Join Informit and CAVAL for a powerful evening that explores the global fight for intellectual freedom through the lens of The Librarians, a documentary that reveals how librarians in the United States are standing up against sweeping censorship efforts and political intimidation.

📽️ About the Film
Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and the First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.

In Texas, the Krause List targets 850 books focused on race and LGBTQIA+ stories – triggering sweeping book bans across the U.S. at an unprecedented rate. As tensions escalate, librarians connect the dots from heated school and library board meetings nationwide to lay bare the underpinnings of White Christian Nationalism fueling the censorship efforts. Despite facing harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing their work – the librarians’ rallying cry for freedom to read is a chilling cautionary tale.

🗣️ Panel Conversation
Following the screening, join Holly Hammond from Commons Library, Mali Jorm from Bacchus Marsh Grammar, Angela Savage from Public Libraries Victoria and Sae Ra Germaine from CAVAL for a discussion on the film’s themes and their resonance in our local context. What can we learn? What can we do? And how do we ensure libraries remain spaces of truth, diversity, and democratic engagement?

📅 Date: Monday 10 November
📍 Location: The Capitol, 113 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000
🕖 Time: 6pm doors open for a 6.30pm screening
🎟️ Tickets: $25 per ticket with all profits split equally between the film to screen and educate more widely across the US and The Commons Social Change Library

While this film focuses on the U.S. context, the principles at stake: access to diverse voices, protection of intellectual freedom, and the role of libraries in democratic society, are fundamental to Informit and CAVAL's shared mission of promoting critical thinking and supporting knowledgeable communities everywhere.

Whether you're a librarian, teacher, student, or simply passionate about freedom of expression, this event is a call to action and a celebration of the vital role libraries play in shaping informed, inclusive communities.