STEPHENVILLE (September 14, 2018) — Literary classics like Gone with the Wind, Catcher in the Rye and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are among the thousands of titles banned or challenged in libraries across the country.
Tarleton State University’s Dick Smith Library on the Stephenville campus and the Texan Hall Library at the school’s Fort Worth center will highlight these and other titles in concert with national Banned and Challenged Books Week, Sept. 24-28.
Banning Books Silences Stories is the theme of this year’s event.
“Read-Outs” take place Wednesday, Sept. 26, at both locations, allowing participants to read five-minute excerpts from personal favorites that have drawn criticism. More than 40 participants signed up last year.
Volunteer readers can register at http://trltn.info/read-out.eduand will receive T-shirts.
The event runs from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Stephenville and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Fort Worth. Everyone is invited.
Kym Schow, coordinator of Access Services at Tarleton’s Dick Smith Library, says Banned Books Week highlights attempts to censor literature.
“Celebrating Banned Books Week gives us the opportunity to talk about censorship and why it’s important to celebrate the freedom to read,” she explained. “Last year was the first time we held a read-out event and it was amazing to see how excited people were about reading banned and challenged books. We hope that this year will be even bigger.”
Hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to censorship each year by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events.
“It celebrates our freedom to read literature of our own choosing,” said Reference and Instruction Librarian Lisa Wan. “Our libraries’ ‘Read-Out’ makes this freedom come to life and allows all participants — readers and listeners — to experience this freedom first-hand and to enjoy the books.”
Banned and Challenged Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since then, according to the American Library Association. In fact, 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been targeted for ban attempts.
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