Happy Banned Books Week!

Copyright: American Library Association

Today marks the start of Banned Books Week.  Running from September 30th to October 6th, Banned Books Week is a celebration held every year to highlight the freedom to read and the importance of the 1st amendment.  The American Library Association (ALA) uses BBW to highlight the importance of fighting against censorship and bringing attention to the attempts or instances of book censorship and banning within the United States.

Intellectual Freedom is the basis for BBW, as the ALA states that Intellectual Freedom is "the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular." Therefore, the information contained within a book must be accessible to all, even if you don't agree with it. Of course people have a problem with this, anfd are consistently attempting to deny access to not only themselves and their families, which is perfectly fine, but to other people and thier children as well. This is a problem, as not each family has the values or beliefs as the next, and should not be subjugated to those beliefs.

To be clear, a challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. If the material is then removed, that book has now been "banned". Over the past ten years, American libraries were faced with 4,660 challenges.

• 1,536 challenges due to material deemed “sexually explicit”;
• 1,231 challenges due to “offensive language”;
• 977 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
• 553 challenges due to “violence”
• 370 challenges due to “homosexuality”;
• 121 challenges due to material deemed “anti-family”; and
• 304 challenges due to “religious viewpoints.”
  
  
  In the light of these statistics it is important that people (like all my wonderful readers) take a stand, and support Banned Books Week!   Here are some resources to get you started!

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom and provides regular news updates via the OIF blog, Twitter and the IFACTION mailing list. The National Coalition Against Censorship is an alliance of fifty national non-profit organizations, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that works to educate both members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose it.

The Freedom to Read Foundation is the only organization in the United States whose primary goal is to protect and promote the First Amendment in libraries by participating in litigation dealing with free expression in libraries and other venues. Members receive a quarterly newsletter, The FTRF News The First Amendment Center maintains an online First Amendment library and provides breaking news about First Amendment issues via its RSS newsfeed

Also don't forget to check out the Banned Books Week Hop, and enter to win some great prizes!

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