Banned Books Week 2015

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association

Each year during September, Sullivan University Library joins the American Library Association in observing Banned Books Week event. An annual celebration of our right to access books and materials without censorship, Banned Books Week commemorates the most basic freedom in a democratic society—the freedom to read freely—and encourages us not to take this freedom for granted. Since 1990, the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges. A challenge is a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. (ALA, 2015).

To help celebrate the freedom to read, the Sullivan University librarians invite students, faculty, and staff to come to the library between the hours of 7:30am and 6pm, Monday-Friday, to have their pictures made with a banned or challenged book. We have several books in the library that have been banned or challenged, and you may take your picture with one from the library’s collection or a favorite banned or challenged book that you own already. With your permission, your picture will be posted on the library’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SullivanLex).

Even if you decide not to have your picture taken, please visit the library to browse through the Banned Books Week display, and go to the library’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SullivanLex) and blog (http://lexlibrary.blogspot.com/) to see some of the books that have been banned or challenged. Source: American Library Association. (2015, August 18). Banned and Challenged Books: Clip Art and Free Downloads. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/freedownloads