Censorship

Des Moines (IA) Public Schools students can use their student IDs as library cards and avoid school library book restrictions; North Carolina district changes book policy to meet new state law and changes to Title IX; Maryland community protests removal of Flamer from district; and more.

In a precedent-setting win for the freedom to read, on August 13 Judge Carlos E. Mendoza ruled that Florida House Bill 1069, which sought to ban “pornographic” material and books describing “sexual conduct” from school and classroom libraries, was overbroad and unconstitutional.

School Library Journal and NCTE continue to champion works that have long been taught in classrooms, including YA classics like Caroline B. Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton and Robert Cormier's We All Fall Down.

In a huge legal win for freedom to read and First Amendment advocates, a U.S. district judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. In other censorship news, a Michigan school librarian is suing a parent for an alleged smear campaign against her that led to harassment and death threats.

Florida education commissioner sends letter to schools warning them against using Beanstack; PEN America files new brief in Iowa book ban case; the National Park Service may remove some history books from stores; and more in Censorship News.

Censorship, AI, and federal funding top the list of concerns for school librarians heading into the 2025-26 school year.

Educational materials deemed "racially or sexually divisive" would be removed from public schools in 17 southern and midwestern states, plus the latest from Florida, the full list of titles removed at Department of Defense schools, and more.

Readers clap back on censorship and more.

The nine picture books cited in Mahmoud v. Taylor are not pornography. Nor are they obscene. What is obscene is a Supreme Court decision that denies the basic humanity and equality of LGBTQIA+ people.