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Banned Books Week

A collection of resources to help raise awareness about the importance of freedom of information and help you make your voice heard in the fight against banning books.

Banned Books Week - Freed Between the Lines

"Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas."

-American Library Association

Banned Books Week in the Library

It's Banned Books Week! This week, the library invites you to get informed and activated on protecting free and open access to information. 

On campus: Visit our tables outside the library from 11 am until 1 pm to learn more about book bans, to talk to library staff about this work, and to make buttons showing your support.

Virtual event: "Fight for the First" Panel at 11 am with Nadine Kalin and Rebekah Modrak, editors of Trouble in Censorville, featuring freedom-to-read advocates Willie Carver, Gavin Downing, and Julie Miller. Registration required.

Banned Books Week continues, and the library invites you to bring your own lunch to a film screening about the non-neutral work of libraries.

On campus: Attend a screening of Change the Subject (2019), a documentary film about a group of Dartmouth students who challenged anti-immigrant language in the Library of Congress subject headings. Stay to talk with library staff about the non-neutral work of libraries, and how language can signal how we include (or exclude) people in libraries.
11:30am-1pm in LIBR 206. Bring your own lunch. 

Virtual event: Book ban researcher and EveryLibrary Institute Fellow Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson will host a Featured Conversation at 10pm with Maia Kobabe & Abi Maxwell, published by PRH Audio. Registration required.

On campus: Join members of the Mac community with experience advocating against fighting book bans and censorship in their communities. This casual discussion is intended to build camaraderie and understanding around what it’s like to use your voice for causes you believe in. LIBR 133 Harmon Room, 4:15 pm-5 pm.

Virtual event: Learning session on The Five Freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment at 11 am. Registration required.

Virtual event: Keynote Conversation at 1pm with Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell about their groundbreaking Simon & Schuster title, And Tango Makes Three. "We Are Stronger Than Censorship" Panel of IBPA authors at 4pm hosted by Lee Wind. Both events require registration.

Make a plan to vote! Local elected officials are often in charge of creating and/or implementing policies around books and the right to read. So pay attention to local elections like: school board members, county commissioners, city councilmembers, state representatives, etc. Figure out which candidates’ records, behaviors and positions most closely align with your own on the issues you care about, like freedom from censorship.

 We’re wrapping up Banned Books Week with an invitation: GET INVOLVED! 

  • Vote for the candidates that align for your values, including in local elections!

  • Swing by the library to pick up a button to show your support

  • Read banned books (pick one out from our display on Level 1)