Its that time of year again: National Library Week! A time to celebrate the endless adventures that children can experience in books that are free and accessible to all, and the safe spaces that libraries provide for learning and creating a sense of community.

Or, its a time to reflect on how we got to a place where librarians are living in constant fear. They have become the targets of Republican politicians and far-right groups like Moms for Liberty that are hellbent on banning books about LGBTQ+ people, people of color and racism. Some librarians are quitting their jobs because of constant harassment; others are getting fired for refusing to clear shelves of books that conservatives dont like.

More recently, and perhaps most alarmingly, the GOPs censorship campaign has shifted from book bans to legislation threatening librarians with jail time .

The Idaho state House in 2022 passed a bill that would send librarians to jail for a year for checking out books to a minor that some might consider harmful. That bill never became law. But this month, the Idaho Legislature sent another bill to the governor requiring librarians to move harmful materials out of reach from minors or face lawsuits. Those include books that mention any act of homosexuality.

In West Virginia, the state House passed a bill in February that would make librarians criminally liable if a minor comes across content that some might consider obscene. Critics of this bill warned it could result in challenges to even classic books, and lead to criminal charges being levied against librarians over books with any descriptions of sex.

HuffPost recently caught up with American Library Association President Emily Drabinski to talk about what is going on with these attacks, if the nations librarians are doing OK (everywhere I go, the story is the same: library workers are afraid), and how she and others who care about kids having access to a diversity of books are pushing back.

Drabinski also described the personal attacks shes faced after tweeting and then deleting that she identifies as a Marxist lesbian. Several state libraries have cut ties with ALA in part because of her self-identification. In Georgia, the state Senate recently passed legislation that would ban libraries from spending money on services offered by ALA, which a Republican state legislator called Marxist and socialist.

It turns out theres an algorithm for those two words in conjunction, she told HuffPost. It has become a bludgeon people have been using to attack libraries and library workers. Its been devastating. ... I ran for this office because I love libraries and I love library workers.

This Q&A has been lightly edited for brevity.