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How To Create A Good Banned Books Display: Book Censorship News, September 2, 2022

Kelly Jensen

Editor

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

Banned Books Week is coming, which means that waves of displays in libraries, classrooms, and bookstores are also incoming. We're already seeing many, and while they are useful for highlighting the reality of censorship across America to those who are not as tapped into the news about it, too many banned books week displays are outdated and do not accurately reflect the reality of censorship right now. Banned Books Week displays continue to rely on older classics that have been historically challenged or removed. But to make a true impact — and to be accurate and effective in messaging — it's time to rethink the Banned Books Week displays and make them more up-to-date and include a call to action.

What Makes a Good Banned Books Week Display?

The five ideas below are easy to implement no matter what kind of space you're working with in your organization. These would work on a traditional display, on an end cap, or even on a wall or the side of a book stack.

1. Have accurate and current banned books on display

This means your selection of books will mirror the books you have up in February for Black History Month and the books displayed in June for Pride month. The current wave of book bans is targeting books by and about LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. Include as many banned and challenged comics as possible, too. While it's true Charlotte's Web has been banned before, it is not being banned now. Choose instead to put Flamer or Gender Queer or This Book is Anti-Racist on display instead.

2. Get creative in highlighting popular books

One of the challenges right now in libraries especially is that it can be hard to put challenged and banned books on display because they're circulating. That is a great problem to have and one that isn't hard to solve. Make copies of book covers or print them out, put them in an acrylic frame, then include a QR code and/or instructions for how people can put a holds request in for the book. The display itself can be just this and include information about why the books are not currently on shelves and note that, despite the bump in popularity many receive in the midst of censorship waves, these books do not suddenly become best sellers or remain as in-demand when bans cool down.

Another option, and one that would make a huge impact, is to have a display that is empty. Put out the book holders and purposefully leave them empty on your Banned Books display. Maybe you have fliers or handouts on it, or maybe you leave it without anything, sending the message that that is what the reality is when books are removed. It'd certainly be accurate and catch people's attention.

If you're in a state with new book ban laws that limit what you can do or so, the empty display idea could be especially powerful.

3. Include action and advocacy materials

Let patrons and visitors know there are incredible resources out there talking about First Amendment rights and intellectual freedom. Include a handout and/or link on your website/social media to sources such as: Get Ready Stay Ready, PEN America's report on the state of book bans in America (and additional resources on free expression), EveryLibrary, to Penguin Random House's Book Ban Resource Hub, and to our own Literary Activism newsletter.

If you have a local group doing anti-censorship work, highlight them. If you don't, share resources on how to begin an anti-censorship group.

Include information about local elections and why they matter (and if you're in a school or library, you can tie that neatly into how your institution is taxpayer funded and taxpayers have the right to elect individuals who work on behalf of a whole community, not just those with close ties to them). You can also include information about local school boards and why they're vital, as well as information about how people can get involved in their library board.

4. Focus on celebrating intellectual freedom and the First Amendment, not banned books

It may seem like a nit picky thing, but no one is celebrating banned books except those banning books. Instead, make sure the language around your banned books display and information is celebrating the right to read or intellectual freedom. Celebrate First Amendment rights, not banned books.

Highlight and note that the books are banned or being banned. But celebrate the right to read. The language and angle we use matters.

5. Create a call to action

There are many ways to create a call to action with your display, so know that what might work best for your community could differ from these ideas. But some suggestions include using a QR code to check one's voter registration and/or linking to information about the upcoming election; including information about how to request a book for the library (in a recent event I did for teens as part of Brooklyn Public Library's Intellectual Teen Freedom Council, they were surprised to learn they could request a library purchase a book and that that makes a big difference); linking to upcoming school and library board meeting dates and topics and how to show up and speak or write to those boards; including sticky notes and writing instruments and asking people to write a short review of any banned books they've read and loved OR writing a short note on why having access to books matters; having information about local, state, and federal legislators and how to write to them/their offices about First Amendment rights and the freedom to read; and/or having some kind of material that people can take with them that includes steps for advocating for intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights, be it a flier or bookmark.

Your call to action could also be as simple as clarifying that books on the display are for use and that users are encouraged to check them out, read them, and return them. This part of the display is about getting users to do something, and borrowing is itself a powerful and vital act.

Graphic with the 5 key steps to making a good banned books display from the text above it. The graphic is in shades of pink, purple, and cream.

Additional notes:

  • Be prepared to potentially have a book challenged. In the current book banning climate, it's possible your display — like the Pride displays earlier this year — will become a target to the small number of censors who think they speak on behalf of an entire community.
  • Include information about how people can challenge a book in your library, if applicable. Remember to have your book challenge policies updated and ready to go. The more accessible the information, the more transparent you are, and the more censors cannot argue that you hinder their rights to demand books not be accessible to an entire community.
  • If there is currently a book ban happening locally, highlight that. Whether it is your institution or not, giving these displays a local angle is extremely important. Believing this is a red state or blue state thing is dangerous and disingenuous; people deserve to know that it is happening in their backyard because it IS happening in their backyard.
  • Dealing with a challenge or attempted book ban? Put that out there and include updates on the process. Example: if All Boys Aren't Blue is being challenged in your local school district, look through the school board agendas to note where in the process it is.
  • Many displays enjoy including the reasons why a book is banned. This might be tricky today, in part because the reasons are "parental rights." But maybe that in and of itself is good enough to put as a reason, as it begins a conversation about what that even means and why it is some parents believe they have the right to speak on behalf of an entire community. Not to mention, why aren't student rights considered?

The more transparent you are and the more focus you put on the current, accurate realities of book bans right now, the more you're helping put truth out there for those who may not be aware of what's going on and/or who may be persuaded by groups that have pretty signage, t-shirts, and messages about their joyful war (and to be clear, they're not ignorant for this — the reason such groups are so successful is they're able to be persuasive!).

Banned Books Week should be an opportunity toward crushing censorship as it is right now.

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