Libraries around the country have become the latest battlefield in America’s ongoing culture wars. Attempts to ban or censor books have nearly doubled in the last several years, while story times and other public programs have drawn protests. Why have libraries become such a point of tension? And how can we respond?  

Photo:  Emily Drabinski

Join us for a conversation on these issues with Emily Drabinski, the president of the American Library Association and an associate professor of library and information science at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. Drabinski will discuss how libraries are vital to American democracy, and how we can support them. While they are currently sites of conflict, libraries also hold the key to bridging the nation’s divides. 

Program: 

6:00 p.m. Reception

6:30 p.m. In conversation with Emily Drabinski by Christopher Cantwell, Loyola University Chicago, Assistant Professor, Digital Public History

Loyola University Chicago Event Co-Sponsors (as of 03/01/24):

• Public History Program 

• Department of History 

• University Libraries  

• Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities 

• Department of English 

• The Graduate School 

• Women Studies and Gender Studies