Banned Books Week | Celebrating the Freedom to Read

American Censorship

You may have heard in history class about Nazis burning books in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.  Teachers and textbooks like to include that information to illustrate the repressive nature of the Nazi regime.  But did you know America has a long history of institutionalized censorship?

Many of the books that are now considered classics were challenged by censors for years after their publication, and many books are challenged today.  The Scarlet Letter, now required reading in many American middle and high schools, was censored heavily in its day and through the 20th century for being "pornographic and obscene."

Ernest Hemingway, now considered to be part of the vanguard of 20th century American literature, faced heavy censorship of his works during his lifetime.  Many of Hemingway's novels were banned by booksellers and schools.  The United States Post Office considered For Whom the Bell Tolls unsuitable to send through the mail because it contained “propaganda unfavorable to the state.”

Why is censorship dangerous?

Censorship in the United States highlights a fundamental contradiction of American society.  Though the country was founded on classical liberal ideals like freedom of expression and the marketplace of ideas, a deeply conservative vein also courses through America and demands that defined values be respected, promoted and protected.  Often, challenges to printed materials are motivated by good intentions: to protect people, and especially children, from potentially harmful material.  However, this need to protect our values becomes censorship if it becomes a call to ban books, or to otherwise silence voices.

The problem is this: the notion of established, accepted values that must be protected is typically a way to protect the viewpoints of the majority and the opinions of persons with power.  Censoring or silencing minority voices, controversial opinions, or unpopular views because they do not fit in with normative values not only deprives persons of free expression, but nullifies the freedom of the marketplace of ideas, excludes the values systems of minority groups and deprives minority groups of opportunities for empowerment through information.  Censorship can also have what is known as a "chilling effect," whereby persons begin to voluntarily censor their expression and information seeking because of a climate of restriction and fear.  Censorship based on values is an obstacle to social and political change, artistic advancement, intellectual freedom, and the right to information. 

Libraries, Values, and the Right to Information

Libraries are charged with providing communities with access to information.  Librarians are trained to select books for collections, preserve materials, and assist library users with information requests while remaining as neutral as possible toward materials and their contents.  Libraries provide access; they do not restrict it.  In the words of the American Library Association, while it is encouraged for people to "restrict what they themselves or their children read... they must not call on governmental or public agencies to prevent others from reading or viewing that material."

Values are important.  In libraries, we value neutrality, access, and intellectual and informational freedom.  Values held by individuals to guide their choices for themselves and their families are important.  But we cannot publicly mandate what individuals' values ought to be.  That is why public libraries emphasize neutrality  - so persons of all belief and value systems can access information of interest to them.  The goal is to exclude nothing, and therefore include everyone.

Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign from the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom.  More information can be found online at:  http://www.ala.org/bbooks/ and http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Banned Books Week: Sept. 30−Oct. 6, 2012

Banned Books Week celebrates our freedom to read and draws national attention to the harms of censorship.  Listen to readers from across the country and around the world celebrate banned books at the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out.
Over the years, some of the most highly acclaimed and award winning classics in literature have been repeatedly challenged, such as, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, The Color Purple, Beloved, The Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, Catch-22, Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse-Five, A Farewell to Arms, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Song of Solomon, and  Native Son.
This from President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Dartmouth College commencement address on June 14, 1953:

"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship." 

Out of the 326 challenges reported by the American Library's Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom in 2011, the top ten were:

1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
4. My Mom's Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
8. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
9. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar 
10. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Read a banned book today!

52 Ways to use your Library Card: Week Four "Banned Books Week and Our Choice to Read What We Want"

To Kill a Mockingbird was recently on local TV and it made me think about writing this blog post. The book is by Harper Lee and was first challenged in 1977  and was temporarily banned for the use of inappropriate words to minors. The book would be challenged in other libraries and schools years later.

I really enjoyed reading To Kill a Mockingbird when I was a child and I am glad I had the opportunity to read it when I was in school. As I go through the list of banned books, I noticed that most of the books I enjoyed reading as a child were either banned or challenged.

 Another one of my favorite books growing up was Bridge of Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. This book was placed number eight on the American Library Association's list for 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books between 1990-2000. The reason the book has been challenged was because of death being the plot and one of the character's use of the word "lord" outside of prayer. This book was very powerful for me at a young age and I would recommend it to any child to read.

There are many more great books that can be found at the American Library Association (ALA) website and check out more information at this site as well, Banned Book Week. Reading is very important for young minds and as a librarian, I feel we should encourage people to read these wonderful books.

Banned Book Week is a nationwide movement to promote free expression with reading. To help with this movement of non-censorship, the Richmond Public Library is participating in Banned Book Week by displaying banned and challenged books. More than 11,000 books have been challenged since 1982. This is the 30th annual celebration of Banned Book Week and the celebration starts September 30 and ends October 6.

Go to your local branches to see how they are celebrating Banned Book Week.

Also, please share with us the challenged books that impacted you by going to this site: ALA most commonly challenged books. We would love to hear about it.