Celebrating Your Right to Read

The LRC is celebrating our freedom by participating in Banned Book Week 2011.
Books on this display have been challenged for their content. People or groups have challenged books for their sexual content, profanity, and various other personal resons. When a book is challenged it's challenger is asking that book to be removed from the library's shelf.

Have you read a challenged book lately? 2011 Banned Booklist Celebrate your basic right to read this week by checking out a "banned book" or joining us for our author visit on Wednesday afternoon.

For more information about Banned Book Week 2011 see:
American Bookseller's Foundation

Banned Books #5

Today is our last day for celebrating Banned Books Week this year. We will leave our books display up for another week or so, though.

Check out this cool graphic from Good magazine. It is a great visual for communicating a lot of information about why these were the most targeted books for censorship. Click on the graphic to zoom in for a closer look.

http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1005/targeted-books/flash.html

Twitter has had a big role in helping authors defend their books against challenges this year. Laurie Halse Anderson defended her book Speak against charges that it was "soft pornography" by using Twitter. Sherman Alexie (Absolutely True Diary...) and Ellen Hopkins (Crank) fought back on Twitter as well.

http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/twitter-banned-books-new-best-friend/

This video is from last year, but it's awsome!



Check out our other 2010 Banned Books Week Posts: #1 , #2, #3, #4.

Banned Books Week #4

A video fom the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom, The Top Ten Banned Books in 2009



Here are two more resources having to do with censorship in schools and libraries:

Libraries and the First Amendment (McCormick Foundation - Chicago)
http://www.freedominlibraries.org/

National Council of Teachers of English: Anti-Censorship Center
http://www.ncte.org/action/anti-censorship

Banned Books Week #3

Here are some pictures of our Banned Books Week 2010 display in the LRC. Please stop on by and check it out. Or check out one of the books and read it.

Banned Books Week #2

This is an interactive Google map showing book challenges in schools and libraries from 2007-2010. It is drawn from information from the  American Library Association and the Kid's Right Read Project.


View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 in a larger map

Banned Books Week #1

Banned Books Week, sponsored by the American Library Association, happens every year at the end of September (Sept. 25- Oct. 2). BBW celebrates everyone's freedom to read an the importance of the place of the First Amendment in our lives.  You will be hearing more this week from the LRC about related information and a display in the LRC.

Visit the ALA website for more information and resources.

ALA: Banned Books Week
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

The NY Times Learning Network also offers 10 ways to celebrate Banned Books Week
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/10-ways-to-celebrate-banned-books-week/