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Freedom to Read
What is the Freedom to Read Movement?
The Freedom to Read Statement (abbreviated)
Reading is among our greatest freedoms. The freedom to read and write is almost the only means for making generally available ideas or manners of expression that can initially command only a small audience. It is essential to the extended discussion that serious thought requires, and to the accumulation of knowledge and ideas into organized collections.
Free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture. We believe that pressures toward conformity present the danger of limiting the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend. We believe that every American community must guard the freedom to publish and to circulate, in order to preserve its own freedom to read. We believe that publishers and librarians have a profound responsibility to make it possible for readers to choose freely from a variety of offerings.
The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution. Those with faith in free people will stand firm on these constitutional guarantees of essential rights and will exercise the responsibilities that accompany these rights. – American Library Association (ALA)
- Full ALA Freedom to Read Statement
- The Library Bill of Rights
- ALA Statement on Book Censorship
- Freedom to Read Timeline (Cedar Rapids Public Library)
- Glossary of Important Terms and Definitions (Ohio State University)
Organizations promoting the Freedom to Read
American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Library Association (ALA)
Association of Illinois School Library Educators
Free Speech Center/First Amendment Center
Illinois LIbrary Association/Unite Against Book Bans in Illinois
National Coalition Against Censorship
Articles
2024 Legal Tracker: Pending State by State Legislation Involving Book Bans and Freedom to Read (includes interactive map, updated regularly EveryLibrary)
Censorship In the News (School Library Journal | updated regularly)
Governor Pritzker Signs Bill Making Illinois First State in the Nation to Outlaw Book Bans (Illinois.Gov | 6/12/23)
IL Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias statement: We’re Against Banning Books (Illinois Secretary of State’s Office | 3/8/23)
Protect Your Right to Read: Here are Three Ways to Get Involved (Illinois Library Association)
Censorship Reports Show A Mixed Picture on US Book Challenges (NBC News | 9/23/24)
How to Fight Book Bans in 2024 (Kelly Jensen/Book Riot | 4/26/24)
Where the Supreme Court Stands on Banning Books (The Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University | 10/4/23)
Materials Challenges in the Library: What Does the Law Say? (American Libraries | 8/5/22)
How to Talk With Students About Banned Books (We Need Diverse Books | 5/20/21)
Top 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books: 2010-2019 (American Library Association)
Books
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones (2024 – available in print and Libby app)
The War of Words: How America’s GI Journalists Battled Censorship and Propaganda to Help Win World War II by Molly Guptil Manning (2023)
Streaming videos
This Librarian Spoke Out Against Book Banning (PBS | 9/27/2024)
To Be Destroyed (MSNBC | 8/12/2024)
A Brief History of Book Banning in America (Smithsonian Magazine | 12/20/2023)
The Fight Over Banning Books (CBS Sunday Morning | 4/23/2023)
Restricted Access: The American History of Book Banning (PEN America/New York Public Library | 10/19/2022)
The Fiery History of Banned Books (PBS | 9/21/2020)