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Banned Books Week October 5 - 11

Note: Our Banned Books Displays Have been Extended through Friday 10/17/25

Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is the national book community's annual celebration of 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. The 2025 recognition of Banned Books Week is the week of October 5 - 11. This year's theme is Censorship Is So 1984; Read for Your Rights! 

Facts about Banned Books

• For 2024, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom "documented 821 attempts to censor library materials and services. In those cases, 2,452 unique titles were challenged."
• The data shows that the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries.
• The 120 titles most frequently targeted for censorship during 2024 are all identified on partisan book rating sites which provide tools for activists to demand the censorship of library books. 

To find out the Top 10 Most Challenged Titles, sources of the challenges, venues where challenges occur, and more, please visit the L & LC's Banned Books Week guide. 

As part of the effort to raise awareness of rising censorship, Little Free Library (LFL), the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom and PEN America have collaborated on an interactive map showing areas with intensifying censorship activity as well as Little Free Library book-sharing boxes. To explore the 2025 Book Ban Map, visit littlefreelibrary.org/book-ban-map. 

Banned Books Week Activities at the L & LC

The campus community is invited to visit the L & LC's Banned Books display to check out banned/challenged books represented in our collection and to note the title of a favorite Banned Book. Post a photo of the book and tag @mjclibrary on Instagram. Use the hashtag #BannedBooksWeek to declare the right to read. Free people read freely!