Banned Books Week explores ‘Let Freedom Read’ theme 

Banned Books Week recently wrapped up, and librarians say it is an important learning opportunity with an impact throughout the year.

Schools, public libraries and bookstores across the U.S. participated in the event from Oct. 1-7. The American Library Association launched the event in 1982 to spotlight attempts to remove books and allow authors to celebrate their right to free speech. The content in banned books has usually been deemed inappropriate by school officials or the community.

The theme this year was “Let Freedom Read,” a direct nod to recent book bans and what the ALA called “an urgent need to defend the right to read.”

Book advocacy groups reported a recent increase in book challenges. The ALA recorded 695 attempts from the beginning of the year through the end of August, a 20% increase from the year before.

PEN America is part of a century-old, international literary organization which protects free expression. The group reported 3,362 book bans nationwide, from the beginning of July last year, through June this year. PEN reported that 1,557 unique titles were removed in those bans.

Both organizations reported the majority of challenges were issued to books written by or about a woman, person of color or member of the LGBTQ community.

Banned Books Week displays censored material to allow people a look at what has been banned in their community. It also introduces the idea that entire communities can be affected by the censorship of one person or small group, according to several librarians.

Teresa Doherty is the student success librarian at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a former member of the ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. Censorship takes away a community’s access to books librarians have already bought and made available, according to Doherty.

“Librarians are making informed decisions about what’s appropriate for their community,” Doherty said. “Recently people that have nothing to do with libraries, but have a point of view about 'this is inappropriate for children, this is pornographic, this is obscenity,' etc. are trying to force libraries to change the decisions they’ve already made.”

VCU hosted exhibits and daily events during Banned Books Week, which ranged from graphic novels and comics that pushed censorship boundaries to whiteboard engagement about First Amendment freedoms.

Banned Books Week is a Super Bowl-esque event for librarians. Kevin Butterfield is the university librarian at the University of Richmond. It is one of the most important things that librarians get to be a part of all year, he said.

“It’s one of the weeks during the year when we do the most education around this kind of topic,” Butterfield said.

A U.S. map in the UR library lobby was used to demonstrate how only two states have banned book bans, California and Illinois, and both passed the laws this year. A display was also used to explore the reason behind a book challenge. Students guessed the book title based on the reason it was banned. The exercise can help students grasp both sides of a book banning discussion, Butterfield said.

Banned Books Week is an opportunity for people to understand how public libraries work and how decisions are made, according to Butterfield.

“They’ll probably learn a lot about each other and the communities they live in and how they should approach a problem or a discussion around whether a book is something that should be in their libraries,” Butterfield said.

Kathy Beery is the Democratic candidate for the District 2 state Senate race. She taught in Harrisonburg for over 20 years, mostly at the middle school level. Her favorite subject to teach was reading, she said.

“It’s really important because we take time to look at things that people have tried to censor,” Beery said about Banned Books Week.

There are so many types of authors, many who are underrepresented, and it is important to know their stories, Beery said.

“If we don’t hear from them and hear from their stories, then we don’t really know them,” Beery said. “We don’t really know how policies and the way we treat them impacts them.”

The groups focused on challenging books are often very vocal, according to Beery.

“If you are a parent and you don’t want your child to read something, tell the teacher,” she said. “I had parents who did that when I was teaching.”

Beery said she honored the parent’s request, and the students also self-regulated.

“I think the parents that are going after all these books, personally, I think their agenda is to censor,” Beery said. “To not have people be able to hear from people that think differently and live differently than maybe they do.”

Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, introduced a bill that passed last year, which tasked the Virginia Department of Education to create model policies concerning instructional material with sexually explicit content. This policy created a system for notifying parents of certain class materials and giving them the chance to opt out. Instructional materials are decided by the local school board, according to the VDOE. Parents can see and opt children out of library services, or particular topics.