#BannedBooksWeek is almost here! Join us in supporting library workers, educators, authors, and readers everywhere on Let Freedom Read Day, September 28th! #LetFreedomRead
Did you know that in 2023 over 4,200 books were targeted for censorship—a 65% surge over 2022 numbers—as well as more than 1,200 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources?
Now is the time to bring our attention to censorship and our freedom to read. Take the time to reflect this week on the following:
- Do I believe individuals should be free to determine for themselves what they read?
- Do I believe it is the responsibility of librarians to act as guardians of the people’s freedom to read?
- What do I think about governing officials imposing their standards of censorship on which books I am able to read?
- And what does Freedom mean to me, anyway?
As ALA states, “…the freedom to read is of little consequence when the reader cannot obtain matter fit for that reader’s purpose…the defense of the freedom to read requires of all publishers and librarians the utmost of their faculties, and deserves of all Americans the fullest of their support.”
Will you be inspired to act on September 28th?
With the unprecedented surge in local and statewide book challenges, ALA serves as a clearinghouse of resources to assist library workers and advocates in responding to and supporting others facing those challenges against our intellectual freedom. The American Library Association is asking for our help to vote for the freedom to read.
Take action on Let Freedom Read Day, September 28, 2024 by visiting: https://bannedbooksweek.org/let-freedom-read-day/. If we each take action to help defend books from censorship, we are taking a stand for library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make these books available to us.
Follow these links to learn more about The Freedom to Read Foundation, a non-profit legal and educational organization affiliated with ALA, and how it protects and defends libraries’ right to collect – and individuals’ right to access – information and ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom to support challenges of censorship.
#LetFreedomReadDay #BannedBooksWeek #ALAOfficeofIntellectualFreedom #InspiredToAct