Thankful for the Freedom to Read
The following is the blog I wrote for my bookstore, The Bookies, on our commitment to readers’ rights and free speech…
As we shake ourselves from the post-Thanksgiving gluttony and regroup for the busy holiday season, I am taking a pause today to reflect on what I am most grateful for and The Bookies sits at the top of my list. I have been the lucky owner of this magical store for two years now and what a couple of years it’s been! I’ve enjoyed getting to know every staff member individually and the store as a whole. When this many employees have worked together for as long as most at The Bookies have, a business takes on a life of its own with a particular identity and personality. Sue Lubeck, the founder of The Bookies, is ever present in a thousand little ways from her knack for community-building to her philosophies on customer service. For over 50 years at the helm, she laid an indelible foundation of bookstore service in which the customer comes first, literacy is the cornerstone of education, and there is no such thing as a “bad book.”
I like to think that, much like the sweet little pug I found and rescued over the summer, The Bookies and I found each other at the right time. Although I still consider myself relatively new to the bookselling industry, like Sue, I embrace a slightly old school bookstore model in which customer service is everything, especially for us little guys struggling to exist alongside the big box and online stores. I’m still a sucker for the romance of professional bookselling. Matching customers with the perfect book is an art and skill that takes time to hone and can only be sharpened with reading and research. None of us will ever have time to read all of the books in our inventory but we can educate ourselves by reading reviews and the vast array of literary publications. My favorite activity, next to reading books, is reading about books.
Another important aspect of professional bookselling is listening to your customer community collectively as well as individually. I like to say that inventory curation is a dialogue between the store and our customers. When deciding which titles to bring into the store we look at the comparative sales data that give our customers a voice. If we sell a case of Astrology for Mimes, we hear you! We are serving a community of mimes who are into astrology and our future purchases will reflect that demographic. On the flip side, if our stack of Anarchy Jello Molds sits untouched, we get it. You may not find similar titles in our store in the future. I’ve also often brought in titles with a particular customer in mind. If I happen to know that Anna is obsessed with otters, I will think of her when I come across an otter book in our catalog and then put it in her hands when it arrives. Knowing our customers as well as we know our inventory goes a million miles in customer service. And sometimes we enjoy just taking a risk. Customers love finding unexpected gems that they wouldn’t find elsewhere, the kinds of books that need to be discovered or recommended and would never pop up from an algorithm. This is why we shop local, folks.
We don’t always get the data right, however. Astrology for Mimes might have been a flash in the pan and Anarchy Jello Molds are once again all the rage. We only know this because we read literary news, and our customers tell us through their purchasing, ordering activities, and conversations. Or if we miss something and everyone is suddenly clamoring for Astrology for Otters, then we not only order for those customers but also stock our store accordingly. Good customer service is a delicate dance that requires a pinch of intuition and a heaping helping of respect.
At The Bookies we commit to both DEI and free speech because we believe that one cannot exist without the other.
Trusting customers to make their own choices about whatever reading materials they choose for whatever reasons they choose them is at the heart of our customer service philosophy, as reflected in our adoption of and adherence to the Freedom to Read Statement. This guiding document was first drafted in 1953 by the American Library Association and, what would later become, the Association of American publishers. At The Bookies we believe that this statement (amended a few times over the decades) is as relevant now as it was seventy years ago. Perhaps it is even more important than ever in today’s climate of political and cultural division. We are all likely aware of the massive uptick of book bans in recent years. Parents and organizations have challenged books in schools and libraries, for what they deem to be inappropriate content, at a scale not seen in recent history. The large majority of the books thought to be objectionable feature marginalized characters or important themes regarding civil rights, LGBTQ rights and basic concepts such as history and sex.
There is also pressure to suppress books for the opposite reasons as well. Employees at publishing houses have called on their employers to scrap contracts for books or authors that they find objectionable. Books that make it through this barrier might be faced with the same challenges at the hands of a growing number of booksellers who feel that it is their job to screen reading materials on behalf of their customers. They feel justified in “protecting” their customers from what they see as “harm” inherent in some content. Or they take issue with an author’s political affiliation, social media presence, or private behavior, which often has little to do with their creative output. Far too many authors have even given in to the enormous pressure to self-censor before their thoughts have even been put to the page. Books deemed to be “problematic” that do make it to bookstore shelves might be met with a warning label to alert the would-be reader that some content may be upsetting. We believe that all of these tactics, whether pressuring authors to self-censor, pushing publishers to cancel contracts, restricting which titles or authors a bookstore will sell to their customers, or slapping warning labels on books are just as much of a threat to freedom of expression as is banning books in schools and libraries.
