As we come into October, Munising Library will once again take the time to highlight the fight against censorship and join with other libraries, schools, bookstores, and groups around the world to call attention to the very real attack on our freedom to read. October 1 – 7, 2023 is Banned Books Week and the American Library Association and Unite Against Book Bans will mark this year’s event with a call to action on Let Freedom Read Day.

According to the American Library Association, since it was founded in 1982, Banned Books Week has drawn attention to attempts to remove books and other materials from libraries, schools, and bookstores. The 2023 Banned Books Week theme “Let Freedom Read” is a call to action about the urgent need to defend the right to read and to support the community of readers, library staff, educators, authors, publishers, and booksellers.

The Banned Books Week call to action is more essential than ever. ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) documented an unparalleled increase in attempts to remove books and other materials from libraries and schools in 2022, and preliminary data for 2023 indicates the trend is continuing. Between January 1 and August 31, 2023, OIF reported 695 attempts to censor library materials and services and documented challenges to 1,915 unique titles. This tops the highest number of book challenges to have occurred since ALA began compiling this data more than 20 years ago. Most of the challenges were to books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Saturday, October 7, will mark Let Freedom Read Day, the first Banned Books Week day of action. From calling decision- makers to checking out or buying banned books, to writing letters and more, everyone is encouraged to do at least one thing to defend the right to read and to speak on behalf of those who ensure access to information. For information about ways to participate and resources, visit bannedbooksweek. org/let-freedom-read-day/ The Munising Library has been displaying books over the last week that have been challenged and/or banned in areas around the country for one reason or another. Everyone is invited to stop into the library and view the display to understand more about the destructive efforts to stop the free flow of ideas by obstructing the individual right to read. Books are our window to a vast and diverse world, and everyone, no matter who they are or how they identify, should be able to find their self reflected and represented there. As Americans, we owe each other a higher standard, one that always protects the most individual rights to read, to think, to understand, to learn, to grow, to teach, and to decide what is right for oneself. Combat book banning, defend books from censorship, and exercise your right to freely choose what you read.