Crescent-News.com - Libraries celebrating Banned Book Week

By LISA NICELY

You can't read this. It's banned.

That's what many libraries are trying to stop -- the banning of books. Libraries and other groups across the nation are observing Banned Books Week, Sept. 27-Oct. 4.

The goal of Banned Books Week, which has been observed since 1982, is to celebrate the freedom to read and express any opinion that may be unorthodox or unpopular.

Area libraries are celebrating the week.

"We are doing displays in the adult and youth services" departments, said Elaine Walker of Defiance Public Library's adult services department. "We are passing out bookmarks. We've ordered posters about them, and we have a list also."

Walker said it's important for libraries to recognize Banned Books Week.

"We realize that we are to have freedom of speech in this country and that (banning books) goes against that," she said. "As a library, we feel we are here to offer materials to people and not make a decision (that would) restrict information they could have."
Some libraries recognize the week, but do not plan anything special to commemorate it.

The Putnam County District Library will discuss the week in its newsletter, while the Napoleon Public Library has no plans.

Napoleon library director Pam Lieser said that although the library doesn't commemorate the week, it doesn't mean the library doesn't agree with the message of Banned Books Week.

"We don't ban books," she said. "They shouldn't be banned,"

Other librarians agree.

"Reading provides access to the information and ideas that fuel the human intellect," said Susan Pieper, Paulding County Carnegie Library director. "In Paulding County, protecting the right of every person to have access to books and information is a hill we will die on. It is the cornerstone of the public library."

She added that each year her library features a prominent display of books that are on the list of banned books reported to the American Library Association.

The Paulding library and several others in the region keep a list of banned books on site.

"We have the list available if they (patrons) care to check," said Joan Pershing, director of the Wauseon Public Library. "They are surprised at some of them on the list. You may have someone ask why we have banned books?"

Pershing said, unfortunately, there are a lot of books that have been banned or challenged. Libraries in general are against banning books or restricting information, she said.

"People have the right to read what they want to read," she said.

Still, there are many people who try to get books banned from libraries and schools.

According to the American Library Association, each year its Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of frequently challenged books. A challenge is an attempt by an individual or group to have a book removed from a library or school because of objections to material.

Believe it or not, the top challenged book in 2007 was about penguins. And Tango Makes Three is a story inspired by actual events at the Central Park Zoo in New York. Basically, two male penguins sit on an abandoned egg until it hatches. They then take care of the baby, Tango.

Among the reasons why a book about penguins has been challenged include unsuited to age group, anti-ethnic, sexism, homosexuality, anti-family and religious viewpoint. Who knew so many people had problems with penguins?

Some of the other books on the list have been there for quite some time including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Color Purple by Alice Walker and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

The American Library Association states that it is grateful to libraries for the work they do to stop information from being restrained through banned books.

"Although they were the targets of attempted bannings, most of the books featured during (Banned Books Week) were not banned, thanks to the efforts of librarians to maintain them in their collections," according to the association. "Imagine how many more books might be challenged -- and possibly banned or restricted -- if librarians, teachers and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society."