The American Library Association (ALA) has released its preliminary data on the attempted censorship and restriction of access to books and other materials in public, academic, and K–12 libraries during the first eight months of 2023. Between January 1 and August 31, ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) documented 695 challenges to library materials to 1,915 unique titles.

Challenges in public libraries represented nearly half of the cases documented in 2023, significantly up from 16 percent the previous year. As in previous years, most of the attempts involved books written by or about people of color or members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The number of titles represents a 20 percent increase over the 1,651 titles documented in the same period in 2022; 681 censorship attempts were reported during that time. Once again, this year’s count of attempted book bans is the highest since ALA began tracking these challenges more than 20 years ago.

The upsurge in numbers can be traced to the growing practice of individuals or groups challenging multiple titles at once. As in 2022, nine out of every 10 books challenged in the past eight months were part of an attempt to censor several titles at once. This year, challenges to 100 or more books simultaneously were recorded in 11 states—Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas (the leader, with 30 attempts to challenge 1,120 titles), and Virginia—compared to six states the year before and none in 2021. “The data definitely shows what we knew was going on,” Kenton Oliver, ALA Senior Fellow, Public Policy and Advocacy Office, told LJ. “The challenges are coming from individuals and from various groups that are challenging libraries, and instead of challenging one book at a time, they’re challenging multiple titles.”

“These numbers don’t come as a surprise to library workers,” said ALA President Emily Drabinski. “We know the reports scratch the surface of what library workers face. Many of us are having to address demands from well-organized groups that are hand-picking books they don’t want freely available for anyone in their community. It’s a direct assault against the profession as well as library users’ right to read.”

“To allow a group of people or any individual, no matter how powerful or loud, to become the decision-maker about what books we can read or whether libraries exist, is to place all of our rights and liberties in jeopardy,” said ALA OIF Director Deborah Caldwell-Stone in a statement. “Expanding beyond their well-organized attempts to sanitize school libraries, groups with a political agenda have turned their crusade to public libraries, the very embodiment of the First Amendment in our society. This places politics over the well-being and education of young people and everyone’s right to access and use the public library.”

ALA OIF compiles its data through reports filed through its online censorship reporting tool by librarians in the field and published national news stories. However, ALA notes, many more challenges go unreported, so these numbers offer only a partial picture of censorship attempts. “Of course, this really isn’t about kids’ safety,” Drabinski noted. “The ultimate goal of limiting access to reading material is to limit access to ideas. It’s no wonder that the librarians, who dedicate our lives to the free flow of ideas, are under attack. But we know from research that the public overall trusts librarians and value their libraries."

The 40th annual Banned Books Week will be held October 1–7 this year. On October 7, Let Freedom Read Day, ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans is asking everyone to take (at least) one action against censorship; more information can be found on the call to action webpage and ALA’s Fight Censorship page. “We need everybody to become a supporter,” said Oliver. “We want librarians to encourage their constituents to sign up as well.”

“We need to show our public how to support their libraries,” Drabinski added. “ That’s what the Banned Books Week Day of Action on October 7 is about. And that’s what the Unite Against Book Bans campaign is about every day—giving readers everywhere ways to stand up for the right to read.”