Libraries Year in Review 2025: Most Checked Out Titles, Top Stories and More

Today is the next to last blogging day of 2025 and I wanted to use this space to gather up the US Library "Year in Review." While you can obviously use this post to get a very solid sense of the year we are about to leave behind, remember, it will also help you figure out where we are going. More on that from me right at the start of January.

I am hoping each of you has a chance before the end of 2025 (or if you are off, early in 2026) to take a look through the links I have posted here. 

First and foremost, the aggregated list of the most checked out books from 40 US Public Libraries via Book Riot. You can see the top fiction and nonfiction here and then at the end of the post, you can click on any of the 40 libraries who lists were used to make this aggregated list.

Book Riot gathered a nice mix of libraries in terms of size and location. They also added a narrative with some observations at the start of the post here. I will be using their work (with citation) in my own Year in Review presentations coming in February.

The most checked out books in general, and more specifically, at your own library, is another kind of best lists, this one driven by library patrons, with more genre, and more backlist than 2025 titles.

Obviously censorship is still a major issue as another year wraps up. But this year, the American Library Association, Book Riot, Florida Freedom to Read Project, PEN America, and Texas Freedom to Read Project all came together to sound the alarm on the major censorship crisis they’ve observed in 2025. Together they put together the comprehensive-- 2025 Book Censorship Wrapped: Trends, Challenges, and Successes Over The Year. You should not go into 2026 without reading this, no matter what your role at your library happens to be.

Publishers Weekly also had an article gathering the top library stories of 2025 here with of course the shuttering of B&T as the top story. But you know it was a doozy of a year when Carla Hayden getting fired was only story #5 out of 10. Each story in the article is linked to more of their reporting on that topic. 

They also shared this year end report on Hoopla's trend and growth categories. It is interesting to compare this article to the aggregated list of the most checked out books above. 

Libby hasn't done their most borrowed report for 2025 yet. When they do I will post it. But they do a most borrowed post every single month of the year. Click here to see those titles in reverse chronological order.

There are sure to be more year in review pieces worth sharing with you, but this is all I have before I stop blogging until 1/5. 

Come back tomorrow for my annual Best Books post.

Via Chicago Tribune-- Chicagoan of the Year in Books: If you’re into horror, thank the librarian Becky Spratford

I mean, knew this was coming, but it still feels odd. I am the person behind the curtain always, but at the same time, all of us who hep readers in public libraries are.

I am proud to stand here to promote all of us and the work we do.

I was honored to be chosen for this and even more honored to take the pictures in the adult stacks at the La Grange Public Library-- a building a literally was a part of building in my time on the library board. I was there for 24 years, from when we passed the referendum to build the library until it opened, and now after those 20 years of binds have been paid off. 

I have an account for the Tribune and am sharing this gift link here. It will be in the print paper on 12/21.

Thank you to all of the authors who provided quotes to Chris Borelli. Thanks also to Chris who is a huge supporter of books in general and Horror specifically. We are lucky to have him on the beat here in Chicago when so many other cities just ignore books coverage. 

I will leave the article here for posterity but then, I am going back behind the curtain.

Chicagoan of the Year in Books: If you’re into horror, thank the librarian Becky Spratford

Click the image to read the article
(gift link)

Attack of the Best Lists 2025: Make a Local List-- Featuring Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best (with a Becky Shaped Surprise)

This post is part of my year end "Attack of the Best Lists" coverage. To see every post in my "Attack of the Best Lists 2025" coverage [and more backlist best of the year options] you can click here.

