It’s a big week in bookland, dear readers. Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers — in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.
Banned Books Week began in 1982 in response to a surge in challenges to books across the country. Since them, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) tracks reports of book challenges and bans and compiles the annual Top Ten Challenged Books List in order to bring awareness to this issue. Their report this year was chilling. There was an alarming 17% increase in book censorship complaints in 2016. Since most challenges do not get reported by libraries to the OIF, the actual number is probably much higher. Another fact to add to this disturbing trend: typically, only 10% of the titles reported to OIF are normally removed from the institutions receiving the challenges. In 2016, half of the most frequently challenged books were actually banned last year. You can have a look at this video, produced by the American Library Association, about the 10 most challenged books of 2016. Many of them are titles that have been challenged previously, but a few are new.
The Banned Books Week Coalition (BBWC) is a national alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read, and this year, they are is responding to these challenges and increased censorship with “Our Right To Read,” a celebration of the diverse range of ideas found in books, and our right as citizens to make our own intellectual choices.
BBWC Chair Charles Brownstein says, “Our free society depends on the right to access, evaluate, and voice a wide range of ideas. Book bans chill that right, and increase division in the communities where they occur. This Banned Books Week, we’re asking people of all political persuasions to come together and celebrate Our Right to Read.”
We’ve said it here before, but at our Library, you–and everyone else who visits us–have the right to read whatever you like. We are honored to help you access the stories, information, and resources that you need, without judgement. And we are also huge fans of Banned Book Week. So stay tuned this week for more celebrations of our right to read!