Banned Book Week 9/24-10/1

Every year for one week in September, the American Library Association celebrates the freedom to read by highlighting the past year's challenged and banned books. 

Visit the library this week and learn more about the attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. When a library removes a book from its shelves because someone disapproves of the ideas or opinions contained in the title, that is censorship. Librarians have always respected a parent's right to decide what their family should read----but other families should be able to decide different choices for their family.

This week we celebrate our freedom to read guaranteed under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Here are some resources to learn more, ALA Banned Books Week website and Office of Intellectual Freedom. Videos of challenged authors and celebrities will be posted on YouTube throughout the week.  Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube will have more! 

Click on this visual interpretation of Banned Book Week using a word-cloud creator, Wordle. 

Banned Book Week 2009

Banned Book Week 2009, "Celebrate Your Freedom to Read" is the 28th annual celebration of the freedom to read. The freedom to read and to select from a wide array of possibilities is grounded in the First Amendment where the freedom of speech and freedom of the press is also guaranteed.

Even if well-intentioned, censors try to limit the freedom of others to choose what they "read, speak or hear." The complete list of challenges and the reasons can be found at http://www.ala.org/bbooks.