{"id":418231,"date":"2026-08-27T13:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418231\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T13:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:52:07","slug":"austin-leaders-to-consider-book-safe-harbor-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418231\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin leaders to consider &#8216;Book Safe Harbor&#8217; resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin City Council will vote Thursday on a resolution to declare the City of Austin a &#8220;Book Safe Harbor,&#8221; building on the city\u2019s 2022 Freedom to Read policy.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution, brought forward by council member Krista Laine, would \u201csignify the City\u2019s commitment to safeguarding equitable access to library materials, protect the community\u2019s freedom to read, and uphold established policies and processes that ensure thoughtful and transparent consideration of any concerns regarding library materials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith public school libraries still under immense pressure to remove books from their shelves it is even more important that city libraries continue to provide access,\u201d said Laine.<\/p>\n<p>This issue has become part of a much larger debate playing out across the state. Last week during a press conference, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for the removal of more than 2,000 books from public schools. Patrick said he was not banning books. He also claimed 80% of Texas schools were not complying with Senate Bill 13. The law grants school boards the authority, rather than librarians, to approve or remove books following complaints from parents or other groups.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/liberty-hill-leaders-hear-concerns-over-flock-license-plate-readers-amid-backlash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ALSO | Liberty Hill leaders hear concerns over Flock license plate readers amid backlash<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Patrick\u2019s list heavily focuses on gender-identity topics, sex education, body-awareness, and romance titles. There are commonly-challenged titles like &#8220;The Perks of Being a Wallflower&#8221; by Stephen Chbosky and &#8220;Looking for Alaska&#8221; by John Green. There are also frequently-studied works of literature such as &#8220;Slaughterhouse-Five&#8221; by Kurt Vonnegut, and &#8220;I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings&#8221; by Maya Angelou.<\/p>\n<p>Laine spoke about some of the books at the library that were also on Patrick\u2019s list of books including Toni Morrison\u2019s \u201cThe Bluest Eye\u201d and \u201cStamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You\u201d by Ibrahim X. Kendi. She said they hold value for young people by showing \u201cthe experiences of people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReading a diverse array of books also offers insight into the experience of people in situations different from our own, which builds empathy, connection, and community,\u201d said Laine.<\/p>\n<p>At Wednesday&#8217;s press conference, Laine said that the groups challenging books in school libraries would also come after public libraries.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution doesn\u2019t appear to change much for the Austin Public Library.<\/p>\n<p>But supporters said the resolution reaffirms Austin\u2019s commitment to intellectual freedom, open access to information, and freedom to read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur responsibility is not to build a collection that represents only one perspective or only one experience. It is to build a collection that serves the entire community, with materials that reflect the wide range of interest, backgrounds,\u201d said Hannah Terrell, Austin Public Library director.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Austin City Council will vote Thursday on a resolution to declare the City of Austin&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-418231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}