Banned Index
← Back to home

Attribution & License

How to cite Banned Index in journalism, research, and publications

Banned Index data is free to use with attribution

The data published on Banned Index is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You are free to share, adapt, remix, and republish it for any purpose — including commercial use — provided you give appropriate credit.

Required attribution

At minimum, every use must include:

  • The name Banned Index
  • A link to https://bannedindex.org
  • A note that the data is licensed CC BY 4.0
  • If you modified the data, a note saying so

Suggested citation formats

Journalism (inline)

According to Banned Index, a public database of US book bans (bannedindex.org), at least 384 books were removed from Florida school districts during the 2022–2023 academic year under HB 1467. Data retrieved April 9, 2026; licensed CC BY 4.0.

Academic (APA style)

Hartup, L. (2026). Banned Index: A real-time database of US book bans and library restrictions. Retrieved April 9, 2026, from https://bannedindex.org. Data licensed CC BY 4.0.

Specific ban or law record

Banned Index, ban #1234 (https://bannedindex.org/bans/1234), retrieved 2026-04-09. Data licensed CC BY 4.0.

Dataset snapshot (entire database)

Hartup, L. (2026). Banned Index: A real-time database of US book bans and library restrictions (Version: weekly snapshot, 2026-04-09). Retrieved from https://bannedindex.org. Licensed CC BY 4.0.

What the license does NOT cover

The CC BY 4.0 license applies to the Banned Index database — the structured records we have compiled, the relationships between books / bans / laws / jurisdictions, and the compilation itself.

The license does not cover the underlying source materials we cite. Those remain subject to their own copyright. Specifically:

  • News articles we link to are owned by their publishers
  • Government reports (FL DoE PDFs, court filings, meeting minutes) are in the public domain or subject to their own licensing
  • Quoted excerpts of source materials we include in our records are used under the fair use doctrine for news reporting, research, and public-interest commentary

If you’re republishing substantial excerpts of a source article, you still need to comply with that source’s own copyright terms — CC BY 4.0 only releases our own database contributions.

Endorsement

Attribution is required, but it is not endorsement. You may not imply that Banned Index endorses your use, work, publication, product, or organization. We reserve the right to request that attribution be removed or corrected if it misrepresents our position.

Bulk access

For academic research, journalism, or institutional use that requires bulk data access, we publish weekly database snapshots in our GitHub repository. A public REST API is planned.

Questions about bulk use, custom extracts, or collaboration? Email hello@bookhoardapp.com.