This year, join the Cerro Coso library in celebrating Banned Books Week October 6-10! Banned Books Week was founded in 1982 to celebrate the value of information access in libraries, bookstores, and schools everywhere. We use this week to reflect on the First Amendment, which protects our rights to speech and the press, including the ability to read and share ideas freely.
During this week, we display controversial titles that have been challenged or banned from libraries across the country, with the hope that you will pick one up and decide for yourself whether the book has merit. You and I are not, of course, required to personally like every single one of these books, but we will always support your right to read them!
According to the American Library Association, a challenge is the attempt to remove or restrict access to materials, while a ban is the successful removal of the items.
A book may be banned in one library or school district, but that doesn't mean you can't find it elsewhere. The books at the Cerro Coso library are not banned (California has, in fact, banned book bans!), so you are welcome to check them out!
Books are most often challenged or banned at school or public libraries when they contain sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, violence, LGBTQIA+ characters, characters of color, and topics considered controversial or blasphemous, such as suicide, racism, or witchcraft.
Wikipedia has pulled information from the American Library Association to compile a comprehensive List of Most Commonly Challenged Books in the United States, including the reasons given for their challenges.
Who tries to challenge or ban books?Throughout history, many kinds of people and groups have attempted (and continue to attempt) to suppress anything that conflicts with their own beliefs or values. Books are usually challenged with good intentions, such as the desire to protect children from difficult ideas. However, most library policies contend that it is the responsibility of parents to restrict their own children’s access to library resources, not to make such decisions for all other patrons of that library.
We believe that we can trust individuals to make their own decisions about what they read and believe, and we maintain that censorship of constitutionally protected speech violates the First Amendment.
The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracks reports of banned and challenged books across the country each year. In 2024, they found that there were 821 attempts to censor over 2,452 unique titles. It should be noted that many challenges are not reported and some libraries are prevented from purchasing certain books in the first place, so these numbers are likely much higher! They also found that 72% of these attempts came from organized pressure groups and government entities, such as elected officials, board members, and administrators. Only 16% of requests came from parents and 12% came from other sources, such as individual library users or teachers.
According to the American Library Association, the top 10 most frequently challenged books in 2024 were:
You can find all of these titles on display at the Cerro Coso library during Banned Books Week, so check them out while you can!
All Images © American Library Association
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