Library generated best lists are one of your best end of year tools, especially when you use the largest library near your physical location as a guide. Why? Here are a few reasons:

1. Library generated best lists reflect the opinions of actual staff and readers. What did staff most enjoy and what was popular? It is not just critical acclaim or sales data. Remember bestselling mainstays like Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, and Colson Whitehead were extremely popular in libraries well before they became household names. Library workers and patrons often know what is popular and good long before the rest of the world catches up.
2. Library generated best lists take into consideration all ages of readers and all formats because they serve everyone.
3. Library generated best lists always have genre choices because library workers know patrons love genre-- especially Romance and Crime Fiction.
4. Library generated best lists ALWAYS consider local or regional authors which is why I advocate for you to prioritize using the best list from the library in the largest city closest to you [in the same state if possible]. 
5. Library generated best lists are not commercial in anyway. There are no publishers submitting books to their sites. No one is buying ads to be include. There are no links to encourage those using the list to buy the titles. 
6. Library generated best lists know that the BACKLIST is not only important to provide access to but also, it is a tool in and of itself. We are all about "new to you" the reader. They always have easy access to past best lists.

I think you get the point. So today, I am using my nearest big city public library as an example, The Chicago Public Library (with a branch 5.5 miles from my house). But you can use any big city or metro area library near you to help you have a regional interest best books option. For example, here is the NYPL's Best Books portal for 2025.

Now I want to take this post one step further. Yes it is important to see what the "best" books are at the closest big city library to you, but why not take this information as inspiration for you to make your own staff "Best of the Best" list.

Chicago Public Library makes their "Best of the Best" list as a team. You can do this too. Why not send out an email to all staff and ask them for their favorite reads of 2025. You can decide if you want to limit it to 2025 published titles or not, but just ask. See what answers you get. Then make your own lists and displays. Promote your staff's expertise and let your community know that best lists aren't just for the big cities or major media-- they are for all of you as well. 

And then take it another step further, and use your local, staff created "best" list to start a "best" conversation with your patrons. The question? What is the best book you read this year? And then yes my conversation starter to display post to ask that question far and wide-- to all of your users-- in the building, online, every service age and format.

Back to Best of the Best 2025 from Chicago Public Library. I love this list even if it wasn't from the city closest from me. They have direct links to every reading category, genre, and age level, as well as links at the bottom to explore the backlist of bests from years past. Bonus,  if you click on the Nonfiction link, you will see WHY I LOVE HORROR on the list!

Explore with the links below or head to the CPL Best of the Best landing page:

CPL Best of the Best Books 2025

Every year, Chicago Public Library staff work hard to evaluate the year’s new books, and today we are proud to present our latest annual recommendations for book lovers in Chicago and beyond. Happy reading!

Adults

• Top 10
• Our Favorite Books of 2025
• Our Guide to the Must-Read Books of 2025:
  • Fiction
  • Fantasy, Horror and Sci-fi
  • Mystery and Thriller
  • Romance
  • Nonfiction
  • Biography and Memoir

Teens

For teens in high school.

• Teen Fiction
• Teen Nonfiction
• Teen Graphic Novels and Manga

Kids

• Board and Picture Books: For kids from birth to third grade
• Fiction for Younger Readers: For kids in kindergarten through third grade
• Informational Books for Younger Readers: For kids in kindergarten through third grade
• Libros en español: Para niños desde el nacimiento hasta el tercer grado
• Fiction for Older Readers: For kids in third through eighth grade
• Informational Books for Older Readers: For kids in third through eighth grade

Past Selections

• Adults Best of the Best
• Teens Best of the Best
• Kids Best of the Best

Thinking About Genre by Matthew Galloway via RUSQ

In the latest issue of RUSQ, my colleague Matthew Galloway has a great article about genre and how it can be a hinderance to helping readers. 

Click here to access the full article but here is the abstract:

Thinking About Genre  

Matthew Galloway 

Abstract

I work in a non-Dewey library that essentially uses a combination of BISAC and simplified language to organize our shelves to create an easily browsable collection. While my area of selection is adult fiction and probably the least different from Dewey libraries, traditional genres can still be a conundrum.

It’s not that I don’t know genre conventions—I have fifteen years of library experience, have

volunteered for numerous genre award committees, and even write reviews for Library Journal.

The puzzle arises from the conflict between  publisher, public, and library views on genre. We can

probably add vendor ideas as well, not to mention the numerous public figures who have their

thoughts on how genre ought to be divvied up.

