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(Big Sky Connection) The Every Library Institute has just released a report contending the Republican Party's conservative agenda outlined in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 takes aim at places where students can read, discover, and explore.

Conservatives call it a matter of accountability. Montana's public libraries hold almost 4.5 million items and the state library association said people visit an average of 4.5 times during the year.

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Peter Bromberg, associate director of the Every Library Institute, said Project 2025, a 900-page strategy to overhaul the federal government, would take direct aim at libraries and the people who work there.

"Librarians and teachers are highly trusted and well known and well-loved in their communities," Bromberg pointed out. "It's really kind of a shocking and extreme attempt to twist our democratic society and our institutions into more of a totalitarian theocracy."

Republicans have said librarians need more accountability for what is on their shelves. A bill in Alabama, which would have criminalized librarians for allowing content defined as "obscene," narrowly missed becoming law this year. A similar measure has already been filed for next session.

Bromberg noted Project 2025 promotes book bans, restricts LGBTQ+ content and undermines the intellectual freedom and the inclusivity libraries are known for. He added it would ultimately threaten a student's educational quality and could presage the end of libraries serving as open and inclusive spaces for people who want to learn, especially when it comes to book bans.

"That's the bad news," Bromberg explained. "The good news is Americans are increasingly becoming aware of what's happening and organizing. And it doesn't often take very much in terms of organizing and pushback on -- whether it's school boards or county councils -- to get the books back on the shelves."

Project 2025 goes well beyond libraries. It would reshape the federal government and consolidate executive power should Donald Trump win this year's presidential election.