Tag Archives: book challenge policies

Do Your Library’s Book Challenge Policies Meet the Current Moment?

The American Library Association (ALA) came out with their State of America’s Libraries report in April, including the Top Ten Most Challenged Books (well, eleven because there were a few ties).
 
 
I’d like to draw your attention to the one fact that I think we, as library workers, need to consider…
 
In 2025, 92 percent of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers…. Less than 3 percent of challenges originated from individual parents.
 
I don’t know how ALA differentiates between a pressure group and an individual parent influenced by a pressure group. I’ll also note that 40 percent of them came from library boards or administration (which is different, in this report from “government/legislative” challenges). Just over half of these challenges originated in public libraries.
 
Obviously this news is lousy in some ways. But I think it also gives us an opportunity to reflect on our current book challenge policies and make sure they are meeting the current moment. I know many if not most of us have policies that have been fairly recently updated, thanks to proactive work by the Department of Libraries. But if your policies could use a bit of a refresh to take this data into account, now’s certainly the time.
 
In Solidarity,
Jessamyn West
VLA Digital Communications Team
If your library faces a challenge to library resources, please email VLA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee’s Rapid Response Team at ifc@vermontlibraries.org  Here is information that would be useful to include:
  1. Date of Challenge
  2. Type of Library (example: public, school)
  3. Description of the work or resource (example: title/author, title of program)
  4. Format of the work or resource (example: book, audiovisual, program, exhibit)
  5. Audience for work or resource (example: adult, child YA)
  6. Reason given for challenge
  7. Description given of challenge initiator (example: board member, elected official)
  8. Organization behind challenge, if applicable
  9. Status of challenged material (example: removed, recategorized, no change)
  10. Any media coverage?
Please do not include any personally identifiable information about who initiated the challenge.
If you need immediate assistance, please call Randal Smathers at the Rutland Free Library 802-773-1860 or email randal@rutlandfree.org