Right to Read Day marks the release of the State of America’s Libraries Report 2023, together with a list of the Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022. The American Library Association (ALA)’s Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked a record 1,269 book challenges, the highest number of demands to ban books reported since they began compiling data about censorship in libraries. The 2022 total is a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted in 2021. Most of the targeted books were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.
The book censorship movement has also touched Rhode Island, as this recent article by G. Wayne Miller explores.
Right to Read Day is a day of action that encourages communities and individuals to fight back against censorship and to protect and celebrate the right to read freely. Learn more and find useful tips and tools at Unite Against Book Bans, a nationwide initiative that empowers readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship.
Community Libraries of Providence believes that every adult library user should make their own decisions about what books they, or their own child, reads, and trusts that other readers will show the same respect to the choices of others. Defending the right to read freely remains an important part of our mission as a community library system.
Purchase a CLPVD I read banned books shirt to support your favorite library as we support your right to read!
What we’re reading!
