[Libs-Or] September Tuesday Topic, Part II: Banned Books Week + Raffle
Intellectual Freedom Committee
ifc.chair at olaweb.org
Wed Sep 24 17:33:06 PDT 2025
Hi all,
As promised, we're back to share ideas for easy to prepare displays and
activities celebrating Banned Books Week!
Don’t forget to share pics and highlights of your 2025 BBW activities. This
can include stories about a banned book that is meaningful to you and/or
pictures from your events, programs, displays, etc. Each submission (shared
story and/or image) will count as entry in a raffle to win your choice of
the top 10 banned books of the year or items from the ALA store via a "gift
certificate" or reimbursement.
Thanks for promoting and celebrating the freedom to read! Oh, and if the
formatting is wonky, please visit the IF Resources page
<https://www.olaweb.org/if-resources> or go directly to this Tuesday Topic
<https://www.olaweb.org/assets/IntellectualFreedom/IF_Resources/OLA_IFC_Tue_Topic_2025-09_pt2_Banned_Books_Week.pdf>
on
the IF Resources webpage.
We do realize Banned Books Week can sometimes bring unexpected responses.
Please know that you aren't alone: we're here to support you.
[image: image.png]
Promoting and Celebrating the Freedom to Read + Raffle
Tuesday Topics: September 2025
Welcome to Tuesday Topics, a monthly series covering topics with
intellectual freedom implications for libraries of all types. Each message
is prepared by a member of OLA's Intellectual Freedom Committee (IFC) or a
guest writer. Questions can be directed to the author of the topic or to
the IFC.
*[image: image.png]*
Banned Books Week + Raffle
Fall brings the intellectual freedom celebration known as Banned Books Week
<https://bannedbooksweek.org/> (BBW), which some library staff now refer to
as “Celebrating the Freedom to Read.” While the observance usually occurs
in late September, this year it runs from October 5-11. However, the Oregon
Intellectual Freedom Committee
<https://www.olaweb.org/intellectual-freedom-committee-home> encourages
libraries to participate anytime in September or October.
If your library participates, we’d love to know how you celebrated. Please
send a description, links, pictures, and/or stories to ifc.chair at olaweb.org.
Each submission received by the end of October 14th will count as an entry
in a raffle to win the top 10 banned books of the year or items from the
ALA store via a gift certificate or reimbursement! In the meantime, take a
look at what Oregon library staff shared
<https://www.olaweb.org/assets/IntellectualFreedom/IF_Resources/OLA_IFC_Tue_Topic_2023-10_Banned_Books_Recap.pdf>
in our last Banned Books Week Show-and-Tell.
Easy-to-Prepare Displays and Activities
Here are some ideas for displays and activities that are aimed at specific
audiences and that should not take much effort to implement. Some could be
easily adapted for other age levels.
1.
Older Elementary/Children’s Services: What Do These Books Have in Common?
1.
Activity:
1.
Choose 3 to 5 elementary-aged books from the Oregon Title Index to
Materials Challenges <https://slo.oregon.gov/oifc/challenges> or
ALA’s 100 Most Challenged Books of the Past Decades
<https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10>
(scroll to the bottom of the page).
2.
Make sure the books are all different, such as a “scary” story
(ex: a Goosebumps title), one with a main character that represents
diversity (ex: Melissa, formerly George, by Alex Gino), and
something silly (ex: a Captain Underpants title).
3.
Gather the books from your library, or print the covers of each in
color and glue each cover to the front of a file folder.
4.
Locate a blurb or write a very short, high-level summary of each
book. (Use the blurb on the book; or print each blurb or
summary, and glue
each to the inside or back cover of the relevant file folder.)
5.
During a storytime or lesson, ask the children to listen to the
summaries of each book and to think about what they have in common.
6.
Read the blurbs while showing the book or printed cover image.
7.
Ask students to guess what all of the books have in common.
Entertain all answers for several minutes – yes, all were
written by an
author, but that’s not what I’m looking for; yes, all were…
8.
Let students know the answer – that all books were challenged,
meaning some people thought the books should not be available
to children
in the library.
9.
Ask students what they think about the fact that the books were
challenged, discuss a basic definition of the concept of the
freedom to
read, and ask about other ways that people who may not
appreciate a book
could handle that (ex: they could ask their own child not to read the
book).
2.
Display: Modify the activity by creating a bulletin board or similar
display.
1.
Use cut-out letters for the title at the top: What Do These Books
Have in Common?
2.
Purchase the Censorship is so 1984
<https://alastore.ala.org/censorship-so-1984-poster> poster or
another Banned Books Week poster, or create something similar
to affix in
the center of the board or surface.
3.
Affix the book cover images with their corresponding blurbs, from
the activity above.
4.
Add a folded piece of thick paper, such as part of a file folder,
centered near the bottom. On the top, add this: Answer. On
the side that
shows when the top is flipped up, add what you want the
children/students
to know about the fact that all of the books were challenged
(asked to be
removed from a library). Maybe end with this question: What
do you think
about challenging books?
5.
