UTA Libraries Celebrates Banned Books Week, Oct. 5-11

At the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, we are joining libraries and bookstores across the country observing Banned Books Week.  This year, Banned Books Week is observed Oct. 5-11, and the theme is “Censorship is so 1984. Read for your rights.” Banned Books Week is an annual campaign organized by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom and PEN International to spread awareness of book and material challenges in libraries throughout the United States. (Banned books week®. American Library Association. (n.d.). https://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned)  

Our Banned Books Week display is located on the 3^rd floor of the Central Library and highlights books or authors in our collection that have been challenged. There will be Banned Books Week themed swag and informational content at the display area. Most book challenges take place at public and school libraries and as of 2024, the majority of those challenges come from organizations. (Banned books week®. American Library Association. (n.d.). https://www.ala.org/bbooks/banned)  

Starting in 1982, Banned Books Week was a response to an escalation of requests to ban materials in schools, bookstores and libraries. In 1982, the United States Supreme Court also delivered a relevant ruling in the Island Trees School District v. Pico case that set the precedent that school district officials can’t ban a book simply because of its content.  Please refer to this article from the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom for more information on why this decision did not stop book removals in schools altogether. (Thimakis, N. (2022, June 16). Board of Education v. Pico: Forty Years of First Amendment legacy. Intellectual Freedom Blog. https://www.oif.ala.org/board-of-education-v-pico-forty-years-of-first-amendment-legacy/) 

The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom releases their annual data regarding book challenges, as well as a list of the most contested book every year, during National Library Week.  

UTA Libraries has many books that have been banned throughout the United States, most are juvenile and young adult fiction, a small selection of titles are below. We also have a few of those in ebook format. Please look out for our interactive display on the 3^rd floor of the Central Library! 

Books:  

• Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• Bone by Jeff Smith
• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson 

Ebooks: 

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman: The Poem by Amanda Gorman