In Preston Library’s Periodicals Room you’ll find a display in honor of Banned Books Week. This week marks the 29th year that Americans have been celebrating the freedom to read. Each year many books are challenged as being objectionable by individuals and groups who ask for them to be removed by public and school libraries everywhere. See the top 10 books challenged in 2009, as reported by the American Library Association Office for International Freedom here. When an individual or group makes a challenge, it’s more than stating a negative opinion about that book – it’s asking that others don’t have the freedom to choose to read that book.
All sorts of books are challenged for reasons ranging from content to language to age level. Of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century (as designated by the well-respected Radcliffe Publishing Course), 46 have been challenged or banned. Libraries are great supporters of the First Amendment, and further, the freedom to choose what to read. Stop in the Periodicals Room to learn more about Banned Books week and see some of Preston Library’s books that were once challenged or banned.
See other news about Banned Books Week here.
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