Librarians who found themselves in the crosshairs of anti-woke censorship campaigns are the subject of American filmmaker Kim A. Snyder’s 2025 documentary, “The Librarians,” which shines a light on how these often mild-mannered citizens ended up on the front lines of local and federal book banning endeavors.  The documentary will be screened at 7 p.m. March 17 at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center.

    The documentary chronicles lawmaker and school district efforts across the country to ban books deemed to be inappropriate for children. Last summer the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)—schools for the children of military families—banned nearly 600 book titles which collectively addressed topics like racism, the underbelly of patriarchy and white supremacy, as well as feminism and gender identity, in compliance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. 

    In a separate executive order, DoDEA was mandated to refrain from promoting “un-American” ideologies, gender ideology or documents that suggested that the founding of the U.S. was sexist or racist.  Governors in Texas and Florida also passed legislation banning certain book content in local libraries. 

    As one man in the documentary says, “To attempt to take black history and a lot of our stories away from children is one of the most evil things you can do.”

    The documentary looks at the history of book bans, and follows several librarians as they fight for the right of intellectual freedom under the First Amendment, which affords individuals the right to seek, receive, and disseminate information from diverse viewpoints without restrictions. Some librarians in the documentary speak about losing their jobs; others about death threats.

    Since Donald Trump’s second term began, international college students who have spoken out against the war in Gaza have endured potentially losing their visas and faced possible deportation. Librarians who highlighted books about LGBTQ+ issues or hosted a drag queen story time have also faced serious backlash. 

    Snyder’s documentary takes on the question of what it’s like to be a librarian in this political moment when transgender individuals are being vilified, the racism embedded in American history is being sanitized, and the literature that may affirm a teenager’s identity or give them a literary safe place to land is being removed from the shelves. 

    As one librarian quoted in the documentary says, “When they go after the books, what they’re really going after is those kids that come into my library for a safe place, and I cannot abide by that.” 

    “The Librarians” will be screened at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 17 at the Don Tatzin Community Hall in the Lafayette Library and Learning Center (3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd.) in Lafayette. For more information, visit lllcf.org