NEW YORK (AP) – Removing books from library shelves is no longer just a story of objections from a local community or an individual parent, the American Library Association (ALA) said.
In its new State of American Libraries Report released on Monday, the ALA found more than 70 per cent of attempted bans of a given title or titles come from organised groups and elected officials, and just 16 per cent originated with a parent.
The most commonly criticised books, including the late Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, can be found on such websites as www.ratedbooks.org and through lists compiled by Moms for Liberty and other conservative activists.
“We can trace many of the challenges to lists of books that have been distributed by Moms for Liberty and other groups,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
As part of its annual report, the ALA unveiled its list of the 10 most “challenged books” of 2024, starting with George M Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and John Green’s Looking for Alaska.
The ALA defines a challenge as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.”
The association, which compiles censorship data through media accounts and reports from librarians, has long believed the actual number of challenges is far higher than the numbers cited in its annual studies.
The report comes at an especially perilous time for libraries. The Trump administration is implementing drastic cuts at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which already is cancelling grants to state libraries.
Bans have surged in recent years and several states, from Texas and Florida to Iowa and Utah, have passed laws restricting what school libraries can acquire.
While the ALA is reporting a sharp drop in challenges in 2024, down to 821 attempts compared to 1,247 the year before, the number remains far higher than before 2021.
