Protecting the Freedom to Read!: Celebration September 26 through October 2

Banned Books Week began in the 1980s. It was a time filled with a number of book challenges, organized protests, and the Supreme Court case Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982). The ruling determined that school officials could not ban books from library shelves simply because of their content. With the immense popularity of the exhibit, the American Booksellers invited Office of Intellectual Freedom Director Judith Krug and the National Associaiton of College Stores to join a new inititative, Banned Books Week.1


In 1982, the American Booksellers Association showcased banned books as part of the Book Expo America trade show in Anaheim, California. At the entrance to the convention center towered large, padlocked metal cages, with some 500 challenged books stacked inside and a large overhead sign cautioning that some people considered these books dangerous.


Celebrating Banned Books Week was a great success and has become a regular September-October event.


What is a banned book? It is one that has been removed from the shelf of a library or school.


What is a challenged book? It is one that some people think should be removed, but hasn’t been removed from the shelf of a library or school.
 
In the United States, the greatest number of challengers are parents. Parents are charged with the responsibility of guiding, supervising and managing their children’s exposure to information. Schools and libraries have the responsibility of providing appropriate, stimulating, and varied resources that support each child’s needs and interests. Since not all parents are alike and the resources they want for their children will often be unique, schools and libraries have the important job of being able to meet everyone’s requirements.

How many of these challenged and/or banned books have you read?

2https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned

The main reasons books are challenged include explicit language, sexuality or violence; inappropriate age content; foul or offensive words; presenting controversial or culturally challenging issues, religious concerns.


In the United States of America, we have a Constitution, the law of the land, that regulates the degree to which our opinions, expectations, and wants will affect the lives of other citizens. The First Amendment


Prevents the government from making laws which regulate an establishment of religion, or that would prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.


The freedom to express ideas, thoughts, opinions, facts, etc. is protected by the Constitution. Exposure to those expressions is worked out through the legal system. That means, there is a lot of case law on censorship and very little on who should be protected from obscenity, offensive language, violence, political vitriol, or other topics considered unacceptable by a person or a group. Challenged and banned book issues most often concern public libraries or K-12 schools.

Why should we care about banned books and censorship?

America's fundamental principles and values are articulated in the First Amendment. In countries and regimes where free speech, freedom of the press, and access to information are denied, tyranny reigns. Autocrats, tyrants, monarchs and other authoritarian leaders are able to maintain control by limiting the development and flow of information.
 
What can we do to honor Banned Books Week?

• Read a banned book.
• Visit the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom.
• Read the books your children are reading and talk about the books.
• Thank a librarian for helping your child in the library.

Cheryl Stewart, MOTAL Board Member
September 15, 2021


Sources:
1https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2017/11/01/50-years-office-intellectual-freedom/


2https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned


https://bannedbooksweek.org/promotional-tools/#ALA%20Assets