Glossary of Banned Book Terms
Banned Book / Banning
Book bans are a form of censorship that occurs after a book or other material has been challenged (see definition for Challenged Book/Challenge). A ban is the complete removal of materials from a library collection, summer reading list, or bookstore shelf based on the objections or a person or group, rendering other patrons unable to request an item to read. (American Library Association)
Censorship
"Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons—individuals, groups or government officials—find objectionable or dangerous." (American Library Association) .
Art, music, websites, printed materials, television shows, and movies are just a few examples of materials that can fall victim to censorship.
Challenged Book/Challenge
"A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group." (American Library Association)
Critical Race Theory
"Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is an academic and legal framework that denotes that systemic racism is part of American society — from education and housing to employment and healthcare." (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense and Educational Fund)
In recent years, CRT has been misconstrued from it's original meaning and is wrongly being used as a catch-all phrase that refers to anything that connects the topics of race or gender to conversations of systemic oppression in classrooms (Schwartz, 2022).
Culture war
Culture war is "a conflict or struggle for dominance between groups within a society or between societies, arising from their differing beliefs, practices, etc." (Dictionary.com)
Curriculum history
"Curriculum history considers what societies value enough to pass on to younger generations through its schools." (Garrett, 1994)
Intellectual Freedom
Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause, or movement may be explored.
"The rights of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment." (American Library Association)
Self-censorship
Also known as quiet or soft censorship, self-censorship is the act or action of refraining from expressing something (such as a thought, point of view, or belief) that others could deem objectionable. This displays itself in the library field when materials are purposefully limited or not purchased despite being a title that would serve the community.
Shadow bans
A shadow ban is the silent removal of books or the restriction of access to them via the movement of books from public shelves to behind the desk without any public or government prompting. This is sometimes done to prevent controversy or public scrutiny, particularly in school libraries.