Banned Books Week displays can catch someone’s attention as they walk through the library. Featuring those collections online extends that visibility beyond the building, helping patrons discover challenged titles even when they are not browsing the shelves in person.
Banned Books Week takes place October 4–10 this year under the theme “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” The American Library Association tracked 4,235 unique titles challenged in 2025, while public libraries accounted for more documented censorship incidents than any other library setting.
In a recent New York Times feature, librarians also pointed to book challenges and restricted access to information as some of the pressures libraries are navigating today.
For libraries marking the week, the opportunity goes beyond visibility. Bringing challenged titles together in one curated place gives patrons a clear starting point for exploration, rather than relying on them to already know what they want to search for.
Bring the display online
With Vega Discover, staff can create showcases from saved lists, searches or ILS lists and make them available for patrons to explore. For Banned Books Week, that could mean bringing challenged titles from the library’s own collection together in one showcase and featuring it on the catalog homepage. Homepage content can also be scheduled with start and end dates, making it easier to align the display with the week itself.
Showcases can also be shared by link or embedded in newsletters, blog posts or other library webpages, giving libraries more ways to connect readers with the collection.
Banned Books Week creates a moment to talk about the freedom to read. Extending that conversation into the online catalog gives patrons another place to explore the books their library has chosen to highlight.