The American Library Association (ALA) reports that attempts to ban books "surged 65% in 2023 compared to 2022 numbers, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA." Nearly half of the books targeted for banning were related to issues of LGBTQ+ communities or race.
Now the ALA has partnered with Little Free Library and PEN America to release an interactive map which shows the number of books which have been targeted for bans in every US state and county. The map also shows the locations of Little Free Library’s book-sharing boxes.
The Little Free Library is a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging the free exchange of books through small, community-run book-sharing boxes. These book-sharing boxes can be placed by anybody in any accessible location, like a neighborhood park or outside a local store. Using the boxes people can take and leave books, encouraging reading, and making books freely available to everyone.
The Book Ban Map has now been released to show "the areas hit hardest by book bans and the nearest Little Free Library book-sharing box locations". The burger menu on the map allows you to switch between viewing the number of books which were attempted to be banned at either the state or county level. The county data is from PEN America’s 2022- 2023 Index of Book Bans (which is a compilation of attempted book bans reported in schools). The state data is from ALA’s Book Ban Data (which lists attempted book bans in public schools and libraries across the United States.
The blue markers on the map show the locations of Little Free Library boxes across America. Click on these markers and you can view the library's charter number, which can also be used with the Little Free Library World Map.
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