Tacoma Community College Library: Banned & Challenged Books: TCC Library Resources

Choosing good search terms

Searching the Article Databases

The library has a number of databases where you can find ebooks/chapters, and articles from newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals. Consider the ones linked here as a place to start!

ProQuest Periodical Databases This link opens in a new window
Multiple periodical databases providing coverage of a wide range of topics, with a mix of popular and scholarly sources. Particularly good for current events.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
(Ebsco) Periodical database. This multi-disciplinary database covers most disciplines taught at TCC. Most articles are scholarly.
Points of View Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Articles on 400 topics, each with an overview and an argument, and many with opposing arguments. Also includes primary sources.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Set up an account for full access to New York Times: https://nytimesineducation.com/access-nyt/ (Note: 52 weeks after you first set up your own NYTimes account, you will need to re-authenticate by going to the same URL.) [Historical coverage: full access to New York Times articles published between 1851 through 1922, and between 1981 through current day. Access to the years 1923-1980 is limited.]

Search Tips

For this search, I experimented with a few different search terms. While the word 'challenge' is the most accurate word to use when searching for information about challenged and banned books, that word led to too many irrelevant articles. I used 'banned books' and got better results, that include information about book challenges.

The image below shows the search results in ProQuest, and it highlights the various filters on the left to limit to full-text results and to limit by source type (newspapers, scholarly articles, etc.). Also featured are the links to get the MLA or APA citation or to email yourself the PDF.

(click on image to enlarge)

Using Keywords

Consider making a list of other concepts, terms, and combinations to try out:

book banning
book bans
banning books
"banned and challenged" books
book sanitizing
censorship
literary censorship

ProQuest has some "guided research"

Featured Books

Banned books : challenging our freedom to read by Doyle, Robert P.
Call Number: Z658.U6D69 2014
Publication Date: 2014

Searching for Banned Books

Search the library's catalog below to look for printed books inside the library (either about book banning, or for specific banned book titles), or use the linked databases below to search for ebooks about book banning and censorship.

Library Catalog This link opens in a new window
Find items on the TCC library's shelves, as well as digital books from our ebook collections.
eBook Collection (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Over 200,000 electronic books, covering a large selection of multidisciplinary academic subjects. Books can be read through a web browser or downloaded.
Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
Over 180,000 electronic books, with broad coverage on academic topics. Viewable with your web browser; also downloadable to e-readers or e-reader apps with some restrictions.