He takes a very popular title to illustrate his main point. From the article:

Take a novel like Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I think most libraries would agree this lives most comfortably on a general fiction shelf. It has an octopus that narrates chapters and is certainly human-like in his intelligence and thought patterns, but he isn’t magical, and there isn’t special technology that allows him to communicate with anyone in the book. It’s a delightful conceit. There are numerous reviews from the public that label this a mystery, and, indeed, the publisher includes “FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / Animals” as one of the BISAC subject headings. Though I haven’t seen those same reviews use FICTION / Magical Realism or FICTION / Fantasy / Humorous to describe the book, marketers chose to add those alongside categories I feel are more useful for readers’ advisory: FICTION / Animals, FICTION / Friendship, FICTION / Family Life / General.

Galloway goes on to use a few other very popular books with wide cross genre appeal as examples as well. And then he discusses how genre language is both helpful and not as we work with human readers. It is an article that everyone who works with readers needs to read. Don't worry, it is extremely practical but well researched and just the right length. You will not be overwhelmed here.

The article's focus-- always thinking about the reader in front of us and why that person is seeking that book or why we think they should read it-- is important.

I also really love his point that a book's "genre" can change over time, even though the book never changes. His examples are great but we all have even more from our time working with readers.

I see some room for this article to be turned into a conversation starter to display question. I am not sure what the question would be yet but there is definitely something there. Maybe you will come up with a conversation starter inspired by this article and then you can share it with me.

Click here to access to PDF to read what I am talking about.

RA for All is at StoryFest: How You Can Join Us and Use This Huge Library Event as an Inspiration For Any Library

Back in 2018, staff at the Westport (CT) Public Library thought, wouldn't it be fun to have an event to celebrate books, reading, and authors. Well Alex Giannini took his idea, gathered a team, and made it happen. And now, their "little" celebration of the story in all its forms is a huge event, and it still is run by the library.

From their webpage for the 2025 event:

StoryFest is a multi-day, genre-spanning literary festival, now in its eighth year. It is a celebration of the story in all its forms, and storytellers from across all media. Those attending will hear award-winning and debut authors talk about their work and books they have coming out this fall.

 Click through to see the authors included this year, including me. 

I am here today and tomorrow. Today, I will be visiting a local high school to talk to kids in the library about writing, reading, and of course....horror.

Then on Saturday I have this panel:

12 pm: Becky Spratford Presents: ‘Why I Love Horror’

Librarian and horror expert and critic Becky Siegel Spratford gathers some of the most celebrated contemporary horror writers to discuss why they love the genre. With Clay McLeod Chapman, Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Hailey Piper.

But there is so much more. Click here to see the full schedule, including a live recording by Clay McLeod Chapman of his podcast Fearmongers which he does on the regular in partnership with the Westport Library.

Fearmongers LIVE! With Clay McLeod Chapman
6-7 pm: In the Trefz Forum

The best StoryFest tradition returns — Fearmongers is back on the main stage! Join Clay for readings, spooky shenanigans, and even a surprise or two — joined by special guests Rachel Harrison, Cassandra Khaw, and Cadwell Turnbull.

And all of this is FREE both in person or to stream. Just click here to learn more.

Even if you are not planning to be at or wacth StoryFest, as a library worker, I hope this post inspires you to think big about how you celebrate books and reading at your library. Alex had an idea and worked to grow it into a huge event. I know ma ny libraries who do local author festivals, taking advantage of the authors who live near them to have all day events.

You don't have to make it as large as StoryFest to make it a success. Go look at everything they have done over the years. It is all easy to access if you scroll to the bottom of this page where they have posted the links to "StoryFest Through the Years." See how it started.

No one starts the first year as the biggest thing around nor does everyone need to explode like this to make a difference in their community. Seriously, go look at the first event in 2018 and click on successive years to watch how it grew. Don't look at 2025 and think "I could never do this." Rather look at where it started and see what you can learn from that.

