Banned Books Week 2026

This week is Banned Books Week! Join us in celebrating free speech, the right to read, and uniting against book bans! We're also teaching Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession, AI and the Law, Advanced Legal Research, and online searching. October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Cybersecurity Month so we're also turning a spotlight on resources on issues in those areas. Finally, we're previewing US Supreme Court oral arguments.

Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession

• 12:30pm - 1:50pm
• Ron Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian

AI & the Law

• 1:30am - 2:50pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

Advanced Legal Research: Transactional Law

• 11:10am - 12:05pm
• Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell

LLM Research & Writing

• Online Searching (Basic Terms & Connectors)
• 3:05pm - 4:30pm
• Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian Shannon Kemen

Introduction to Law & the Legal Profession

• 12:30pm - 1:50pm
• Electronic Resources Instructional Services LibrarianRon Jones Electronic Resources Instructional Services Librarian Ron Jones

AI & the Law

• 1:30am - 2:50pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

Asynchronous

Advanced Legal Research: Beyond the Basics

• Instructional & Reference Services Librarian Ashley Russell

The theme for Banned Books Week 2026 is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read..” The 2026 honorary chairs are authors and free expression advocates Bess Kalb (Buffalo Fluffalo series) and Tony Weaver, Jr. (Weirdo) and youth honorary chairs Marshall Romero and Azeemah Sadiq. Held in October this year, Banned Books Week brings attention to the freedom of expression and the freedom to be free of censorship. Launched by the American Booksellers Association (ABA), American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, and the National Association of College Stores in 1982, it has become an annual event.

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracks attempts to ban or restrict access to books across the United States and to inform the public about censorship efforts in our libraries and schools. In 2025, OIF tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, the second highest ever documented by ALA. The highest ever documented was 4,240 in 2023. 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials and decision makers, up from 72% in 2024. Less than 3% of challenges originated from individual parents. Of the unique titles challenged in 2025, 1,671 (39%) represent the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ people and people of color. Because many book challenges are not reported to the ALA or covered by the press, the data compiled by ALA represents only a snapshot of book censorship throughout the year.

Censorship attempts in which challengers submitted lists of books (frequently titles that they hadn’t read) comprised 94% of the total number of titles challenged. Attempts to censor school library materials accounted for 80% of the total titles targeted over the course of the year. Of the titles targeted in school library collections, 98% were in multi-title challenges. While school libraries faced the most attempts to censor voluntary reading material, public libraries continued to experience more overall censorship attempts than all other location types.

In honor of Banned Books Week, our featured resources are focusing on the First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, and banned books.

CALI Constitutional Law Lessons

• Available on CALI, these are interactive exercises for students studying Constitutional Law. You will need to set up a password to use CALI online. To set up a username and password, you will be asked to enter UC Law’s authorization code. You can get this code from any reference librarian or at the Circulation Desk.

First Amendment: Examples and Explanations

• Available through the Aspen Learning Library study aid subscription, this book covers all of the First Amendment’s major topics – with emphasis on speech and religion. The topics covered include a comprehensive review of the most recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on speech, association, and religion as well as cutting edge issues raised by current events, including the COVID-19 pandemic. While providing deep coverage of abstract concepts, the book includes many practical introductions to law practice reality. Figures, examples, explanations, and varying difficulty in the presented material ensure that the book will serve the needs of a variety of users and will appeal to different learning styles.

First Amendment Stories

• Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this collection offers carefully selected and rich cases that involve real stories, which can themselves serve as points-of-entry to the many great, ongoing debates that run through our free speech and religious liberty traditions.

Understanding the First Amendment

• Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library, this study aid covers the origins and nature of the First Amendment, speech advocating violent or illegal action, content regulation of speech, limited protection of speech, content neutrality of speech, freedom of association and compelled expression, media and the first amendment, the Establishment Clause, and the Free Exercise Clause. The beginning of each chapter highlights key points of coverage. The end of each chapter indicates essential points to remember. The eighth edition covers all of the recent relevant decisions, including Houston Community College System v. Wilson, Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, Inc., City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC, Federal Election Commission v. Cruz, Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., Shurtleff v. City of Boston, Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc., Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrisey-Berru, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, and Carson v. Makin. It also includes a variety of new problems involving new situations that have arisen in First Amendment law.

