Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. There are groups of people who want to limit what we are able to read. These groups have sought to ban books in Papillion, Grand Island, Nebraska, Orange City, Iowa and other communities. Banned Books Week is gives libraries the opportunity to bring these issues into the forefront.
Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Our library purchases books to meet the reading interests and needs of all of the people in our community. That means we will have some books that you may not like or find offensive. But we encourage people to read what they like. There is a book for every reader and every reader has their books.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers es — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.’
The caution and danger tape around some of the stacks is our way of celebrating the freedom to read, but showing how bad it could be if we were not able to read the books you want to read. You can celebrate by helping me tape your section of the library, and discussing the importance to the freedom to read to patrons who ask about the caution tape on our shelves.
For more information visit https://bannedbooksweek.org/about/.