The Tools Book Banners Are Using to Target Books in 2026: Book Censorship News, July 24, 2026

What’s also concerning is how many lawmakers and board officials desire to make–or have made–these “tools” necessary ones for professionals to use to do their jobs. York County Library in South Carolina, for example, cites RatedBooks as one of the reputable sources library workers should use to make collection decisions (something that the partisan-designed site celebrates). At least two state legislatures tried to worm utilizing sites like RatedBooks as requirements for library acquisitions this year, too–Utah, where RatedBooks’s creator is cozy with some of the lawmakers, and West Virginia. Neither succeeded, but those won’t be the first nor last attempts. Warren County Public Libraries (NJ) saw their county commissioners ram through a new policy that forced the public library system to share reviews of materials from BookLooks in late 2024. This move was not only about politics but also reiterated how slapdash and unprofessional these sites are: BookLooks wasn’t even around a few months after the policy passed. That, and other decisions made by boards related to BookLooks, only underscore how much time, energy, effort, and money are being wasted on right-wing agendas and how muc...