Book Censorship Database

• The EveryLibrary Institute and EveryLibrary are partnering with Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, an independent researcher focused on the networks, organizations, and individual actors who are leading book banning and book challenge efforts in our nation's school libraries and public libraries.

Banned Books Week Guide

• Celebrate your right to read! This guide covers information on Banned Books Week as well as court cases involving challenged books, and prisoner rights to read.

Smolla & Nimmer on Freedom of Speech

• Smolla & Nimmer on Freedom of Speech, available on Westlaw, provides in-depth coverage and expert analysis of free speech and free press First Amendment issues, including history, theory, doctrine, and insights into cases and decisions. Includes cross-references within the text and in footnotes, which contain full citations and parallel citations to other materials.

Banned Books Week YouTube Channel

• View Banned Books Virtual Read-Outs and more! The Banned Books Virtual Read-Out features videos of readers exercising their First Amendment right to read a banned book.

Banned Books Week

• Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information. The event is supported by a coalition of organizations dedicated to free expression, including American Booksellers for Free Expression, American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Amnesty International USA, Association of University Presses, Authors Guild, Banned Books Week Sweden, Children’s Book Council, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Freedom to Read Foundation, GLAAD, Index on Censorship, Little Free Library, National Book Foundation, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Council of Teachers of English, PEN America, People For the American Way Foundation, PFLAG, and Project Censored. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Begun in 1981 by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, it is a Day of Unity to connect battered women’s advocates across the country. In 1989 Congress passed Public Law 101-112 declaring the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This month's theme builds on the 2025 theme "With Survivors Always" and incorporates "Survivors Deserve Action."

More Resources for Domestic Violence Awareness

National Hotlines

National Child Abuse Hotline/Childhelp
1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

National Dating Abuse Helpline
1-866-331-9474

National Deaf Domestic Violence Hotline
Video phone: 855-812-1001

The National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)

Strong Hearts Native Helpline
1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483)

October is also National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Cybersecurity Awareness Month was launched by the National Cyber Security Alliance & the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in October 2004. The theme this year is "Stay Safe Online." 

Stay Safe Resources

• Fall 2026 Annual Shred Event
  • Wednesday, October 7, 2026 & Wednesday, October 28, 2026 – Bearcat Commons Lot A (behind the Arts & Sciences Building)
  • 9am to 1pm, or until the truck is full
  • Bring your personal, work-related, or study-related documents for secure shredding—until the truck is full! Let’s work together to protect sensitive information and promote cybersecurity across campus.
• Office of Information, Security Phishing
  • What is phishing? What are the types of phishing? How can you identify and protect yourself from phishing
• Office of Information Security, Travel & Cybersecurity
  • Guidelines to help you with the security of your technology devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets when you travel.    
• Federal Trade Commission, Online Privacy and Security
  • Knowing some cybersecurity basics and putting them in practice will help protect you and reduce the risk of a cyber attack.    
• National Cybersecurity Alliance, Cybersecurity Tips for College Students
  • You can be a cybersecure student by adopting a few behaviors.

US Supreme Court by Jarek Tuszyński CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

From SCOTUS Blog:

Monday,  Oct. 5, 2026

• Suncor Energy Inc. v. Cnty Comm’rs of Boulder Cnty - whether federal law precludes state-law claims seeking relief for injuries allegedly caused by the effects of interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions on the global climate; and (2) whether this court has statutory and Article III jurisdiction to hear this case.
• Johnson v. United States Cong.  - whether the Veterans’ Judicial Review Act stripped district courts of the jurisdiction, recognized by this court in Johnson v. Robison, to hear challenges to the constitutionality of acts of Congress affecting veterans’ benefits.
  

Tuesday,  Oct. 6, 2026

• Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm. - whether, for claims predicated on fund underperformance, pleading that an Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary failed to use the requisite “care, skill, prudence, or diligence” under the circumstances and thus breached ERISA’s duty of prudence when investing plan assets requires alleging a “meaningful benchmark.”.

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026

• Dep't of the Air Force v. Guahan - (1) whether the federal government’s submission to a state or territorial regulator of an application to renew a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) permit is “final agency action” that is immediately reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act; and (2) whether the federal government must comply with the general environmental-review procedures of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, before submitting a permit-renewal application under RCRA, which sets forth its own specific procedures to review environmental impacts in the context of hazardous-waste treatment.

Posted October 6, 2026 by Susan Boland

View previous 2026 posts