now as needed. It states that libraries cannot ban books based on origin, background, or the views presented in the text or by the authors. Librarians are also forbidden from banning texts they disagree with.
School boards and library governing bodies must also create policies for curating and removing materials. They must also implement a system for handling book challenges.
The law also protects all public library staff “from criminal and civil liability arising from good faith actions performed pursuant to the provisions” of the bill, including stocking “diverse and inclusive material” and providing residents “access to all library material, including diverse and inclusive material.”
Last year, Illinois passed a similar bill, becoming the first state to respond to the growing trend of book banning. A few other states, including California and Maryland, have since followed suit.
A recent report from free-speech nonprofit PEN America found a major increase in book bans during the 2023-2024 school year – with over 10,000 books banned across the United States. The 2022-2023 year saw a total of 3,362 books banned across the country.
PEN America says that the types of books banned “includes books featuring romance, books about women’s sexual experiences, and books about rape or sexual abuse as well as continued attacks on books with LGBTQ+ characters or themes, or books about race or racism and featuring characters of color.”
Florida and Iowa are leading in the total number of bans, with over 8,000 recorded between the two states. This number is largely due to the increasingly strict laws on book bans.
The organization also emphasized that these numbers are an undercount of the actual amount of banned books since many book bans go unreported. Additionally, the organization said schools have also implemented “soft” book bans, including policies that cause greater hesitancy to check out books from libraries, restrictions on who can check out restricted books, book fair cancellations, and removing classroom collections.
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