Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
In the name of parental rights and traditional values, public school and library boards, along with state legislatures, have restricted certain books from circulating in libraries, which critics condemn as book banning. What does this phenomenon mean for the future of libraries as beacons of knowledge and wisdom?
Featured:
Richard E. Ashby, President-Elect, Pennsylvania Library Association
Jill Coste, Adjunct Faculty, English Department, Elizabethtown College
Jean Darnell, CEO, Awaken Libraries
Joe Lucia, Dean of Libraries, Temple University
John McCabe (moderator), Associate Director and Policy Analyst, Free Speech Project, Georgetown University
Recorded on Oct. 15, 2025, as part of "Free Speech at the Crossroads: A Keystone Dialogue," a convening of discussions on challenges to Free Speech and other First Amendment freedoms at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of American democracy.
In the name of parental rights and traditional values, public school and library boards, along with state legislatures, have restricted certain books from circulating in libraries, which critics condemn as book banning. What does this phenomenon mean for the future of libraries as beacons of knowledge and wisdom?
Featured:
Richard E. Ashby, President-Elect, Pennsylvania Library Association
Jill Coste, Adjunct Faculty, English Department, Elizabethtown College
Jean Darnell, CEO, Awaken Libraries
Joe Lucia, Dean of Libraries, Temple University
John McCabe (moderator), Associate Director and Policy Analyst, Free Speech Project, Georgetown University
Recorded on Oct. 15, 2025, as part of "Free Speech at the Crossroads: A Keystone Dialogue," a convening of discussions on challenges to Free Speech and other First Amendment freedoms at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of American democracy.
