Freedom to Read: Censorship in Schools and Libraries

Last year, the American Library documented challenges to 4,235 books, many initiated by elected officials, school boards, and organized pressure groups. Join the USC Libraries for a timely, thought-provoking conversation about censorship, intellectual freedom, and your right to read.

Dr. Huriya Jabbar, USC Rossier School of Education, moderates a discussion between former librarian and current candidate for Huntington Beach City Council Erin Spivey; and Ernesto Cisneros, a public school teacher and nationally acclaimed author of Efrén Divided and Queso, Just in Time.

Visit the Freedom to Read event page to register for this hybrid event.

In preparation for the discussion, we encourage everyone to view The Librarians, directed by Kim A. Snyder, which won this year’s Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit In Documentary Filmmaking. It follows librarians across the United States as they confront a sweeping wave of book bans and are forced to become unexpected defenders of the First Amendment. The film reveals the personal toll of censorship while framing the fight for the freedom to read as a broader struggle for democracy.

Watch The Librarians by accessing it through the USC Libraries.

Forbidden Pages: Past and Present, an exhibition of materials from the USC Libraries Special Collections covering hundreds of years of attempts at censorship, is on display throughout the fall 2026 semester on the first floor of Doheny Library.