Florida leads US in books challenged, ALA says
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida has had more books challenged for removal than any other state, according to a leading librarian group.
Nearly 2,700 titles were targeted for restriction or removal in Florida schools and public libraries in 2023, according to data released in March by the American Library Association. That’s 1,200 more than the state with the second-most challenges, Texas.
The ALA emphasizes its data just provides a snapshot, made up only of challenges found in news reports and reported to the organization by librarians. But it still shows the far-reaching effects of laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In recent years, the governor and GOP lawmakers have passed a couple of measures over what books are suitable for schools and how the public can get them removed. State officials have even argued in federal court cases that school officials have the First Amendment right to remove whatever book they want for whatever reason.
School districts have interpreted the laws in wildly varying ways, leading some to pull hundreds of titles out of fear of potential penalties and others to pull none. Free speech group PEN America ranked Florida No. 1 in book bans last year. DeSantis and other conservatives have taken issue with the “book ban” terminology as well as the premise that’s happening in Florida, calling it a “hoax.” The governor has called for limits on how many books the public can challenge in schools. His office said that he wants the state Legislature “to enact policies limiting ... bad-faith objections made by those who don’t have children learning in Florida.”
While the ALA says nearly 2,700 books have been targeted in Florida, it reported that the state saw only 33 of what it called “attempts to restrict access to books.”
Compare that to California, which saw 52 attempts. But those attempts targeted fewer than 100 books.
The Florida Legislature ended up passing a bill that states a “resident of the county who is not the parent or guardian of a student with access to school district materials may not object to more than one material per month.”
The bill has not yet been sent to the governor’s desk.
The American Library Association helps train librarians and fund libraries across the country. But Florida and other conservatives states have recently cut ties with the group and its local chapters. “The reports from librarians and educators in the field make it clear that the organized campaigns to ban books aren’t over, and that we must all stand together to preserve our right to choose what we read,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, in a statement about the 2023 data.
The group found more than 9,000 challenged books across the nation last year, affecting 4,240 unique titles, which is a substantial increase over 2022’s 2,571. A number of those were books in public libraries. Yet, at least in Florida, most of the book controversies have been focused on school libraries.