A Statement by the Fanwood Memorial Library Board of Trustees
November 2023
The Fanwood Memorial Library is proud to join the growing movement of libraries in New Jersey and nationally who have designated themselves Book Sanctuaries. In light of the dramatic nationwide increase in attempts to ban books and restrict library materials it is of vital importance that we stand up to censorship in all forms.
The following statement was recently released by Katherine T. McCaffrey, President of the Board of Trustees at The Maplewood Memorial Library. The Fanwood Memorial Library Board of Trustees applauds Maplewood’s leadership and would like to acknowledge and amplify their proclamation, as referenced below.
The Library celebrates and serves our diverse, dynamic, literate, library card-carrying town. We affirm the following democratic principles, adapted from the American Library Association’s historic Freedom to Read statement (1953):
We, the Library Board of Trustees, embrace the freedom to read as a cornerstone of democracy. We affirm a diversity of experiences and perspectives, and recognize the equal humanity and dignity of all persons. As such, our programming and collections will embrace, include, and celebrate a full spectrum of the human experience. We proudly establish our library as a sanctuary for reading.
We acknowledge and amplify the leadership of the Hoboken Free Public Library, and other like-minded libraries in New Jersey and nationally, in rejecting a growing national climate of repression, censorship and surveillance that targets, in particular, BIPOC (Black, indigenous, people of color) and LGBTQ+ themes and people. As such, we encourage our community to extend our Book Sanctuary efforts and
