Posted 2:03 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, 2025
Celebrating Banned Books Week
Murphy Library hosted a series of student engagement activities to highlight the value of free and open access to information by celebrating the freedom to seek and express ideas during Banned Books Week, October 5-11, 2025.
Murphy Library displayed (Banned) books from the ML collections to showcase the university library as an information hub for free speech and non-censored expression. Librarians and library staff introduced the book borrowing process to students and advanced the value of the ML collections by showcasing materials with book displays in the library and “on the road” at the Student Union with the new Murphy MOBILE Library series. By stimulating an interest in ML across campus, the library team increased awareness, cultivated interactions with students, highlighted books and reading as pathways to lifelong learning, and advanced information literacy by teaching students why books were challenged, censored, or banned.
Now you can test your knowledge of Banned Books by competing in TWO gamified learning quiz competitions!
#1. Participate in Murphy Library’s Banned Book Emoji Title Challenge!
Using only emojis as clues, compete to correctly guess the titles of books that have either been flagged, challenged, or banned in libraries, schools, or even bookstores in the United States.
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Enhance your information literacy skills through this interactive game-based “Emoji Title Challenge” led by librarians and staff from Murphy Library.
#2. Play in Murphy Library’s Banned Book Battle!
Use a brief set of clues to correctly guess the titles of books that have either been flagged, challenged, or banned in libraries, schools, or even bookstores in the United States.
Enhance your information literacy skills through this interactive game-based “Banned Books Battle” led by librarians and library staff from Murphy Library.
Use your technology device and prepare to learn more about books facing censorship, the reasons they were challenged, and the authors who wrote them.
These online interactive games will be active through October 7, 2026.
Stop by the main floor of the library to explore our banned book displays before it's too late!
Visit our Banned Books Week Library Guide HERE.
Learn more about Banned Books Week from the American Library Association HERE and check out their graphics below.
Celebrate Banned Books Week every day and fight for your right to READ.