Background

Banned Books Week® was established in 1982 to bring everyone together in shared support of the freedom to read. 

Banned Books Week raises awareness about the dangers censorship poses to society and the harms it inflicts on education, on informed civic engagement, and even on our sense of belonging and community.

Banned Books Week is organized by the Banned Books Week Coalition, an alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness about censorship attempts and to encourage the defense of the freedom to read. 

The freedom to read is the freedom to learn. It is the freedom to experience the speech others are free to express. It is the freedom to view the world from another’s perspective. It is the freedom to formulate understanding, opinions, and new ideas. It is the freedom to think critically and to question authority. It is the freedom to make connections. It is the freedom to imagine and to dream.

Libraries take part in this annual observance to talk about how free and open access to information improves lives and they do so to warn of the dangers that arise when that freedom is threatened.

This message is more important now, as we experience an unprecedented, politically organized censorship movement. The current censorship campaigns are not only trying to censor ideas they disfavor and voices they object to. They’re also aiming to reduce funding for libraries at the national, state, and local levels; break apart library systems to reduce resource sharing and operational efficiency; deprofessionalize librarianship; and even shutter library doors. They are increasing social division while fragmenting information access. The work of censorship is oppression and ignorance, it is the silencing of voices and the spreading of darkness.

Library workers defend the freedom to read. We nurture curiosity and literacy by providing access to books people want to read. It is in our code of ethics, it guides us, it is what drew us to the profession. We connect people to stories and information so they become more connected to one another. By doing so, we build community, resilience, and power. We cast light. It is no wonder we now find ourselves and our institutions under attack by those seeking to sow division and inequity through censorship.

One Message, Many Faces

Some libraries are putting a fresh coat of paint on their Banned Books Week observation by calling it something else without changing its fundamental nature. ALA deliberately commissions and selects flexible themes and logos to support you in observing Banned Books Week under whatever name best suits your library and your community. You know your neighborhood and your neighbors best, so you are best equipped to choose the language that can build bridges and foster civil discourse around complex issues. 

Rebranding while maintaining the essence of the observation is fair play. Doing so can be strategic and help ensure that the important message behind Banned Books Week reaches a broader audience. 

Censoring Discussions of Censorship

The organized censorship movement is now also actively pushing for the elimination of Banned Books Week displays and programs, no matter what banner they appear under. Here is a screen capture from Take Back the Classroom’s “Report a Banned Book Display” form, taken on 10/6/2025: 

You can read more about the political operative behind Take Back the Classroom and the misleading and false claims she employs in this article.

It is unsurprising that attempts to ban Banned Books Week are being led by the very people attempting to ban books. Censorship is deeply unpopular. It’s a bad look. It’s un-American and anti-democratic. Those pursuing an aggressively partisan pro-censorship agenda would naturally want to suppress activities that raise awareness of the harm they inflict.

What is more surprising and menacing is when pressures to cancel or prohibit Banned Books Week displays come from elected officials. It is worse still when those pressures are acted on by library administrators or made out of fear before pressure is even applied. The fear is understandable given all that is taking place. But fear also presents the opportunity to act courageously. 

It’s Not Too Late

Censorship flourishes when people don’t talk about it. Silence creates the optimal conditions for censorship and fear. Culture wars feed on chaos, confusion, and division. Educating communities about the damage censorship does is how the tide starts to turn. 

If fear or intimidation kept you from observing Banned Books Week this week, know that it is not too late. Any week can be your library’s Banned Books Week, under whatever name or names you wish to give it. What’s more, until we live in a time when no one’s freedom to read is threatened and censorship is no longer a cultural norm, every week should be observed as Banned Books Week in all libraries.