As part of Banned Books Week 2026, Memorial Library will be hosting a banned book read aloud on Tuesday, October 6th, from 2:30-4:00 in the Fralick Teaching Materials Center. Come support and listen as members of the SUNY Cortland community read excerpts from books that have been banned or challenged. Hear voices, stories, and ideas that others have tried to silence. For questions about the event, please email william.gore@cortland.edu. We hope to see you there!
Now for some not so fun facts:
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 5,668 books banned from libraries (66% of the total challenged) in 2025. An additional 920 books were censored through access restrictions such as relocation or requiring parental permission. This is both the highest number of titles censored in one year and the highest rate of challenges resulting in censorship from 1990–2025. 4,235 different titles were challenged in 2025. Of the unique challenges in 2025, 1,671 (39%) of the titles represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. 92% of all challenges were initiated by pressure groups and government officials, and less than 3% came from individual parents. To learn more about book bans and censorship in the United States, you can visit the American Library Associations website.