“From January to August 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) logged 681 attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,651 unique titles—the highest number of challenges since ALA began tracking them.” (Peet, 2023)
We’re here. The big one. Book Bans. They stink, we hate them, and they’re ugly. In my professional experience previously I had thought that School libraries (k-12) were at the forefront of the controversies. Bearing the brunt of angry parents and organizations because of allegedly lascivious materials in their already underfunded collections. I was told later on that many of the bans are actually focused on the Public Library. I’m unsure which is true, so let’s dive into that.
Most of the data available from ALA and American Libraries magazine focuses on Schools and Public Libraries. This could be a bit of confirmation bias but its safe to say that the big players are focusing on these types of libraries for a reason. The updated data is a little bit different than our opening quote.
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges of unique titles surged 65% in 2023 compared to last year. OIF documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources in 2023.
“Pressure groups in 2023 focused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023; school libraries saw an 11% increase over 2022 numbers.
Titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC individuals made up 47% of those targeted in censorship attempts.
There were attempts to censor more than 100 titles in each of these 17 states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.” (ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, 2024)
There are a few groups behind the challenges, but the most notorious is the Florida founded “Moms for Liberty” group. According to their mission statement on the main webpage, “Moms for Liberty is dedicated to fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.” Sounds good in theory. Groups like these sometimes challenge hundreds of books at a time. A methodology of quantity over quality of the challenges. Many of their attempts to censor are completely unfounded and come come as a recommendation of another low tech website rating system that has become the go-to if you want to ban a book. I wont name it here but if you look hard enough you’ll find it.
Its grim knowing that groups like these exist. But there’s hope on the horizon. Yes we’ll soon have our liberty from “Big mother”. According to a 2024 article in the TCA Regional News, the group is “flaming out”. The article mentions how one of the Co-Founders was caught in a sex scandal. The article also mentions how the two remaining members on the show 60 Minutes “couldn’t answer basic questions about their own behavior” (Maxwell, 2024).
Groups like these will always pop up but as information professionals we have a duty to provide access to information. (I sound like an ALA broken record). In some hopeful news, Library Journal’s 2023 Librarians of the Year saw some success in providing that precious access. Precioooooooussssss information.
[Okay maybe punching down on Smeagol is uncalled for but I’m having too much fun with AI and you can’t stop me]
Anyways those librarians. The cool ones that were recognized are apart of the Brooklyn Public Library and they have created a project called “Books Unbanned”. The team wanted to share hundreds of thousands of ebooks to youth who were facing censorship. Here a quick glimpse of the awesome team with their QR code that leads to Books Unbanned:
( l.-r.: Amy Mikel, Jackson Gomes, Karen Keys, Nick Higgins, and Leigh Hurwitz. Photo by Matt Carr)
I think its important for Librarians to face challenges head on. In my time as a public librarian the challenge happened to be diversity in the collection. Our collection was not sparsely populated with diverse voices but it was more about filling the gaps from marginalized and niche communities.
Librarians everywhere are the unsung heroes of our communities, dutifully ensuring access to knowledge, intellectual freedom, and promoting literacy. It is our passion that makes this whole thing work. If you are a Librarian reading this, Thank you. If you’re thinking of becoming a librarian, we need you now more than ever. You’ll have a chance to swing the sword and beat the proverbial war drum as the battle for learning and discovery continues.
Best,
Sources
ALA office for Intellectual Freedom. “American Library Association reports record number of unique book titles challenged in 2023.” American Library Association, 14 Mar. 2024, http://www.ala.org/news/2024/03/american-library-association-reports-record-number-unique-book-titles.
Carr, Matt. The Team at BPL’s Central Library shows off the QR code to connect to Books Unbanned. JPEG.
Maxwell, Scott. “Moms for ‘Liberty‘ Flaming out in Florida | Commenta.” TCA Regional News, 2024. eLibrary, dcccd.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/moms-liberty-flaming-out-florida-commenta/docview/2967575181/se-2?accountid=4875.
Peet, Lisa. “Unbanning Books: LJ’s 2023 Librarians of the Year.” Library Journal, 3 Jan. 2023, http://www.libraryjournal.com/story/lj-2023-librarians-of-the-year-Brooklyn-public-library.
The Information Professional 
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