(Banned Books Week)
(by Camden Forgia)
(Courtesy of www.west.asu.edu)

"All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States -- and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Banned Books Week is September 27th to October 4th.

Come by the library to:

Get A Free Bookmark

See Our Display

Pick Up a Copy Of The Library Bill of Rights

Peruse Library Resources on Censorship

Q: What is Banned Books Week?

A: "Banned Books Week emphasizes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them."
(From the American Library Association's Website)
(http://ala8.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/challengedbanned/challengedbanned.htm)

Q: When did it start?

A: 1982

Q: What's the difference between a ban and a challenge?

A: A challenge is a request to ban a book. A ban refers to actual limitaion of access.

Q: What is the library doing to celebrate?

A: We're banning some books!

Q: Banning Books? At the library?

A: Well, not really. Most of the copies of the books we "banned" are personal copies owned by the librarians. Don't worry, all of the books we chose to put on display are available at other libraries in the area, and they'll only be "banned" for the week. We really didn't ban any of the books, we just checked them out, one of the most common methods for banning a book.

Q: People ban books by checking them out?

A: They sure do! Most book challenges do not result in a banned book. People who want to circumvent the book challenge process will frequently check out books that they find offensive and never return them to the library. They effecitvely ban the book by physically removing it.  Sometimes, they'll just throw it in the trash and hope that no one notices.  It happens more often than you might think.

Q: How did you decide which books to "ban"?

A: There are two sets of books on display. The first set includes books found on the ALA's list, "Books Challenged or Banned in 2007-2008." The other set is made up of titles that have been frequently challenged/banned in the past, we called them "The Repeat Offenders."

Q: Where can I see lists of banned books, statistics on challenges, and other such information?

A: There are many resources available to you. We have collected some of the best here.

Here are links to lists detailing the books we "banned" at Trinity.
Each listing provides additional information on the challenges issued or bans imposed.

Books Challenged or Banned in 2007-2008

Repeat Offenders