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September 26, 2005
Read a Banned Book!
September 24, 2005 to October 1, 2005 is Banned Book Week. Please consider these thoughts:
"Don't join the book burners. Don't think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed." Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America
"In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost." Alfred Whitney Griswold, author
"Censorship...has always been and always will be the last resort of the boob and the bigot." Eugene O'Neill, playwright
"Free societies ... are societies in motion, and with motion comes tension, dissent, friction. Free people strike sparks, and those sparks are the best evidence of freedom's existence." Salman Rushdie, author
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime..." Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court justice
BANNED BOOKS ARE ON DISPLAY AT THE LIBRARY. CELEBRATE YOUR INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM. READ A BANNED BOOK!
Posted by RMLibrarians at September 26, 2005 4:56 PM
Comments
If the books are banned, can't you get in trouble for displaying them in you're library? I'd like to read a banned book, but I don't want to get in any trouble
Posted by: Anonymous at September 28, 2005 12:05 AM
Sometimes books that have been removed from middle-school or elementary-school libraries gets counted as "banned," gets counted as "banned".
Or the book might at one point in history have been considered indecent or shocking by one particular community.
If you visit the American Library Association's Banned Books web page, you'll see that most of the information there is about "challenged" books.
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm#faq
It's easy for me, working in a university in America, to point out the difference between a "banning" and a "challenge," but I have the luxury of doing that. This week reminds us how important freedom of the press and intellectual freedom is.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at September 28, 2005 12:18 AM
To answer your question, Anonymous, we can't get in trouble for displaying banned books in the library because in the U.S.A., everyone is free to read or to own any book he/she may choose. That freedom is provided by the First Amendment to the Constitution, and our government supports the right of its citizens to speak freely. Implicit in the freedom of speech is the right to hear any spoken words or read any written words. Freedom of speech wouldn't count for much if we all were free to speak or write, but no one was free to listen or read. That is the essence of intellectual freedom.
Despite this amendment protection, libraries that depend on public funds (such as school or public libraries) may sometimes succumb to pressure from individuals or groups to ban books. The books on display here have all been banned at various types of libraries in various cities. We encourage everyone to look at the banned book display and uphold his/her right to read by checking out and reading a banned book. If anyone would like to have more information on intellectual freedom, please contact the librarians. It's one of our favorite topics!
Posted by: RMLibrarians at September 28, 2005 11:56 AM