Metropolitan State observes Banned Book Week

By Jocelyn Stone

Like many institutions across the country, Metropolitan State University observed Banned Books Week Sept. 26-Oct. 3. The annual event is a way to promote unrestricted access to information and literature, and raise awareness about book banning.

The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) defines a challenged book as one where an active attempt has been made to remove it from an institution, such as a library, school or university. A banned book is one where the challenge attempt was successful. The OIF compiles lists of the most frequently banned and challenged books throughout the country.

Although some people may think that book banning is an action of past decades, as compiled lists show, challenges are made on a regular basis every year. Both classics and current literature are targeted, with violence, sexual explicitness and offensive language among the most common reasons.

The OIF estimates that a very small percentage of challenged books are actually reported, possibly one in five, so it would be hard to determine accurate national numbers; however, they have received over 3,700 reports in the last eight years. Although some books are successfully banned or restricted, many are not because community members and academic professionals stand up to the challenges.

Opposing the challenging and banning of books serves two main purposes: to uphold the First Amendment, which states an individual’s right to free speech, and to support the concept of intellectual freedom.

The OIF commits itself to maintaining intellectual freedom and defines it as, “[T]he right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored. Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas.”

During Banned Books Week, Metropolitan State had a display of some of the most commonly banned books on the second floor of the library. Students, faculty and administration had the opportunity to have their pictures taken with their favorite banned book. The pictures were then arranged around the reference desk on the first floor of the library for other university community members to view.

For more information on book challenges, banning and partial lists of recently banned books, the ALA posts information on its Web site: http://ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm.