The initiative comes amid a surge in efforts to ban books. More than 2,500 titles were challenged in 2022, a record high, according to data collected by the American Library Association (ALA), which also recorded that the number of book challenges nearly doubled over the previous year. A recent Washington Post analysis found that in the past two years alone, at least 19 states have passed or considered bills that would punish librarians with imprisonment or jail time for providing minors with “harmful,” obscene or sexually explicit books.

“To have someone like President Obama appreciating the work that we do, and also sharing our mission for intellectual freedom — it just couldn’t come at a better time,” says Linda Stevens, director of programs, partners and outreach at the Harris County Public Library system, based outside of Houston.

In the Harris County clip, Obama stars opposite Curbside Larry — a character who has brought the library national attention by touting its services in the high-decibel tones of a used-car salesman — and tells him to pipe down.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President,” Curbside Larry exclaims. “I can’t help it, cuz I’m just so excited about how the Harris County Public Library is making all kinds of books available to the community!”

Texas leads the nation in attempted book bans in school libraries, according to a PEN America survey of the 2021-2022 school year, and is among the states where lawmakers have introduced bills that would make it easier to prosecute librarians. The Houston Chronicle reported in March that, since 2021, the police had been called to Texas school and public libraries at least five times to examine books for illegal content.

Illinois has trended in the opposite direction, in June becoming the first state to outlaw book bans in public libraries. And so far, the Kankakee Public Library hasn’t had issues with book challenges: “Knock on wood,” library director Allison Beasley said, with a laugh. But the staff hopes that their video with Obama — which spotlights books by Ibram X. Kendi, Angie Thomas and Alice Walker — sends a message of “solidarity with the library community,” she said.

The video also has a more general aim, added Camille Rose, the library’s assistant director of engagement — to instill in kids a sense that the library is a welcoming and safe space, with diverse staff who “look like them.” Social media makes staff seem more approachable, and over time, some young people turn to them as trusted adults: “They sit and they just talk, because we’ve become such a staple,” Rose said.

Megan Sutherland, the interim chief operating officer for public services at Prince George’s County Memorial Library System in Maryland, said that their efforts, including a monthly book club devoted to the most-banned titles of 2022, are meant to raise awareness.

“Libraries everywhere, including Prince George’s County, are not immune from materials challenges,” Sutherland said. “We want to support library workers and the concept of intellectual freedom and the right to read, wherever it’s happening. We see ourselves as part of that conversation.”

In a letter sent Monday to ALA members, Obama thanked librarians for their work “on the front lines” defending freedom of expression. The impulse to silence other perspectives, the former president wrote, is “profoundly misguided, and contrary to what has made this country great.”

“It’s also important to understand that the world is watching. If America — a nation built on freedom of expression — allows certain voices and ideas to be silenced, why should other countries go out of their way to protect them? Ironically, it is Christian and other religious texts — the sacred texts that some calling for book bannings in this country claim to want to defend — that have often been the first target of censorship and book banning efforts in authoritarian countries,” Obama wrote. “Nobody understands that more than you, our nation’s librarians.”

These efforts echo other statements Obama has made in recent years, including in a 2022 post on Medium celebrating Banned Books Week, and at ALA’s annual conference in 2021. In that talk, he praised libraries as “citadels of knowledge and empathy,” and told librarians that their work was “more important than ever — figuring out, ‘How do we provide our fellow citizens with a shared set of baseline narratives around which we can make our democracy work?’”