Local opinion: Libraries, librarians, and Banned Books Week 2025

Paula Poundstone, author and spokesperson for United for Libraries, perceptively stated: “The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy, and community.” At this time in our nation’s history, libraries and librarians’ steadfast support for Constitutional rights, democratic principles, and shared safe spaces for engaging with others to build community is essential.

To that end, the American Library Association (ALA) compiles yearly data on book challenges from reports filed by library professionals and from news sources nationwide. Since many challenges are not reported, ALA’s data captures only a snapshot of attempts at book censorship. The 2024 data shows that 72% of the attempts to censor originate from organized movements. In 2024, pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members, and administrators initiated the majority of demands to censor books in schools and public libraries.

Banned Books Week®

ALA’s annual Banned Books Week® is being observed October 5th through 11th this year. This national event shines a spotlight on intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights, including the freedoms to read, write, and express oneself.

“Censorship is so 1984” is this year’s theme. This reference to George Orwell’s book 1984, published in 1949, is particularly fitting. In the book, the main character Winston Smith initially resists the Party that uses coded language and propaganda to control information. The Party leader Big Brother’s goal is to limit political speech; even mere thoughts of resistance are illegal. The book appeared on ALA’s 2010-2019 Most 100 Frequently Challenged Book List. If you have never read it or if you haven’t done so in many years, this may be the perfect time to do so.

Free Speech and Controversy

The right to read is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Libraries and librarians are charged with defending this right by collecting books and materials that offer multiple points of view, diverse lived experiences, and a wide range of beliefs. Libraries are not neutral places. Librarian Jo Godwin is often quoted in this regard: “A truly great library will have something to offend everyone.”

Library resources and librarians aim to support the critical thinking that comes from the freedom to explore ideas and information that align with one’s closely held beliefs and perspectives, as well as ideas that challenge one’s thinking, too. In libraries, readers have the right to determine their own reading materials, but banning books for others is censorship and a violation of the First Amendment.

Community

Our Constitutional freedoms are the foundation for our society. Libraries and librarians provide spaces — or as Poundstone calls them “raucous clubhouses” — for everyone. Two documentaries are currently playing across the country that put libraries and librarians in the spotlight: “Banned Together: The Fight Against Censorship” and “The Librarians.”

“Banned Together” is about book bans and curriculum censorship in public schools. The film features student activists and notable figures and organizations in American literature and politics. You can access it via Pima County Public Library’s streaming service Kanopy.

“The Librarians” chronicles the actions of library workers who unite to combat book banning amid unprecedented book challenges and censorship, especially in Texas and Florida. This film is playing at Tucson’s non-profit arthouse theater The Loft Cinema on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

This is a fitting week for Tucsonans to celebrate our right to read, watch, and unite against censorship. As Poundstone says: “Libraries (and librarians) can never be shushed.”

Read for your rights and let freedom read!