What Can I Do Now to Protect Our Schools and Libraries From Threats to the Freedom to Read?

For the past five years, we have watched threats to the freedom to read evolve.

What began in many communities as challenges to individual books has expanded into legislation, restrictive library policies, mass challenges, funding threats, pressure on librarians and educators, and legal arguments that could fundamentally change how the First Amendment applies in our public libraries. Increasingly, decisions about what people can read are being made not only at library and school board meetings, but also in capitols and courtrooms.

It can feel overwhelming. But one of the most important lessons we have learned since this wave of censorship began is that what happens next is not inevitable. There are things each of us can do right now to protect our schools, libraries, and the freedom to read.

Start Local

National headlines get attention, but many of the decisions that determine whether a book remains available happen locally.

Learn who sits on your school board and library board. Know when they meet. Read their agendas. Find your district's policies for reconsidering library materials and understand what happens when someone challenges a book. Then show up.

You do not need to be an expert to speak at a meeting. You can be a parent explaining why you want your child to have access to a robust library, a student talking about a book that mattered, or a community member asking leaders to follow established policies rather than reacting to political pressure.

If speaking during public comment feels intimidating, start with our guide, Speaking Up for the Right to Read: How to Craft School Board Speeches That Make an Impact in 30 Seconds to 3 Minutes.

Showing up matters even when there is no book challenge on the agenda. Relationships built during quiet moments can become incredibly important when a controversy arrives.

Organize Before There Is a Crisis

Too often, freedom to read advocates meet one another for the first time after dozens of books have already been challenged. Don't wait!

Find other parents, educators, librarians, students, authors, booksellers, and community members who value intellectual freedom. Start an email list or group chat. Learn who has experience with communications, public records, policy, law, organizing, or local government.

Coalitions can accomplish far more than isolated individuals. Research into grassroots resistance to book banning has found that coalition building can create the conditions for effective follow-up action, including letter-writing campaigns and other organized responses. 

Our free digital guide, Turning the Page: An Advocate's Guide to the Freedom to Read, was created specifically to make that work easier. It brings organizing information, tools, templates, and advocacy support together in one place. 

Get the Messaging Right

How we talk about censorship matters. The freedom to read is not about insisting that every book is appropriate for every child. It is about protecting the ability of families to make decisions for their own children without allowing one individual, organization, or government official to make those decisions for everyone.

That distinction is especially important when discussing parental rights. Parents should absolutely be able to guide their own children's reading. Strong policies can provide ways for families to make individual requests without removing books from every student's reach.

When talking about book bans, focus on access, individual choice, due process, professional expertise, and the First Amendment. Avoid getting pulled into arguments about whether you personally like or approve of every challenged book.

You can also take that message beyond social media. Write a letter to the editor or an op-ed. Contact a reporter. When something significant happens locally, consider issuing a press release. Our guides on writing letters to the editor and op-eds and writing an effective press release can help. 

Demand Good Policy, Not Just Good Outcomes

Saving one challenged book is important. Creating a policy that protects the next hundred books can be even more important.

Look closely at your school or library's reconsideration policy. Does a book remain available while it is being reviewed? Must challengers have read the entire book? Are decisions based on the work as a whole rather than isolated passages? Do qualified librarians and educators participate in the review? Is there an appeals process? Can one person repeatedly challenge dozens or hundreds of books?

Good policy creates due process. It also makes it harder for political pressure to replace professional judgment.

Pay attention after legislation passes too. The rules and guidance used to implement a law can dramatically affect what happens in actual schools and libraries. As we explained in The Law Passed. Now What? Why the Rulemaking Stage Matters Just as Much, advocates need to follow implementation, public comment opportunities, agency guidance, and local interpretation, not simply the legislative vote.

Follow the Paper Trail

When something does not add up, ask for the records. Public records can reveal who requested a removal, what officials said privately, whether outside organizations influenced a decision, what legal guidance administrators received, and whether established policies were followed.

You do not need to request everything. Targeted requests are usually more useful than enormous ones. Ask for specific communications, dates, people, titles, policies, or guidance. Our Guide to Making a Public Records Request explains how to get started and what kinds of records can be useful. 

Documentation matters because today's email or policy memo could become tomorrow's news story, legislative testimony, or evidence in a lawsuit.

Pay Attention to the Courts

Some of the most consequential battles over the freedom to read are now happening in court.

One argument gaining traction is that library collections constitute "government speech." Under its broadest interpretation, this theory could give politicians enormous discretion over which viewpoints are represented in publicly funded libraries. Courts remain divided on how government-speech doctrine applies to library collections, making the development of these cases especially important. We have explored the implications in The Founders, Libraries, and the Danger of Calling Knowledge "Government Speech" and When "Government Speech" Does Not Mean Your Local Government. 

Legal battles can feel distant from everyday advocacy, but local actions matter here too. Policies, meeting minutes, emails, public comments, removal records, and documented patterns of decision making can become important evidence when a dispute reaches court.

Support organizations bringing or defending important cases. Follow reliable legal organizations so you understand what rulings actually say. And remember that a court decision is often the beginning of the next stage, not the end of the fight.

Support the People on the Front Lines

Librarians and educators are frequently the people asked to implement vague laws, navigate conflicting directives, defend professional decisions, and absorb public anger. Let them know they are not alone.

Send supportive emails. Speak positively about their work at public meetings. Push back when library positions or budgets are threatened. Ask whether schools have certified media specialists and whether libraries have adequate purchasing budgets.

Funding itself can become a censorship tool. As we discussed in How Funding Threats Create a Chilling Effect, institutions may restrict books, displays, programs, or other resources simply because they fear financial consequences.

Protecting the freedom to read therefore means protecting the institutions and professionals that make access possible.

Keep Going

Perhaps the hardest part of advocacy is accepting that there may never be a moment when the work feels finished. A harmful bill can fail and return the next legislative session. A banned book can be restored and challenged again. A good school board can change after an election. A favorable court ruling can be appealed. That means we need something more durable than outrage.

We need informed communities, strong local organizations, good policies, accurate records, effective messaging, supportive coalitions, and people willing to keep paying attention. You do not have to do all of those things yourself. Pick the piece you can do. Attend the meeting. Read the policy. File the records request. Write the letter. Support the librarian. Invite three friends to join you. Donate to an organization doing the legal work. Learn what is happening in your state legislature. Then keep going.

The people working to restrict access to information have spent years organizing. Protecting the freedom to read requires organization too.

The good news is that there are far more of us than it sometimes appears. Every time someone shows up, asks a question, demands transparency, defends good policy, supports a librarian, or reminds a decision-maker that public institutions belong to the entire public, we make censorship harder. And that is work we can start today.