Challenge:
An attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.
Censorship:
A change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes.
Intellectual Freedom
The right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.
Discussion, with definitions, of how and why materials are challenged.
Overview of the issues in a Q&A format
From the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Covers Banned Books Week, Frequently Challenged Books, Resources for Librarians facing challenges.
Statement first adopted in 1952 jointly by the ALA Council and the AAP Freedom to Read Committee.