The Impact of Book Bans on Public Libraries with Tom Fay

Celebrate Banned Books Week at Folio with a curated selection of programs that address the book challenges we are facing at this time. The theme this year is Let Freedom Read.

Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum is pleased to welcome Seattle Public Library Chief Librarian Tom Fay, for a presentation and conversation with Folio Librarian Lillian Dabney, on the impact of book bans on public libraries and the how book bans might affect collection development.

About Tom Fay

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022, The Seattle Public Library’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to select Tom Fay as the new Executive Director and Chief Librarian of The Seattle Public Library. The vote marked the culmination of a national search for the Library’s next Chief Librarian. Since 2015, Tom Fay served as the Library’s Director of Programs and Services, directing the Library’s Public Services and Programs, Collections, Materials Handling, and Information Technology departments at Seattle’s downtown Central Library and all 26 neighborhood branches. In April 2021, The Board appointed Fay to serve as Interim Chief Librarian, while the Board conducted a national search. As a native of southern Nevada, Fay’s 38-year career in libraries began as a page for the Las Vegas Clark County Library District. 

Prior to joining The Seattle Public Library as Director of Programs and Services in 2015, he held roles as the Executive Director of Henderson Libraries in Nevada and the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Clark County Library District in Nevada. Fay graduated with a Fine Arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He has been awarded the O’Callaghan Public Sector Person of the Year and selected as Nevada’s Librarian of the Year.