(See also Konrad Stump's Oh, The Horror!" at the Springfield-Greene County Library in MO. He has built a similar event over the years, from small to big. You don;t have to be right near NYC to make this happen. You can be smack in the middle of the country and do it too.)

Just offering an all day event with panels from your library workers and local authors would be an awesome and affordable event for your patrons. Also, I love that Clay and Alex have joined forces to make a podcast. Both the library and Clay were interested in having a podcast but neither wanted to go at it alone and so with Clay as the host, and the Library as the tech and distribution, Fearmongers was born and success has followed. 

[Side note: Konrad and I invited Alex and Clay to come to StokerCon 2025 to speak at Librarians' Day about their podcast and how it all works.]

Don't have FOMO that you aren't here, instead think about how you can scale this program down and make it fit your library and community. 

I will be back home by Monday and actually staying there for the entire week so expect my ILA wrap up post and more here on the main blog plus a feature on the people behind the University of Pittsburgh Horror Studies Collection all next week on the horror blog.

The Buying Power of Libraries and How Your Local Choices Matter

Those of us who work in libraries often forget how much a part of the business of books we actually are. We overly focus on how our services are pre-paid for our patrons. How when they come in to use our services, they do so without a cost besides their tax dollars. (Remember, libraries are not free, they are pre-paid.)

But real talk here. There are around 17,00 public libraries in America. There are more public libraries than there are McDonald's.

An author like Stephen King, his books are bought by just about every single public library in America-- and many of those libraries buy more than one copy. And for libraries who have any author on "auto buy" he is one there as well. Meaning, no one even has to think twice about King, knowing that he will be on their shelves.

In the current funding crunch, things that the federal dollars were paying for have been the first things to go. For example, lots of continuing education and in some places ILL.

Now, many of you are saying, yeah that sucks but they didn't touch our book budgets.

Well you are wrong. 

You see, as administration and department heads have been navigating the money they have lost, they have also realized they cannot simply cut off the services they allocated that money to. Rather, they need to redistribute the dollars. Meaning....they are coming for our book budgets. 

Now Stephen King, he will keep selling books, but it is the new voices and midlist authors who we will have to not buy. This is bad for so many reasons, but the biggest problem is that libraries buy the books of midlist authors at a higher rate than anyone-- even book stores. If those authors don't get into libraries, they will not only not make as many sales, but they will also not be discovered by as many readers.

Both of those things lead to them not getting new book deals.

This is the entire reason why LibraryReads was started by the way-- to give libraries a way to flex their buying power muscle. It is also the reason why most publishers invest in a library specific marketing staff. 

As we see cuts to library budgets all across the country, I am surprised it took this long for publishers to start publicly calling out how much this will hurt their bottom lines. But they are speaking out about it now.

[Related, I am not sure how this is going to help our fight to stop the eBook and eAudio price gouging, but one topic at a time.]

Now, I need you to understand that when the publishers start to speak out, it is not to help us. It is to help their bottom lines. They are just looking for an excuse to publish fewer new voices. They are also looking for an excuse to charge more per book.

Be aware of your own budget cuts, but also stand your ground with publishers. Our buying power matters. And we need to make sure we are still buying books in all genres and for all voices. 

On your end, don't cut that new voice when your dollars go down. Start with the biggest name authors. Buy fewer copes of them. Yes your patrons will have to wait, BUT you will be sending a message to the publishers that you need and want books for every reader not just the best sellers. 

We all lose when new voices are not given a chance. We don't want a monoculture of options from the major publishers. And we don't want everything interesting and new coming only from small presses because many libraries cannot buy from them and getting those books is a privilege. We don't want access to books to stop being available to everyone.

Stay vigilant and keep being a voice for inclusivity and a range of options. We do not need 5 James Patterson books. People can wait. Get 2 and buy 3 others books with that money (x like 5 times a year).

It will make a difference both in making your limited dollars stretch and it will send the correct message to publishers. 

Don't think you have no power here. You do. You just have to be willing to take a stand.

