Reading gives people private space to encounter ideas, ask questions, explore unfamiliar experiences, and form their own views. A strong culture of reading depends on preserving that freedom.
ACRE works to protect access to a broad range of books and expression, including works that may challenge assumptions, address difficult subjects, or reflect experiences different from our own. The purpose is not to require agreement with every book. It is to preserve the reader’s opportunity to encounter, consider, accept, reject, question, and learn.
Book challenges and restrictions can affect what students, families, and communities are able to find on shelves and through institutions created to serve them. These disputes also place librarians, educators, authors, booksellers, and community leaders in increasingly complex legal and policy environments.
ACRE brings public education, legal and policy expertise, legislative engagement, research, and coalition support to these questions. Our priorities include advancing affirmative protections for the freedom to read, supporting implementation where protections already exist, and identifying emerging restrictions that may limit access to books and ideas.
Decisions about books often occur locally or at the state level. Local relationships and knowledge are therefore essential. ACRE can contribute national coordination, publishing expertise, legal and policy analysis, research, and lessons from other jurisdictions while supporting partners who understand their communities best.
The freedom to read matters because access and choice help sustain engagement with reading. Books allow people to learn, see themselves, encounter others, build empathy, test ideas, and discover the subjects and stories that turn reading from an obligation into a lasting part of life.
This page will share policy developments, legal and legislative analysis, coalition perspectives, research, and practical resources for people working to protect the freedom to speak, read, and think.
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