As Americans, we take a lot of our freedoms for granted. Other than yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theatre, we don’t even think twice about our right to say what we want when we want. We trust that law enforcement cannot enter our homes without a warrant, and we know that the freedom of religion is an ideal on which our country was founded.
But imagine a reality in which we couldn’t read what we wanted. The freedom to write books of varying opinions and subject matter is protected by the First Amendment, under the freedom of speech. Have you considered that this extends to protect your freedom to read? Protecting everyone’s freedom to read what they want is a bedrock of librarianship, and it’s more of a constant concern than you might expect. There are frequent calls to censor books people don’t agree with or find objectionable in some way. If the move to censor a book is successful, it may be pulled from the shelves of schools, public libraries, and even booksellers.
A surge of book bans and challenges in the 1980s led to the banding together of people across the book trade to protect the freedom to read and draw attention to banned and challenged books, and thus Banned Book Week was born. Typically held the last week of September, Banned Book Week celebrates the most challenged books of the previous year, inspires advocacy around the need to protect our freedom to read, and highlights the value of free and open access to information. By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week underscores the harms of censorship.
Curious about the most challenged books of 2017? The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom compiles lists of the most challenged books across the country. Last year, the Top Ten Most Challenged Books were (quoted directly from the bannedbooksweek.org website):
There’s an interesting and unintended consequence to banning books however. Prohibiting something gives it the allure of being taboo; telling people, especially teens, that they “can’t” do something only makes them want to do it more. Banning books can actually catapult them into popularity.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and choice of reading material is often a matter of taste. People who challenge books disagree with their content, opinions expressed, etc – and that’s fine. We’re never going to all agree on what constitutes offensive content, and what a boring world it would be if we only ever saw our own values reflected back to us. The problem doesn’t lie with differences of opinion, but instead with restricting others’ access to information and books they might want to read.
In a famous passage discussing Voltaire, historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” And librarians will continue to protect your right to read. Help us celebrate Banned Books Week 2018 this week, September 23-29. We have a display of banned books on the second floor – some of the titles might surprise you! – and we can help you find other titles you might be looking for.
Liz Reed is an Adult and Information Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, Massachusetts. Read Liz’s column in the September 27, 2018 issue of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.