The Power of the Local Public Library: What Dan Read

Below I am finally getting to amplifying a story I have had a note to cover in my drafts folder for a few weeks. Many of you have probably already seen it, but it is too important to not promote.

It is the story of Dan Pelzer. I first read about Mr Pelzer on July 26th in this NYT article (gift link). He read 3,599 books and kept a list with comments. AND he got the majority of them from the public library. His kids uploaded his list so everyone could see "What Dan Read." The site is a tribute to their father, his love of reading, and the Whitehall branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

What I love about this story is not only how important the library was to Mr Pelzer, but how much the library is embracing him back. 

We really cannot fathom how much we are impacting our patrons' lives by helping their find leisure reads. Too often we think our value is tied to how we help them access information that they need, but in reality, it is the work we do for their wants, the little things we do to make people's lives more enjoyable, that really matter.

Below is a recent story from Shelf Awareness all about Mr Pelzer with links and pictures of the display the library made in his honor. Everyone can get in on the fun though. The What Dan Read website has gone viral. You can join in on the fun as well. 

Robert Gray: Keeping Up with 'What Dan Read'

I've always felt like an underachiever as a reader when measured by volume. Twenty years ago, I confessed my slow reading habits in a blog post about ARCs ("I'm Reading as Fast as I Can!!"), noting that although I had increased my reading speed somewhat--out of professional necessity--during the first 13 years I'd been a frontline bookseller, I still felt like a biblio-laggard.

Strangely, though, "my customers think I'm a reading machine," I wrote then. "They will sometimes ask, with unmasked awe, 'How many books do you read per week?' It's as if they think I've become some kind of Electrolux, devouring pages as fast as they come off the printing press. The truth is more mundane.... 

"Often I have three, four, or five books going at once, and continue to cast my eyes with hunger and longing at the endless stream of new and tempting titles that come across my desk. And I often just graze, reading 50 pages and bailing if I'm not fully engaged. Nevertheless, the stack on my desk continues to grow at a pace that outstrips my ability to keep up. I seem to look for reasons not to continue reading, reasons to give myself a break and move on to the next title."

I've never been one of those readers who sets yearly goals or meticulously catalogues the books I've read. Before I became a bookseller, I was practically monogamous when I read. I could spend a month with a book, six months with a particular author. The pages of my books were covered with marginalia. I lived in them for long periods, then moved on, as if walking a long, narrow path rather than driving an interstate highway."

So it was with a long-gestating mixture of awe and humility that I recently learned about the extraordinary reading life of Dan Pelzer, who died at the age of 92 on July 1. He logged all 3,599 of the books he had read since 1962, when "he first began jotting his reads down on his language class work sheets while stationed in Nepal with the Peace Corps, to 2023, when his eyesight failed him and he could no longer read," the New York Times reported. 

Most of his books came from the Whitehall Branch of the Columbus, Ohio, Metropolitan Library, which posted on Facebook a message from his daughter, Marci Pelzer, who noted, in part: "Nobody loved the library more than Dan. When we were little, he took us to the downtown library every Saturday morning and enrolled us in every summer reading program. He was a regular at the Livingston and then Whitehall branches until he could no longer read. I'm sure he would be among your highest circulation and longest term borrowers."

She had considered printing his reading list to distribute at the funeral, but it was too long and ultimately she asked her godson create a website featuring What Dan Read, a digitiized version of the handwritten list that guests could access through a QR code on the back of the funeral program. 

The library has since created book displays in his honor at the Whitehall Branch and at Main Library. Lauren Hagan, CEO of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, said a team of about six people at the library were re-creating Pelzer's list online so that it could be used by other patrons.

What Dan Read has since gone viral. Recently, Marci Pelzer told WBNS: "You know, I just keep thinking about how crazy it is that we've spread the list to so many people. Our intention was to hand it out at his funeral. Then, we got the idea to have a QR code. Then, I put it on LinkedIn and it kind of took off and then when the library got a hold of it, it just went crazy.... It's amazing. It's like the dialogue with him about books can continue indefinitely and spread around the globe."

