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Celebrating Banned Books Week Celebrating Banned Books Week

Shining a light on censorship

By Matthew Sullivan

I’m here outside Soule Branch library where they are celebrating banned books week. books like harry potter that i have here is banned but thats not stopping them from showcasing them.

banned books week was founded in 1982 but it’s still going strong today Soule branch library has been celebrating the event for three years but each time it’s different
library assistant Amy Bader takes pride
in the interactive display she has
helped build

“so when you look at the
display you can’t really see much of
anything at all
when you take one of the black light
flash lights off of the display and
actually physically shine the way on to
the censorship then you’ll be able to
see the rationales for why each book was
banned”

some people say banning books is not a
good idea library assistant Adriana Soto
Lango would agree with that
“these things happen in real life every single day so we can’t in my opinion you can’t really really censor yourself from that just cause you censor what you’re reading doesn’t mean you can censor your real life”

banned books week started as a
competition in Onondaga County and Soule
Branch Library took full advantage
winning the first year it started

banned books weeks officially runs until the
28th of September but the Soule branch
library will be keeping the display up
through November for everyone to see
remember, shine a light on censorship. I’m
Matt Sullivan reporting for NCC news

By Matthew Sullivan SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Banned books week is underway at Soule Branch public library. This year’s theme is “Shine a Light on Censorship.”

Banned books week was an American campaign established in 1982 by a prominent First Amendment activist after a slew of books were banned nationwide that year. Onodaga county’s Banned Books Week competition has been going on for three years.

Soule Branch library won the competition the first year and look to do so again this year.. Library assistants Amy Bader and Adriana Sotolongo work together to build the display year after year.

This year’s display is different than any before though. It is the first interactive display they have built that teaches you about why these books have been banned.

At first glance the display looks ordinary but after you use the blacklight flashlights offered it changes the entire display. By shining the flashlights on the small yellow boxes above the books you are able to see invisible ink which explains why the books have been banned. These range from books banned in just schools to even some public libraries.

The official theme for this year’s nationwide Banned Book Week is “Censorship leaves us in the dark, keep the light on;” but the library assistants at Soule Branch wanted to put their own touch on it. They came up with “Shine a Light on Censorship.”

 

 

The library assistants said it’s very important to celebrate Banned Books Week because it goes against the First Amendment. Most books, according to the assistants, have been banned for “laughable” reasons and they deserved to still be read.

Going on the third year of celebration Soule Branch library has never had someone oppose Banned Books Week. However, if you are someone that believes certain books should be censored you can head over to the library and fill out a ban request form. There’s no guarantee, but it will be reviewed by the county.

There’s still time to check out the interactive display at Soule Branch library. Banned Books Week officialy runs until September 28th but Soule Branch will be leaving the display open for over another month.

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