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Illinois Libraries Spotlight 4,235 Book Challenges During Banned Books Week
Bourbonnais, IL – The Bourbonnais Public Library District is marking Banned Books Week by highlighting national data showing thousands of books were targeted in censorship attempts across libraries an
By Mara Ellison · 2026-10-07T17:55:48.212Z
Bourbonnais, IL – The Bourbonnais Public Library District is marking Banned Books Week by highlighting national data showing thousands of books were targeted in censorship attempts across libraries and schools during 2025.
According to information shared by the library and attributed to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, 713 attempts to censor library materials and services were reported nationwide in 2025. Those cases involved 4,235 unique titles.
The Bourbonnais library shared the figures during Banned Books Week, observed Oct. 4 10 this year, along with data examining who initiated challenges and where they occurred.
The data shows 51% of reported challenges occurred at public libraries and 37% at school libraries. Another 8% involved school curricula, while 3% occurred in higher education.
The library’s graphics also state that nearly 92% of censorship attempts in 2025 were initiated by pressure groups and decision makers influenced by them, representing a 20 percentage point increase from 2024. A breakdown attributes 40% to boards or administrators, 31% to elected officials and 21% to pressure groups. Parents accounted for 3% and patrons 1%.
Book related cases represented 68% of the 713 censorship incidents tracked by the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Other incidents involved library access, displays, programs, online resources and other issues.
The library also highlighted a longer term increase in organized challenges. Its presentation says pressure groups and decision makers influenced by them targeted 7,884 titles in 2025, compared with an average of 46 titles annually from 2001 through 2020.
The statistics are national rather than a count of challenges specifically occurring in Bourbonnais or Kankakee County. The local library shared the figures as part of its Banned Books Week educational outreach.