At the Columbus Library

In 2006, a Columbus Dispatch feature explored Dan Pelzer's devotion to reading, noting that he "was making his way through roughly 80 books a year. He had recently read James Joyce's Ulysses, and he wasn't afraid to tell the journalist what he really thought. 'The worst,' he said. 'Pure torture.' " Still, Pelzer finished reading the classic novel because he finished reading every book he started. "Even the books that were dogs, he would slog through to the final page," the Dispatch noted.

When I wrote that blog post mentioned above in 2005, I had just returned home from BookExpo, where I had once again been showered with gifts in the form of ARCs and "now, a new mound of guilt towers above me at this desk. I did not grab them off stacks on a mad locust tour of the show floor. These were nearly all given to me personally by publishers, editors, or authors, who each time handed me the most precious gift they had to give: their work, their life, their hope. I do not have a vested interest in any of the titles that come my way until I read and love them."

I asked myself then: "When will I read all these galleys? Can I read them all? Will I read yours? Maybe, maybe not. But, rest assured that, within the considerable limitations of my ability, time, and attention span, I'll be reading as fast as I can."

I'm no Dan Pelzer though.

--Robert Gray, contributing editor

Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read

 

Below is the text ion my Keynote address at the 2025 Bram Stoker AwardsⓇ. Given on June 14th in Stamford, Connecticut. You can watch the entire awards on YouTube, but at this link you can just see my keynote speech. 

Please note: this speech was directed at Horror authors, but I hope all of my readers use it as a template to speak to their community members about the importance of speaking out for the freedom to read and use the "how-to" component in the speech to give them the tools they need to take action.

Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read

Hello. As many of you know, my name is Becky Spratford and I am the Secretary of the Horror Writers Association and the Co-Chair (with Konrad Stump) of our Libraries Committee. I have been a librarian for 25 years– the entirety of this century– and I don’t think this will shock any of you, but the last 5 years have been some of the most Horrific times to be in this profession in the 150 year history of the American Public LIbrary. 

So yes, you can see where this is going now. Right? Where better to talk about the Horror that we library workers have been facing then at a celebration of Horror Writers?

I am not trying to bring the mood down here. This is THE Keynote for our Bram Stoker Awards ceremony– our Horror prom if you will. What I am trying to do is quite the opposite, however. I am taking advantage of my time here, in front of a ballroom full of Horror professionals, along with everyone watching on YouTube, to enlist every single one of you in the fight to protect the freedom to read for all. Because who is better to talk about the horror of book bans and the terror of suppressing intellectual freedom than those of us who ply our trade in horror and terror every single day?

It’s true. We know Horror, and when it comes to intellectual freedom, we are all living in a Horror novel right now.

The freedom to read what we want, when we want, is under serious attack. The freedom for parents to make their own choices for their own kids is gone. Both have been replaced by nefarious groups who are trying to remove everything from our schools and libraries that does not uphold the white, cis, heteronormative agenda they are pushing.

What began 5 years ago as a concerted effort by a few organized groups to infiltrate school and library boards and suppress access to information and leisure reading items by marginalized voices in a few states, has evolved into state sponsored censorship. 

Books by all writers, no matter their identity, need to be available for all readers– from the youngest children to teens to adults. When we remove them from public school curriculums and libraries (even if all the library does is move that book from a youth section to “adult”), access to that information is sacrificed. The books that will be the most easily accessed will only be about the lives of white, cis, heteronormative humans. 

Reading fiction, and Horror fiction in particular, has been shown time and time again as one of the best ways for people to build empathy for others. Reading is a foundational skill, critical to future learning, and to exercising our democratic freedoms. 

I could go on and on here, and I know I am preaching to the choir, but here’s the thing– being angry is not enough. I am here standing up before all of you to ask you to fight against this Horror and to help us defeat this monster. But I am also a Horror writer myself, and a good librarian, so I am also here to help you draft this horror story where we will all triumph over evil. 

