The American Library Association has designated September 24-October 1 as “Banned Books Week”. This is an annual event designed to educate people about the books that have been challenged or banned, and to raise awareness about censorship in the United States. We, in the Learning Resource Center (LRC), would like to take this opportunity to encourage students, faculty and staff to read a banned book!

Here are some of the ways in which we at the LRC are celebrating this occasion:

Banned Books Display:
Featuring a banner and dozens of books that have been banned or challenged at some point in history.

American Library Association Web Page:
A link to the Intellectual Freedom/Censorship page of the American Library Association, the oldest and largest association for librarians.

Bookmark:
A printable bookmark with a listing of the top ten most frequently challenged books in 2004, as tabulated by the ALA. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 547 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. Hard copies of this bookmark are also available in the LRC.

Please share this information with your classes. If there is anything else that we can do, let us know!

The faculty and staff of the Learning Resource Center.