Banned Books Week   Tags: banned_books, censorship, intellectual_freedom  

This year is the 30th year Banned Books Week and the Freedom to Read has been celebrated!

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States. (from http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm)

"A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content. In some cases, banned books of the past have been burned and/or refused publication. Possession of banned books has at times been regarded as an act of treason or heresy, which was punishable by death, torture, prison time, or other acts of retribution. A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds. We take the acts of banning or challenging a book as a serious matter, because these are forms of censorship--striking at the very core of our freedom to read." -- from About.com

To celebrate Banned Book Week, our president participated in the Virtual Read-Out by reading from a banned book - George Orwell's 1984! If you would like to participate, click on the Virtual Read-Out tab above for more information.

This timeline was put together to celebrate 30 years of liberating literature. It features one book for each year from 1982 - 2012.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating 30 Years of Liberating Literature Timeline

Check out the tabs above to see examples of banned books the MCC Libraries have, to view lists of banned or challenged books, to see an interactive censorship map, and more!