libraries

Plus, council approves more money for Forest Park Pool, legal defense contract for short-term rental ordinance.

The district's libraries will remain closed to allow library staff time to make sure the district is in compliance with a new law regulating "sexual content" in school libraries, according to a district spokesperson.

A new report from PEN America shows expanding censorship of books, especially those centered on themes of race, history, sexual orientation and gender.

An Arlington resident suggested city council members hear perspectives from transgender people and the parents of trans children after District 5 Council member Rebecca Boxall posted her disdain for a children’s book about a child’s coming out.

Llano County commissioners considered whether they should shut down its library system entirely instead of complying with a federal judge's ruling that they must return 17 banned books to the library system.

The Houston Chronicle found at least five cases where law enforcement was called to investigate possible obscenity in a library book.

Draft city ordinances would allow people to sue librarians over “obscene” material.

Arlington City Council members removed the Library Advisory Board chair for comments made in a private Facebook group during the height of a debate over LGBTQ Pride Month displays. While officials said the move will bring closure, critics –including the ousted chair and other board members– said council gave in to “bullies.”

After hours of contentious back and forth, Arlington's library advisory board came up with a compromise in the debate about LGBTQ Pride month displays: give the books a dedicated space in each age-range section of the library, and keep June displays to the teen and adult sections.

The survey, which closes a day before the Library Advisory Board discusses the policy, comes after the board spent hours debating the policies and fielding public comment.

Arlington's Library Advisory Board may restrict LGBTQ-themed displays from the children's and young adult sections of city libraries at the behest of local pastors and people who believe all books with LGBTQ characters touch on sexual acts.

As communities and school districts push for book bans, some Texas librarians are nearing their breaking point.