Consider adding a translation of all text in the most common
language/s spoken in your library. You could print the translations in
smaller font on colored paper and affix them below the title and each
blurb. Or, print the blurbs in more than one language from the start.
2.
Teens/Youth Services: Censorship by the Numbers (STEM connection)
1.
Activity:
1.
Digitally display, or download and print, the 5 individual ALA
Censorship by the Numbers posters
<https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/freedownloads>
(not the poster that combines all 5 into 1). (For printed
posters, affix
them to a flat surface. Or, lightly tape each to a separate
page on a flip
chart.)
2.
During a teen time or a lesson, discuss the concepts of
intellectual freedom, censorship, and book challenges.
Perhaps have basic
definitions prepared that participants can refer back to during the
activity. (You could use a half-sheet handout with all
definitions plus the
URL or QR code for the ALA posters, or print individual definitions in
large font and post them nearby, or…)
3.
Then introduce one poster at a time, and “read” the information by
reinforcing how to interpret and understand the charts and graphs.
4.
Ask participants questions, such as these, and discuss as time and
attention spans allow:
What surprised you about this data? (Possibility: It’s surprising
to know that sometimes teachers or librarians challenge books.)
What more do you want to know? (Possibilities: What books have
been challenged in my school or library? The data represents
2024; is the
2024 total number of challenges less, about the same, or more
than previous
years?)
5.
Extension: Ahead of time, gather a few books about charts and
graphs, data, infographics, and related topics, and display
them during and
after the activity/lesson.
6.
Middle and high school extension: Collaborate with a math teacher
on this lesson. Library staff can cover the intellectual
freedom concepts,
and the math teacher can teach about interpreting and
understanding the
charts and graphs. You could follow up with an assignment,
such as using
the Oregon Title Index to Materials Challenges
<https://slo.oregon.gov/oifc/challenges> spreadsheet to create a
graph indicating the number of recorded challenges in Oregon
by year or a
chart indicating the percentage of total challenged books that were
retained, reclassed, or removed.
2.
Display: Modify the activity by creating a bulletin board or
decorating a door.
1.
On the display surface, affix cut-out letters for the title at the
top: Censorship by the Numbers.
2.
Print the word/phrase and definition for each of the 3 concepts
listed above, and affix them under the title or along the sides of the
surface. You could use the flip-up format as described in the
elementary
display section above.
3.
Print each of the 5 posters used above, and affix them to the
surface.
4.
Print any points you may want to make (in lieu of the activity
discussion), and affix those where appropriate.
5.
Alternative, especially for public or academic libraries: Share
the 5 posters on social media with a concise message/point
plus the hashtag
#FreedomToRead or #BooksForAll – 1 per day and/or per platform.
3.
Adults/College-Age: IF the First: Intellectual Freedom and the First
Amendment
1.
Activity:
1.
Find a guest speaker who is knowledgeable about the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – lawyer, professor,
history teacher,
etc. Can’t find a speaker or don’t want to take the time?
Show relevant
portions of a video instead, such as this one
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v85bJu173Zo> with the director of
the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom.
2.
The guest speaker should collaborate with library staff as
co-presenter/s to design a presentation and discussion about the
intersection of intellectual freedom and the First Amendment.
3.
The presentation could be an interview in which the librarian asks
the guest speaker questions. Format the questions so they tie into the
presentation title: If the First Amendment
is/says/addresses/etc. X, then…?
Example: If the First Amendment protects the freedom of
speech, what should
a library do about a book that contains references that are
now considered
racist? If you show video clips instead of co-presenting with a guest
speaker, ask an “If” question, show a relevant portion of the video,
discuss the information with participants, and repeat.
4.
Extension for high school and academic librarians: Work with a
history teacher or professor, and turn this into a lesson
related to Constitution
Day
<https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/annual-observances/constitution-day-and-citizenship-day>.
The observance is on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitution was
ratified in 1787. That day falls on a Wednesday this year,
but you could do
the lesson before or after that date.
2.
Display: Create a slideshow.
1.
Add a BBW or ALA graphic
<https://bannedbooksweek.org/promotional-tools/> and the
presentation title on the first slide: IF the First:
Intellectual Freedom
and the First Amendment.
2.
Add one of the “If” questions from the activity above to a slide.
Follow that with a brief answer or response. Repeat for each question.
Repeat in other languages as needed.
3.
End with a list of online resources and/or related books (cover
images and QR codes that lead to catalog links).
4.
Set the slideshow on a loop to continually advance through the
slides. It can be displayed on one or more monitors (such as
wall-mounted
“announcement” monitors) in the library or institution.
Thanks for promoting and celebrating the freedom to read. Let’s flip the
narrative!
Cheers,
Alyssa Donoho and Shelby Paulson, *Co-Chairs <ifc.chair at olaweb.org>*
Oregon Intellectual Freedom Committee
--
Chair - ifc.chair at olaweb.org
Intellectual Freedom Committee https://www.olaweb.org/if-home
Oregon Library Association https://www.olaweb.org/
Disclaimer: all information provided by the IFC is intended for
informational purposes only. This is not to be considered legal advice.
Should you need legal advice, we recommend contacting a practicing attorney
in your jurisdiction.
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