Quick—think of a book you loved as a kid.
If you’re like many others, you thought about “Charlotte’s Web” or “The Giving Tree.” Maybe for you it was “A Wrinkle in Time or “Where the Wild Things Are.” Or maybe your family couldn’t get enough Dr. Seuss and story time was all about “The Lorax” and “Hop on Pop.”
Like so many other books that have been beloved in our society for years, all of these books have been challenged and banned in various places in the country. Between January 1 and August 31 of this year, 1,128 unique titles were challenged in libraries and schools across the country. Florida and Texas have the most challenges this year, but book challenges have happened in 41 states and 247 public school districts.
Banned Books Week was created in 1982 as response to a sudden surge in challenges to books in libraries, bookstores and schools across the country. Challenges have continued to rise; The American Library Association reports that 4,240 unique book titles were challenged in 2023 across the United States. This is a 65% increase from 2022, when 2,571 unique titles were challenged, and a 128% increase over the number of books challenged in 2021. 47% of the books targeted for censorship in 2023 were titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) individuals.
The intent of Banned Books Week is to highlight the value of free and open access to information—and to draw wide attention to the harms of censorship. Banned Books Week is typically observed in some way by libraries, schools, booksellers, writers, publishers and readers in all parts of the country, usually during the last week of September.
Why does this observance matter to Johnson County Library? Because what you read and view is your business, not the Library’s. The Library’s job is to protect your right to read and view what you want, and to maintain your privacy at the same time.
In order to do this, the Library does not determine the books and materials on its shelves based on the personal beliefs of our Board of Directors, Administration, management or staff.
Rather, the Library’s Collections team abides by our Library Collection Policy to determine which materials will be purchased and available to patrons to borrow. The Library is also part of an Inter-Library Loan system that helps to procure materials that are not in our collection but are available from other libraries across the country.
The policies that protect patrons’ right to read and view what they want are our Freedom to Read and Freedom to View policies. Both policies say what we believe: that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture; that these pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; that every American community must zealously guard the freedom to publish and to circulate, in order to preserve its own freedom to read; and that that publishers and librarians have a profound responsibility to give validity to that freedom to read by making it possible for the readers to choose freely from a variety of offerings.
Patrons also play an important part in the Library’s collection process. Through the Suggest a Purchase form, anyone can request that the Library add material that it currently doesn’t have to our inventory. And, if a patron objects to material currently in the Library’s inventory, they can submit a Request for Reconsideration, which will be reviewed by our Collection Development Manager.
Resources:
There are resources if you want to learn more about banned books, censorship and the value of intellectual freedom. Some of these are Library resources, others are from outside organizations.
Civics 101: Libraries and the Freedom to Read: a video panel discussion featuring veteran librarians discussing the freedom to read and to explore the issue of book challenges and censorship. They explore the significance of unrestricted access to information and the role of librarians as guardians of intellectual freedom.
Most Challenged Books of 2021 & 2022: A List: a booklist including the most challenged books of 2021 & 2022
Banned book data for 2023
Top 10 Most Challenged Books 2001-2022
The Freedom to Read: Learn more about the freedom to read, the guiding principle of most public libraries, at this link that takes you to the American Library Association.
How Libraries Select Materials: Learn more about the American Library Association’s guidelines for libraries and the selection of materials.
Banned Books Week website