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Banned Books Week

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Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read[1], draws attention to banned and challenged books,[2] and highlights persecuted individuals.[3] The United States campaign "stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them"[4] and the requirement to keep material publicly available so that people can develop their own conclusions and opinions. The international campaign notes individuals "persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read."[3]

History

The campaign was founded in 1982 by prominent First Amendment and library activist Judith Krug.[5] It is sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), the American Booksellers Association, American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), American Society of Journalists and Authors, Association of American Publishers, National Association of College Stores, and endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

United States event

Held during the last week of September since 1982, Banned Books Week not only encourages readers to examine challenged literary works, but also promotes intellectual freedom in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Its goal is "to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society."[6] Offering Banned Books Week kits, the ALA sells posters, buttons, and bookmarks to celebrate the event. The organization provides a map that shows where books were officially banned or challenged.[7]

Many educational facilities also celebrate banned and challenged books during this week, often creating displays and programs around the awareness campaign. Additionally, various booksellers sponsor activities and events in support of Banned Books Week. Some retailers create window displays, while others go further, inviting authors of banned and challenged materials to come speak at their stores, as well as funding annual essay contests about freedom of expression.

International event

Amnesty International also celebrates Banned Books Week by directing attention to individuals "persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read."[3] Its web site documents "focus cases" annually which show individuals who have been reportedly killed, incarcerated, or otherwise harassed by national authorities around the world, and urge people to "take action" to help it in partnership with its "Urgent Action Network" by contacting authorities regarding human rights violations.[8] They also provide updates to cases from previous years, giving a history and current status of people who have been allegedly persecuted for their writings. The cases include individuals from Azerbaijan, China, Cuba, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Myanmar, Russia, and Sri Lanka.

Reception

The event has been praised for celebrating the freedom provided by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[9] Public events where banned books are read aloud are commonly held to celebrate the event.[10][11][12][13] The international event held by Amnesty International has also been praised for reminding people about the price that some people pay for expressing controversial views.[14]

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby noted that the overwhelming number of books on the list were books that were simply challenged (primarily by parents for violence, language, sexuality, or age-appropriateness), not actually removed.[15] He also argues that a much more significant exclusion of books occurs when books are not acquired because library or bookstore staff dislike certain authors or titles.

Mitchell Muncy writing in the Wall Street Journal has alleged that the censorship being protested in the event does not exist, and that books are not banned in the United States.[16] Camila Alire, the president of the ALA, responded that Banned Books Week highlights "the hundreds of documented attempts to suppress access to information that take place each year across the U.S.," and that "when the library is asked to restrict access for others, that does indeed reflect an attempt at censorship."[17]

Former ALA Councilor Jessamyn West said:

It also highlights the thing we know about Banned Books Week that we don't talk about much — the bulk of these books are challenged by parents for being age-inappropriate for children. While I think this is still a formidable thing for librarians to deal with, it's totally different from people trying to block a book from being sold at all.

— Jessamyn West of Librarian.net[18]

Doug Archer, librarian and past chair of the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Committee, responds that such criticisms do not fairly address the threat of censorship:

The argument goes thusly. Most books on the annual ALA list of banned and challenged books were “only” challenged, never banned. Even if some were removed from libraries, they are still available for purchase in book stores. Therefore, censorship hasn’t really happened because the government hasn't banned the books. .... Just because libraries and librarians have been so good at defending the freedom of the public to read as they choose, means that we're being dishonest? No, it just means were doing our job.

— Doug Archer of the American Library Association[19]


The ALA has been criticized for not championing all books in the event. When the "Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays" tried to donate books that discussed "reversing" homosexuality to libraries, the books were rejected. When they asked the ALA to issue a statement during Banned Books Week in 2009 that would urge schools not to ban such books, the organization's director of intellectual freedom, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, said that the event's diversity policy "speaks for itself".[20]


References

  1. ^ "About Banned Books Week". Library Journal. Retrieved 2009-09-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ "About Banned and Challenged Books". American Library Association. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  3. ^ a b c "Banned Books Week". Amnesty International, USA. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  4. ^ "Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read". American Library Association. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  5. ^ Dorothy Samuels (2009-04-14). "Editorial | Appreciations | Judith Krug". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
  6. ^ "Banned Books Week". American Library Association. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  7. ^ Carolyn Kellogg (2009-09-28). "It's Banned Books Week". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  8. ^ "Urgent Action Network". Amnesty International, USA. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
  9. ^ Ron Dzwonkowski (2009-10-01). "Banned Books Week is a good time to read one". Editorial Blog. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  10. ^ "Lit events". Chicago Tribune. 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  11. ^ "VC, UHV celebrate freedom with Read Out". Victoria Advocate. 2009-09-26. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  12. ^ Kevin Mertz (2009-10-12). "A stand against banned books". Milton Daily Standard. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  13. ^ ""Banned Books Week" at Gulf Coast Community College". WJHG-TV. 2009-10-02. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  14. ^ Nancy Mattoon (2009-09-29). "Books Banned, Author Imprisoned". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  15. ^ Jacoby, Jeff (September 27, 2001). "Book-Banning, Real and Imaginary". The Boston Globe. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Mitchell Muncy (2009-09-24). "Finding Censorship Where There Is None". Wall Street Journal. p. W13. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  17. ^ "Letters to the Editor:Librarians Work to Protect Free Access to Information". Wall Street Journal. 2009-10-01. Retrieved 2009-10-08.
  18. ^ Jessamyn West (2006-09-21). "Banned Books Week is Next Week". Librarian.net. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  19. ^ Doug Archer (2009-06-17). "A Pet Peeve". OIF Blog. Office for Intellectual Freedom. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  20. ^ Diane Macedo (2009-10-22). "Gay Reversal Advocates Say School Libraries Banning Their 'Ex-Gay' Books". Fox News. Retrieved 2009-10-22.

Further reading

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