Banned and Challenged Books

Book "banning" occurs when the government or another authority restricts access to a book, in whole or in part. The censoring group may issue an official doctrine explaining why the book has been banned. Some bans have involved burning physical copies of books, ensuring that the offending text will not be read or making a symbolic gesture toward that end. Alternatively, a book may be quietly removed from library shelves. Censors ban books to prevent the dissemination of thoughts and ideas they deem dangerous, and a book may be banned due to moral, religious, or political motivations.*

It should be noted that most incidents of this nature are often not true "bannings" but are actually "challenges". Whether or not the book is actually removed from public school libraries or public library shelves is achieved through public pressure or  legal actions by politicians, government agencies or special interest groups. 

* Book Banning. (2022). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale.  Book Banning

This is just a small sample of books in the Ritz Library's collection that have been challenged or even banned around the country. If you'd like to borrow them, ask at the Circulation desk at the front of the library or at the Reference Desk. You will need your DCC ID card to borrow any book. 

Please feel free to share this guide with others.  If you are a librarian or teacher, you are welcome to use this guide and its contents for your own purposes. It was created by KT Lowe at Indiana University East and she would love to know if you reuse it. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Adaptations were made by Tom Trinchera at Dutchess Community College.