Researching Banned or Challenged Books: Home
“People don’t challenge materials that don’t say something to the reader. If you look over the materials that have been challenged and banned over the years, they are the materials that speak to the condition of the human being, that try to illuminate the issues and concerns that affect human beings. They’re books that say something, and they’re books that have meaning to the reader. Innocuous materials are never challenged.” -- Judith Krug, inaugural director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom
Student projects researching the reasons why a particular book has been challenged or banned are common writing assignments in both language arts and social studies classes. This page provides a guide to some of the best sources for these assignments. Some are available print only and may be in the local public library; others are digital resources, also accessible through your local library.
Definitions
Challenge:
An attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.
Censorship:
A change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes.
Intellectual Freedom:
The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.
- Challenges to Library MaterialsDiscussion, with definitions, of how and why materials are challenged.
- Intellectual Freedom and Censorship Q & AOverview of the issues in a Q&A format
Quick Links
- Banned & Challenged BooksFrom the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Covers Banned Books Week, Frequently Challenged Books, Resources for Librarians facing challenges.
- ALA Freedom to Read StatementStatement first adopted in 1952 jointly by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee.
Intellectual Freedom Manual by ISBN: 9780838912928Publication Date: 2015-04-01A compendium of guiding principles and policies. and a resource for day-to-day guidance on maintaining free and equal access to information for all people.