I am asking you tonight to commit to attending a meeting (or 2 or 3) of your local library board in the next few months. Even if, and especially if, they are not experiencing any book challenges. Why? Well, first, they probably are and you just don’t know it. The Federal Government is actively striping money from every public library in the nation right now. They have put the American Library Association on their “enemies” list. We library workers are in the thick of this horror novel level chaos every single day. What we need is to see the public come out and support us.

And again, who better than those who truly understand Horror than all of you to help us. Go to your local library’s website and check when their meetings are. My board, for example, meets the third Tuesday of every month at 7pm. Most government and board websites post calendars and agendas for upcoming meetings, and some also livestream them. Even if book bans or collection policies aren't on the agenda, many boards and councils allow comments on issues of concern from any community member.

I will be including a link to the information from United for Book Bans with the recording of this event on YouTube because they have everything you need to know from how to contact your library to talking points to a few of these pointers I am going to mention now. 

Before you head to a board meeting, you'll need to know the following:

1. When and where will the meeting take place?
2. The policy around public comments:

• Where do public comments fall in the agenda?
• How long do you have to speak during public comments?
• Do you have to register ahead of time to make a public comment?
• Are there any rules for the contents of comments?

3. Is there a dress code or a code of conduct attendees are expected to follow? I suggest bookish tshirts if you can.

You don’t need to remember these pointers and questions, though, because I will have the resources available for all of you to consult. But, and I cannot say this enough– WE NEED YOU. Please don’t leave this for someone else to do. IT IS YOU– ALL OF YOU. We need you to be at meetings, speaking as an author, community member, and supporter of the freedom to read. Prepare your comments, but speak from the bottom of your hearts.

Go before there are problems, if you can. Go multiple times (you can make the same statement over and over again), so your voice against book banning and for intellectual freedom is in the public record. Bring your friends. Get them involved. Figure out a way to have someone there to speak favorably about the library every month, if you can.

Think that is overkill? Well, I am going to be honest with you here. That is the playbook for the groups working together to get books banned. They are organizing and having people speaking against intellectual freedom at every board meeting, every time, in many towns across America.

Now, if your community is already trying to actively ban materials, this is even more dire. And I also want to be honest here, speaking out in a meeting, in your community, where there is a consensus against you is hard. But it can be done. I want to take a moment and ask HWA member Doug Murano to stand up and be recognized because he did just this. He stood up in a contentious meeting, risking great harm to himself and his reputation, to fight for the freedom to read at a school board meeting. Doug, thank you. 

Hopefully, none of you will ever have to deal with what Doug faced, but know, the best way to not live that dystopian reality, is to speak up BEFORE there are problems.

I know we are an international organization and this talk may seem American-centric, but let me say to all of you in the rest of the world, two things. 1. I know many of you have dealt with an assault on intellectual freedom before. I also know when you dealt with those, American writers probably didn’t help because, well, we thought we were impervious to censorship and didn’t listen. So, let me apologize to you for that behavior now, and 2. I want to ask for your help as well. Share what you know with us. Let us know how you have fought already so that we might be able to learn from you.

We are here to celebrate another great year of Horror. We will give out awards, honor volunteers, and present Lifetime Achievement Awards. And while we will all come away with our dark hearts bursting with joy, I also hope you leave raring for a fight. I hope you are ready to, as one of my favorite bookish t-shirts says,ban the fascists and save the books. Because who better than to stop the Horrors of censorship than those who spend their days immersing themselves in stories of terror, fear, and unease. Who better to understand the monster we are dealing with? And most importantly, who is better prepared to fight it. 

We are. 

And your Halloween librarians are here to help you. We are but a quick email away– dozens of us, ready to help you stop the Horror of book bans in a free society. Simply email libraries @ horror dot org. Check out United Against Book Bans (link to be provided) for all of the talking points and tips you need to get yourself in front of your library board to speak out against the Horror of Book Bans.

Thank you in advance. We can do our best work to protect the intellectual freedom of all, no matter where they live, if we work together– one library board meeting at a time.

Becky Siegel Spratford

Secretary, HWA

June 14, 2025