A bomb threat to a Somerville Public Library drag story hour in 2024 is cited in report a by the Pen America free-speech advocacy group detailing book bans and other forms of censorship in public libraries across the country.
The event, which would have featured a drag queen reading a story to children, gained attention on social media, leading to a protest and counterprotest outside of the library. Police searched the building for a bomb, and the event was canceled.
“Ten years ago, we could have had [drag story time] with no pushback or very little pushback,” said Cathy Piantigini, director of Somerville Public Libraries. That was before social media opened a local issue to the world. “I think what a lot of libraries find is, you get this pushback and you don’t even know who these people are. A lot of the stuff that played out on social media, it’s not even folks that live in the community.”
It’s the kind of thing the Pen Report – “Out of Circulation: Expanding Censorship in Public Libraries,” released Sept. 1 – discusses with alarm. “Public libraries are increasingly censorship battlegrounds, leading to interference with book displays, improper reshelving mandates and disruptions of events,” the authors list among the report’s key findings.
The Somerville incident was isolated. The library hosted another drag story time in June 2025 that went on without incident, though with more deliberation: Piantigini said the lack of incident was thanks to careful planning and the help of local partners.
Somerville also has not faced challenges to books since she became director in 2019, Piantigini said, though the Pen report says censorship in public libraries is growing nationwide. Massachusetts ranked fourth in the nation last year for attempts to ban books, according to the American Library Association, with 21 attempts to restrict access to a total 229 titles, a dramatic rise from 10 years ago, when there were two attempts concerning 17 titles.
Library officials in Cambridge didn’t respond to requests for information.
In August, governor Maura Healey enacted a free-expression bill nicknamed “Freedom to Read” that requires libraries to adopt policies ensuring a book is not removed because of someone’s personal political beliefs, and to report yearly on challenges to books and other materials.
The city’s libraries are thriving and able to provide resources at an uncertain time, when they are needed most, Piantigini said. “When people have less money to go out to eat or go to movies or go to the bookstore, they’re going to lean on their libraries even more than they do now,” she said.
It’s another way Somerville stands apart from the Pen report, which warns that “political threats are eroding library systems through governance shifts and defunding.”
Library funding remains unaffected in Somerville, with levels essentially unchanged over the past few years.
Somerville Public Libraries operate on a $4.6 million budget with nearly 60 employees across Central, East and West branches and services including a library social worker; printing, computer and Internet access; and delivery of books and other materials to homebound residents. In 2025 alone, the library offered more than 1,500 programs from yoga to arts and crafts to English Language Learner classes, and a state database shows there were more than 300,000 visitors and 41,470 library card holders in 2025.
