Ready to fight back but don’t know where to start? You came to the right place!
Annie’s Foundation has developed a document called “The Truth About Book Bans” that you are free to download and use as a resource to help people understand the nature of these attempted bans. This would be a good flyer to hand out at school board meetings, for example.
Annie’s Foundation wants to recognize Support FHPS and their efforts to fight book bans. Support FHPS has made a lot of resources available for organizations like ours and they inspired our Truth About Book Bans document.
annies-foundation-The-Truth-About-Book-Bans-v3Download The Truth About Books Bans Here!
Getting Started: A How-To Guide
Additional Resources
Did you know that the Library Bill of Rights was written in Des Moines? Forrest Spaulding, then the director of the Des Moines Public Library, wrote the Bill of Rights in 1938, which were adopted by the American Library Association (ALA) in 1939.
The Library Bill of Rights: For Minors
The American Library Association has prepared this statement on how they interpret the Library Bill of Rights specifically for minors.
Why Labeling Isn’t the Solution
Some book banners claim they don’t want to BAN the book; they’d settle for some sort of label on the book drawing attention to what they find offensive, or marking it as a book that should need an extra level of approval before being checked out. That’s not something that is supported by professionals, and this explains why.
Most book bans and challenges go unreported. It is very important to report challenges and bans happening in your community. The ALA has provided an easy reporting tool and can even offer you support.
The Iowa Library Association (ILA) Also Takes Challenge Reports
The ALA and the ILA do not share book challenge information with each other. It is worth considering filing a report with both, as the ILA may be able to offer you more local support.
PEN America is a great resource for information about book bans and related topics. There are too many great pages to list here, but a few worth noting are educational censorship, a list of book bans and challenges, and a report on race and equity in publishing.