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Aug. 26, 2024 |  By: Mark Moran - Public News Service

Libraries push back on Project 2025

a library

By Mark Moran - Public News Service

The latest report from the EveryLibrary Institute showed the Republican Party's agenda, as outlined in the document known as Project 2025, takes aim at places where students can read, discover and explore. Conservatives call it a matter of accountability.

In Iowa, there are at least 540 public libraries, fourth-highest in the nation. More than 400 are among the scant cultural resources in towns with populations of less than 2,500.

Peter Bromberg, associate director of the institute, said Project 2025, a massive effort to reclassify civil service workers as political appointees, would take direct aim at libraries and the people who work there.

"You know, librarians and teachers are highly trusted and well-known and well-loved in their communities," Bromberg pointed out. "It's really kind of a shocking and extreme attempt to twist our democratic society and our institutions into more of a totalitarian theocracy."

Backers of Project 2025 argued librarians need to be held accountable for what is on their shelves. A bill in Alabama which would have criminalized librarians for allowing content defined as "obscene" narrowly missed becoming law this year. A similar measure has already been filed for next session.

Bromberg pointed out Project 2025 promotes book bans, restricts LGBTQ+ content and undermines the intellectual freedom and inclusivity libraries are known for. He believes it would ultimately threaten a student's educational quality and could presage the end of libraries serving as open and inclusive spaces for people who want to learn. He cited book bans as an example.

"That's the bad news," Bromberg explained. "The good news is, Americans are increasingly becoming aware of what's happening and organizing. And it doesn't often take very much in terms of organizing and pushback -- on whether it's school boards or county councils -- to get the books back on the shelves."

Project 2025, a Heritage Fund initiative, goes well beyond libraries. It would reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power under the president.