The school year is getting back into gear which unfortunately means that the book banners will get back at it in force at local school board meetings.
I am here with links to help you get up to speed on the book banning conversation in America right now:
- Get up to speed on the current legislative landscape with this state-by-state report from EveryLibrary.
- Over on Book Riot, Kelly Jensen had this post on all of the Anti-Book Band Laws passed in 2025 and what they mean.
- And for the other side of story, also by Jensen, a report on what's next in book censorship.
- PBS news has a "book bans" tag so that you can see all of their reports.
- Follow the Banned Books Week preparations (coming October 5-11) because the ALA machine behind this event drives a lot of the conversation every fall.
Okay so now you are up to speed on the current conversation, so it is time to ask-- What can I do? Well first things first, you need to go to your local library and school board meetings on the regular (get a group together and divide up the calendars so you don;'t have to go at this alone) and make a comment at every single meeting affirming that you are there to speak up for the intellectual freedom of all residents to be able to find the books they want for themselves and their children.
I have more detailed information including meeting attendance best practices in this post with the transcript of my StokerCon Keynote entitled" Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read." Just transfer out "authors" for "library workers" and follow the advice.
Second, stay up to date. Kelly Jensen is writing about censorship constantly. You can find all of her pieces in reverse chronological order at this link anytime. Bookmark it, check it daily, and stay in the know. If there are action steps for specific issues, she posts them. She also has a free newsletter on ButtonDown called Well Sourced. Sign up here.
But what you should NOT do is just sit there shaking your head and think that this is not happening in your town so you don't need to worry. It is happening everywhere. I live in a state where it is technically illegal to ban books and we are dealing with it.
Again, the best thing you can do is show up in your local spaces BEFORE there is a problem. Speak up in support of intellectual freedom. These boards only hear from the people who want books removed or moved to a section where the intended audience won't be able to find it (still censorship). They need to hear from the vast majority of people in this country who don't want censorship. Get off your butt and go to a meeting. Again, if you don't know how to appear or are worried about speaking up before there is a problem, read my keynote, it has talking points and resources.
I know we are all tired, but the work is not done. If everyone does their part, we will make a difference.
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