This brings me back to why I feel so grateful to have landed at The Bookies. If you have ever set foot into our store and encountered any member of our knowledgeable, caring, passionate staff, you know that your questions and requests will never be met with judgment. We are not gatekeepers who feel that it is our responsibility to filter out material that we find objectionable. We trust you implicitly to make your own choices for reading material and we know (because we are readers ourselves!) that every single person who walks in our door brings their own unique story, identity, history, thoughts, ideas, and emotions with them. Who are we to second guess what you choose to intellectually consume? We believe that the choice to read and what to read is a deeply personal, and often private, consideration. Our job is to facilitate the connection between what you wish to read and how we can best get it to you if we don’t already carry it on our shelves.
I am thankful to work side by side with a team that respects our customers and their First Amendment right to free speech. This is more of a customer service statement than a political one, although the First Amendment is a concept that has become deeply divisive among booksellers in recent years. I publicly parted ways with the American Booksellers Association (ABA) last year after they amended their Ends Policies, abandoning their commitment to prioritize the First Amendment value of free speech (a stance for which I was awarded a Colorado Association of Libraries Intellectual Freedom award last year). Like many organizations over the last few tumultuous years, the ABA has placed their duty to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion above that of the cornerstone of a liberal democracy, which upholds our right to think, speak, and act freely. At The Bookies we commit to both DEI and free speech because we believe that one cannot exist without the other.
The ABA recently released its Free Speech Initiative in which they state they will only support member bookstores facing challenges to books if the challenged book falls within the scope of the ABA’s commitment to antiracism, equity, access, and representation. I recently sent an email requesting more information on how, who, and when those determinations are made (as of the writing of this, I’ve not yet received a reply). It is important to understand which dues-paying ABA bookstore members will receive the help they need to defend their choices of inventory, and which ones will be referred instead to the ABA’s coalition partners. Members should know who is charged with making decisions about which titles or authors are “worthy” of defense, and what specific criteria is used in making these decisions.
A trade association that represents booksellers all over the U.S.—in communities large and small, urban and rural, red, blue and everything in between—choosing to prioritize DEI over the value of free speech should be alarming to publishers, authors, and readers everywhere. This gives permission to actively screen the voices and ideas that get in front of booksellers, and ultimately, readers. From the decision of which titles and, therefore, bookstores they will protect against book challenges to screening publisher marketing materials to which authors and which books they invite to bookseller conferences, the ABA is actively filtering and narrowing bookseller access to the wide array of titles and range of ideas that would otherwise be available to us. And this matters to you as a reader, as a consumer, and as an intellectual fully capable of making your own decisions. As lovers of words and ideas, we believe that objectionable speech must be met with MORE speech whether in the form of writing, reading, respectful debate, or open dialogue. Suppression of objectionable ideas only leads to more subversive, insidious ideas. These kinds of ideas thrive in the dark, after all.
While we feel the loss of the ABA support and community we used to enjoy, our values of free speech and respect for readers’ rights simply do not align with those of the ABA at this time. We are hoping that will change, however, as a trade association that truly represents its diverse membership is crucial to the success of independent bookstores now and in the future. We need a trade association, but it must value and trust members' abilities to think for ourselves and support our rights to serve our customers to the best of our ability with all of the knowledge available to us about the enormous variety of ideas entering the marketplace every day. We urge bookstores who share our commitment to free speech to join us in speaking up. Publishers and authors, you have every reason to push back against the gatekeeping happening in the indie bookseller industry, just as you are pushing back against the bans and challenges in schools and libraries. It is two sides of the same ugly coin.
When we relocate The Bookies Bookstore to our new space in early 2024, you will see all of the familiar faces and inventory in a different space. We will remain dedicated to providing excellent customer service with an inventory focused on education. Our work advocating for literacy while supporting local schools will expand as will our literary programming. As a Public Benefit Corporation, we adhere to our stated values of Literacy, Environmental Sustainability, DEI, and Free Speech.
We will also be rolling out more events and programs with our new fully electric bookmobile, Electra. Our little store-on-wheels will be able to bring more books to more communities, in the form of book fairs, pop-up sales, and markets as well as donations to communities in need, in partnership with our non-profit BookGive. And our small press will churn out the books in which we believe just as quickly as we can. We affirm that the best way to fight censorship of all types is to flat out reject it. Oppose censorship in all of its sneaky, slithery forms and then flood ‘em with all of the books and words and ideas. I’m so thankful to have found a community dedicated to upholding these values. Together, we’ll continue working hard to keep books accessible. And so should you. Please support the bookstores and organizations working to protect your rights as a reader. Literacy is the great equalizer.
For more information on this topic, please check out the following organizations working hard to uphold our democracy:
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)
Brilliant, honest, and important stuff here, Nicole. Thanks so much for your courage and commitment!