De-Normalizing Censorship

NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) recognizes that the freedom to read and other components of intellectual freedom are vital to literacy and our mission. Through the Intellectual Freedom Center, NCTE has for many decades offered guidance, tools, and other support to teachers faced with challenges in classrooms and schools pertaining to texts (e.g., literary works, films and videos, drama productions), student writing, and/or to teaching methods.

Book Résumés help teachers, librarians, parents, and community members defend books from censorship. They detail each title’s significance and educational value and are easy to share with administrators, book review committees, elected officials, and board members.

This database can be searched by title, author, and grade level to find a rationale for a book to incorporate into the classroom or school library, or to defend a text that is being challenged. You can also explore new pieces of literature to incorporate into your curriculum to further enrich students’ learning.

PEN America is a national leader in fighting educational censorship in both higher ed and K-12. Our signature campaign against educational gag orders — legislative restrictions on the freedom to learn and teach that have swept the country since January 2021 — has generated media coverage in over a hundred publications. We will continue to expand our work to defend students and teachers against legislative infringements on free expression in the classroom.

Join the fight for the First Amendment and help fight against book bans. We'll connect you to help and tools every step of the way.

Pledge to Vote for Libraries - take a moment and add your name to the growing list of library supporters in the United States.

The EveryLibrary Institute and EveryLibrary are partnering with Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, an independent researcher focused on the networks, organizations, and individual actors who are leading book banning and book challenge efforts in our nation's school libraries and public libraries.

Group dedicated to defending libraries from book-banning efforts, promoting the role of school librarians, and supporting libraries and librarians in our community.

An Initiative of the American Library Association

The LeRoy C. Merritt Humanitarian Fund is devoted to the support, maintenance, medical care, and welfare of librarians who are: Denied employment rights or discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, age, disability, or place of national origin; or Denied employment rights because of defense of intellectual freedom; that is, threatened with loss of employment or discharged because of their stand for the cause of intellectual freedom, including promotion of freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the freedom of librarians to select items for their collections from all the world’s written and recorded information, and defense of privacy rights.

PEN America’s new Index of School Book Bans provides a comprehensive list of books banned in the 2022-2023 school year.

Dr. Magnusson's spreadsheet of book bans and challenges has been available online since October 2021 to aid library organizations, library staff, education stakeholders, and concerned parents. Her findings have helped numerous school libraries and public libraries. Through this partnership, EveryLibrary and ELI are supporting her ongoing research and monitoring as well as aiding in the discoverability of these valuable resources online. All of these resources continue to be available free of charge to aid local and statewide efforts to defend the freedom to read, the role of libraries in communities and schools, and, most especially, support the people and ideas the books represent.

So, someone is challenging books, and you want to fight back but you don’t know how. Here are some basic steps and resources to help you make a strong case—and help keep books available to everyone in libraries and classrooms.