Two Harbors to host free screening of The Librarians on June 4

Two Harbors will become a local stage in the national battle over book bans and library censorship when Harbor Theater hosts a free screening of The Librarians, a documentary that follows librarians confronting threats, restrictions and political pressure over library content.

The screening is set for Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 p.m. at Harbor Theater, 616 2nd Ave., Two Harbors, and it is being organized by Two Harbors Breakwall Indivisible. Admission will be free to the public because of a grant from Subject Matter, whose Audience Screening Fund awards microgrants of up to $1,000 to help cover licensing fees and hosting expenses for community screenings.

The film arrives as national challenges to books and library materials continue to climb. The American Library Association said 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025, the second-highest total on record, and 1,671 of those titles, or 39%, represented the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. The association also documented 713 attempts to censor library materials and services that year, with 487 aimed directly at books, and said 92% of book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials or decision makers.

PEN America has said the documentary is set against a backdrop of mounting censorship efforts, including the Texas “Krause List” and broader campaigns that have spread across the country. The group says it has documented more than 10,000 book bans in the 2023-2024 school year and nearly 23,000 book bans in public schools since 2021. The Librarians centers on library professionals on the front lines of those fights, with the film’s official materials framing it as a First Amendment story about the freedom to read and the language used to silence library voices.

For Lake County, the significance is local as well as national. Harbor Theater, long used for entertainment, education and community gatherings, will serve as the setting for a conversation about what libraries are for, who decides what belongs on the shelf, and how public institutions withstand organized pressure. Two Harbors Breakwall Indivisible, part of the broader Indivisible network, is using the screening to invite residents into that debate at a familiar downtown venue just as summer begins and Pride month opens.