As you can tell by some of the decorations going up around the library and on the website, we’re gearing up for a fun week of celebrations.  The reason? Next week is Banned Books Week!

Not sure what Banned Books Week is? Contrary to what you might think, it is not a celebration of banning books as much as it is a celebration of intellectual freedom.  The American Library Association defines intellectual freedom as

“the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular…..BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.”

Each year during the last week of September, we celebrate books that have been challenged or banned.  How do books make the list? According to the ALA website,  “A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.  A banning is the removal of those materials.  Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.”

So Happy Banned Books Week, 2011!  Get involved throughout the week by browsing the displays at the UST Libraries and checking out the information on our Libguide.  You can also:

Vote for your favorite Banned Books (let’s get a list of UST favorites going!)

Play  the BBW Daily Trivia Contest! A new question will be posted every day – so check in often!

Check out – or participate – in the 2011 Virtual Read-Out!

Look for updates of Trivia winners and Poll results throughout the week, and feel free to ask any library staff if you have questions (we all get pretty pumped up about this). More importantly, thanks in advance for helping us celebrate!