Resources for Banned Books Week: September 18 - 24

Banned Books Week is crucial to raising awareness about real, and all too common, threats to intellectual freedom.  Endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read.  In response to a surge in the number of book challenges, Banned Books Week was launched in 1982.  The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) compiles a list each year of challenged books submitted by librarians and teachers across the country.  Last year the OIF saw 729 challenges, which affected 1,597 books.  The majority of these titles were about Black or LGBTQIA+ people. This is the highest number of challenges in at least 20 years.  

If you're looking to plan programming or campaigns to stimulate discussion around Banned Books Week there are numerous resources available to assist with this.  ALA offers a Banned Books Week Press Kit containing press releases, artwork, and lists of banned books as well as a link to the Banned Books Week Coalition website, offering promotional tools and program kits.  Unite Against Books Bans includes talking points, social media tools, and many other wonderful resources around book bans.  Also available is a database of book bans and challenges created by Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, an independent researcher.  This Database of Book Bans and Challenges in the United States 2021-2022, partnering with EveryLibrary Institute and EveryLibrary, includes book challenges and bans by school district, public libraries, and school libraries, and groups formed to push these bans and challenges.  

Minitex is happy to offer an upcoming webinar, The A, B, C's of Book Challenges, coming on October 4th.  This free webinar, part of the Minitex Advocacy series, will highlight the work of three School Librarians in Minnesota.