GC&SU celebrates banned books, literary freedom

Last week, the Ina Dillard Russell Library at GC&SU observed Banned Books Week, an event that consisted of a display celebrating books seen as controversial, as well as a Thursday night reading from those works.

The display, which was free and open to the public, gave students and faculty the opportunity to peruse information concerning landmark cases of censorship, vintage posters of banned books and a list of the most frequently censored books of the past year and throughout history. Graduate assistant Meggie Nelson said students were most impressed with the “burning books” display located at the front of the circulation desk.

A mission statement from the American Library Association explained that since 1982, Banned Books Week has been observed during the last week of September, and the primary goal has always been to “celebrate the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular.”

The highlight of Banned Books Week, whose theme was “Elect to Read a Banned Book,” was the reading from several of these books, which took place in the second floor lobby of the library last Thursday night. According to instruction and research coordinator, the event was interesting, but turnout was not as high as expected.

“(The turnout was) about five students,” Darby said. “The books that were read from were Katherine Paterson’s ‘Bridge to Terebithia,’ Shel Silverstein’s ‘A Light in the Attic,’ Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ and Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Slaughter-House Five.’”

GC&SU was not alone in its honor of Banned Books Week; libraries and bookstores around the country displayed banned literature in a massive attempt to stress to Americans the importance of our freedom to read.

Banned Books Week is nationally sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Association for Free Expression, the National Association of College Stores and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. It is further endorsed by the Library of Congress http://www.ala.org/bbooks.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 8 2004. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry