Internal emails throw light on the sources used by Government of Alberta staff to search for “inappropriate” materials in school libraries, including an index of America’s most banned books and a website linked to the rise in attempts to ban books in the U.S.

Alberta’s Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced in May the province planned to bring in new standards to ensure explicit and “age-inappropriate” books were kept off school library shelves, and said the policy “is not a question of banning specific books or specific titles but rather establishing clear policies and guidelines for all school divisions to follow.”