Banned Books
Library Books
R 363.3109 B332L 2006 Banned Books
Volume 1: Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds
Volume 2: Literature Suppressed on Religious Grounds
Volume 3: Literature Suppressed on Sexual
Grounds
Volume 4: Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds
Each volume in this series is organized alphabetically by title of the book banned. Check the index for author names, book titles, or places where banning occurs (states, cities, libraries).
E-Books
To access these e-books from home, you will need your Net-ID and Net-ID password.
Hit List for Children 2: Frequently Challenged Books by Beverley C. Becker
Hit List for Young Adults 2: Frequently Challenged Books by Teri S. Lesesne
Each chapter is dedicated to an author, subdivided into the books that have been challenged by that author. First, click on View this eBook. Use the Contents tab in the left toolbar to jump to a particular section. Use the Next and Previous buttons at the top of the page to flip the e-book page.
Online Newspapers
Search newspapers for the title of your book and "banned" or "challenged" to find specific cases.
Example: "gossip girl" and (banned or challenged)
To narrow your results, add words like "school" (since that's where many challenges are made) or "parents."
For both of these databases, select newspapers that are local in addition to major U.S. papers, as cases like these tend to make the small newspapers as well.
Newsbank
Full-text articles from major metropolitan newspapers, international papers, and smalltown U.S. papers. This service includes both contemporary and historical databases. Access full-text articles from The News-Gazette (6/1/1997 to present) and Chicago Tribune (1985 to present).
LexisNexis
Full-text access to hundreds of recent (and even not-so-recent) newspaper and magazine articles. Type in your search terms in the center search box, using and to narrow and or to broaden; put quotation marks around unique phrases. The default search is set to Major U.S. and World Publications for the Previous 2 years, which can be changed to suit your needs. After you click search, notice that you can narrow your search by clicking on the categories in the left toolbar. Click on the plus sign to expand your options and click on the blue link to narrow your search.
Proquest Historical Newspapers
- Historical New York Times (1851-2005)
- Historical Chicago Tribune (1849-1986)
Databases
Wilson's Library Literature & Information Science
Check the box for "Library Lit & Inf Full Text" before you get started.Click on the Advanced Search in the top toolbar, then use subject words "censorship" or "prohibited books" or keywords "banned books" for a general search. If you have a book in mind, combine the title of the book (in quotes) with one of the above subject or keywords. You can limit by date here and also choose full-text only.
Literature Resource Center identifies biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Coverage of more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors. This database only allows 4 simultaneous users.
Novelist is a fiction database that provides subject heading access, reviews and annotations for over 125,000 fiction titles. Search by author, title, series and even by describing a plot. Some author biographies available, written by EBSCO staff.
Free Web Resources
Banned Books Week
Sponsored by the American Library Association, this website offers a list of frequently challenged books, as well as events happening during Banned Books Week and information about banning and challenging books. For reasons why a book is challenged, use the resource below.
IFACTION Archive
IFACTION is a news-only, no-discussion e-list of the Intellectual Freedom Action Network (IFAN) and the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) of the American Library Association. Click on the I am not a spammer button to access and search the archives for your book title. The default search is set to the past month only; click on Advanced Search and select a broader date range to maximize your results.
AS IF! Authors Support Intellectual Freedom
A blog created by young adult authors in support of intellectual freedom, who often post news stories about challenges to YA literature. Use the search box in the top left corner to search for your book or browse the archives/previous posts to find a book. Not all entries are news stories!