Banned Books Week, Sept 24 to Oct 1

It's that time of year again...Banned Books Week! Held during the last week of September, this event celebrates one of the most basic human rights of any democratic society: the right of intellectual freedom. It alerts people to the efforts that continue to occur on a regular basis in the United States to limit or to discourage access to books and other materials in schools, libraries, and bookstores. Sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and several other organizations, Banned Books Week is a reminder to people not to take for granted their freedoms to read, to speak, and to think. In 2010 alone, the Office of Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association received reports of 348 challenges nationwide, and it anticipates that there are many more that go unreported. Such challenges are typically efforts to circumvent the normal institutional procedures for reviewing the suitability of materials in order to limit the access of students and others to ideas and viewpoints with which the challengers disagree. They are attempts to close off discussion and to prevent individuals from being able to judge ideas for themselves.

The Whole Earth Library will once again join libraries throughout the country in Banned Books Week which runs from September 24 until October 1. Look for the return of our interactive, appropriate technology Banned Books display on the outside of the library wall where you are encouraged to write quotes from your favorite banned and challenged books or to just share thoughts about intellectual freedom in other creative ways. In addition, we are once again sponsoring an essay contest for our neighbors at The Bay School of San Francisco, a private coeducational college preparatory high school just down the street from us in the Presidio. Students have been asked to write on the subject of intellectual freedom and sustainability.

If you would like to learn more and discover what books have been banned or challenged in the United States, visit the Banned Books Website and be sure to check out American Library Association's lists of Frequently Challenged Books. And Tango Makes Three, has returned to the top of the list for 2010, and you might be surprised by some of the books that are also on it. Regardless, there are lots of fun reading ideas.

Thank you,
John Bertland, Librarian