In observation of Banned Books Week, UTSA libraries posted nine banned books to their Instagram as a Banned Books Edition of their monthly Roadrunner Reading Challenge. Some of the titles included were “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas. “ We challenged our students to dive into books that have faced bans or challenges in libraries, bookstores and schools. By reading these books, our students are standing up for intellectual freedom and celebrating the power of stories that challenge us,” said UTSA Libraries.
Banned Books Week, which takes place annually from Sept. 22-28, was established in 1972 after a sudden increase in book challenges. These challenges are attempts to remove or restrict material from school curriculum, libraries and bookstores, whereas book bans are their outright removal.
Book challenges are most often initiated by parents who aim to suppress material that conflicts with their beliefs. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 4,240 unique book tiles targeted for censorship in 2023, a 65% surge from 2022 and the highest level tracked in over 20 years. Books pertaining to Black people, Indigenous people, people of color and LGBTQ+ people made up 47% of the targeted material. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 of this year, 1,128 titles were challenged.
A guide to Banned Books Week was also uploaded to the UTSA Libraries website for teachers, librarians and others who are interested in intellectual freedom. The guide defines and differentiates book challenges and bans, provides links to statistics on banned books, gives an overview of Banned Book Week and how to participate in it, links to sources instructing ways to combat a book challenge and offers education media about book banning that is appropriate for classroom and library settings.
To access the guide provided by UTSA Libraries, visit Banned Books Week – Freedom to Read – LibGuides at University of Texas at San Antonio.
