Research: Banned Books & Censorship: Banned Books & Censorship

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information.

PEN America's Index of School Book Bans
Book Censorship Database by. Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson The EveryLibrary Institute and EveryLibrary are partnering with Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, an independent researcher focused on the networks, organizations, and individual actors who are leading book banning and book challenge efforts in our nation's school libraries and public libraries. Dr. Magnusson's spreadsheet of book bans and challenges has been available online since October 2021 to aid library organizations, library staff, education stakeholders, and concerned parents.
Books Banned in State Prisons (The Marshall Project) Over the past year, reporters for The Marshall Project asked every state prison system for book policies and lists of banned publications. About half of the states said they kept such lists, which contained more than 50,000 titles. We’ve created a searchable database so you can see for yourself which books prisons don’t want incarcerated people to read.
Books Banned in State Prisons: Download the Data (The Marshall Project)

As Book Bans Increase across the Country, a BU Scholar Is Fighting Back (BU Today, 25 January 2023) A burgeoning Borg of book banners continues to lead efforts to purge titles on race and gender orientation from schools. BU’s Christina Dobbs is contributing to an online armory to fight back.

Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights The findings in this report demonstrate a profound increase in both the number of books banned and the intense focus on books that relate to communities of color and LGBTQ+ subjects over the past nine months.