Across our 13 libraries, we continue to champion intellectual freedom and access to banned books, as censorship of literary materials continues to grow.
Join San Mateo County Libraries at the Beach Break Film Festival, opens a new window on Monday, December 29, at 3:30 PM for a screening of the compelling documentary, The Librarians, at the Coastal Repertory Theatre in Half Moon Bay. The film follows heroic librarians in Texas, Florida and beyond, defending Intellectual Freedom and the right to read. From heated debates in school and library board meetings to documented removal of material and staff in libraries, librarians are hailed as “first responders” in protecting our democracy.
San Mateo County Libraries is honored to sponsor the event, alongside the Friends of the Half Moon Bay Library.
The Librarians will be preceded by the short films West Landing and Guiding Light. After the main feature, there will be a panel discussion and brief Q&A with the audience, which will include San Mateo County librarians and local author Toni Mirosevich.
Toni is a Professor Emerita: Creative Writing at San Francisco State University and the author of seven books of poetry and prose. Her most recent is Spell Heaven, a linked story collection about a lesbian couple’s move to a coastal town where they unexpectedly find a sense of belonging.
This past October, we celebrated Banned Books Week where our community libraries proudly offered titles of targeted content and offered ideas to get involved. For more titles to read or watch ahead of the screening, check out recommendations curated by staff:
Featured in The Librarians, Jones’ story is part memoir, part manifesto. It recounts her fight against censorship and book bans in her community while tracing the nationwide book-banning crisis.
Orlean explores the Los Angeles Public Library fire to illuminate the vital role of libraries, combining a loving tribute to the institution with a thrilling investigation into one of its greatest mysteries.
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books
Lula Dean bans public library books she finds inappropriate while running her own home library. But when townspeople read the very books she tried to suppress, their lives begin to change. This witty satire explores the debate over banned books and celebrates the transformative power of reading.
The Banned Books Week 2025 theme, “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights,” draws on Orwell’s 1984 to underscore the ongoing dangers of censorship and the importance of defending the right to read.
The author of On Tyranny offers an insightful look at what freedom really means and why it is vital for our survival, showing that democracy depends on an informed, critically thinking citizenry and access to diverse ideas.
Stanley exposes the authoritarian right’s threat to education, tracing their tactics, funders and roots, and shows how schools and universities remain vulnerable to forces democracy struggles to resist.
In a series of letters to her father, who first taught her how literature can heal in times of trauma, the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran returns with a powerful guide to the enduring impact of books, drawing on the works of Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood and other renowned authors.
The Book Censor’s Library by Buthaynah Al-Essa follows a book sensor who determines if books are unfit to publish. By night, the characters of literary classics cloud his dreams, and novels begin piling up in his house. Mirroring the dystopian feel of Orwell's 1984, The Book Censor’s Library is a love letter to stories and emphasizes the importance of intellectual freedom.
Based on the life of Belle da Costa Greene, the little-known personal librarian of J.P. Morgan, Greene has a secret she must protect at all costs—she is not in fact Bella da Costa Greene, but Belle Marion Greener, the daughter of the first Black graduate of Harvard and a civil rights advocate. A fascinating read about an extraordinary woman unknown for her intellect and bravery.
You Can’t Say That! consists of interviews with well-known children’s and young adult authors on why their books have encountered censorship. Historian Leonard S. Marcus includes historical First Amendment challenges and examines the support network that has risen to defend literary rights.
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