Amanda Jones is an American librarian and anti-censorship advocate. Jones has been heavily involved in anti-book banning movements in the state of Louisiana and throughout the US. In 2023, she was awarded the American Association of School Librarians' Intellectual Freedom Award and the American Library Association's Paul Howard Award for Courage, which honors "an individual who has exhibited unusual courage for the benefit of library programs or services." In 2022, Jones received national news coverage after filing a defamation and harassment lawsuit against a conservative political group, Citizens for a New Louisiana, its leader Michael Lunsford, as well as Ryan Thames, who operates the Facebook page "Bayou State of Mind".
Biography
Amanda Jones served as an educator in Louisiana for over twenty years. Jones had long been a vocal opponent to book censorship, arguing that book challenges have disproportionally targeted books with LGBTQ or BIPOC themes, characters, or authors.
In July 2022, Jones spoke publicly against book censorship at a Livingston Parish Public Library Board meeting. After the meeting, multiple conservative organizations posted about Jones on their websites and social media pages. The Facebook page Bayou State of Mind posted an image of Jones which stated that she was "advocating teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds." Citizens for a New Louisiana posted an image of Jones with a red circle with a white border, resembling a target, with text reading "Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid's section?" Following this, Jones began receiving harassing communications, had personal information posted on the internet, and even received death threats. In describing the case, The New York Times referred to Citizens for a New Louisiana as a 501(c)4 dark money group that can push political causes without disclosing its donors.
In response to the harassment, Jones filed a lawsuit for defamation, where she requested punitive damages, as well as a temporary restraining order. In September 2022, a judge dismissed Jones' case on the grounds that she was a "limited public figure" and that the posts against her were opinions, therefore not defamatory. Despite losing the lawsuit, Jones gained support and recognition as one of the first librarians to seek legal recourse against book banning advocates. Following the publicity of the case, Jones has become a spokesperson for the anti-censorship movement, speaking across the United States on book censorship and intellectual freedom, as well as publishing a book on the topic.
In 2022, Jones helped to create Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, an organization in which she is executive director, as well as the Livingston Parish Library Alliance. Jones has lobbied against censorship legislation in Louisiana, specifically Louisiana Senate Bill 7 in 2023, to limit access to minors of material with "sexual conduct", and House Bills 414 and 545 in 2024, which would apply state obscenity law to libraries. The former was signed into law in June 2023.
Awards and recognition
In 2021, Jones was recognized by School Library Journal as School Librarian of the Year and made Library Journal's Movers and Shakers list.
In 2023, Jones received numerous intellectual freedom awards including the American Association of School Librarians' Intellectual Freedom Award, and Louisiana Library Association's Alex Allain Intellectual Freedom Award. During the 2023 National Book Awards Ceremony, Oprah Winfrey praised Jones for her work stating "Amanda Jones started getting death threats, all for standing up for our right to read ... but she's not stopped fighting against book bans, or stopped advocating for access to diverse stories."
Published works
- Jones, Amanda. That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, Bloomsbury Publishing. The book is due for release in August 2024. ISBN 9781639733545
- Jones, Amanda. "2021 School Librarian of the Year Amanda Jones Creates Lesson About Navigating Social Media" in School Library Journal, January 2, 2024.
- Jones, Amanda. "You're Gonna Hear Me Roar: Speaking out against Censorship Efforts in My Community." Knowledge Quest 51, no. 2 (2022): 18-23.