Burn the Books! (Again, please don’t actually do this…)

The Parkersburg and Wood County Library is celebrating the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week!

This year you can come by our Emerson Avenue Branch to check out an interactive display, or attend the South Parkersburg Branch’s Read-A-Thon on September 23rd from 10am-8pm.

As you sit down to read or listen to your next book, take a minute to be thankful that you can read as you choose.

We thought it would be “fun” to show you some of the labels and insults people have applied to these books over the years in an attempt to control what other people may or may not read.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; thousands of books are banned or challenged every year in the United States in the present day.

“Unsuitable.” “Sexually explicit.”	“Encourages disobedience.” “Racially offensive”	“Anti-white.” “Excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, and centered around negative activity.”	“Propoganda.” “Too sexual.” Declared ‘non-mailable’ by the U.S. Post Office in 1940	“Talks about parts of the body.” “Vulgar” “Offensive language.” “Sexual themes.”
“References to ‘whores.'” Banned in 1972 by Ohio School Board. “Offensive humor and language.”	“Profane.” “Vulgar language.” “Racially offensive.”	“Appalling!” “Offensive.” “Sexually Explicit.”	“This book is full of filth!” “Vulgar.” “Profane.” “Sexual references.”	“The F-word is written 28 times, and the C-word makes one appearance. The S-word? 18 times!” “Expresses atheistic beliefs.”
“Problem book.” “Encourages revolts.” “Indecent.” “Communist.”	“Too radical.” “Socialist.” Burned by Nazis!	“Vulgar.” “Scandalous.” “Inappropriate sexual references.” “Immoral.”	“Alcohol usage.” “Vulgar.” “Sexual content.” “Immoral.” “Profane.”	“Anti-Italian.” “Sex novel.” Burned by Nazis in 1933.
“Profane and anti-Catholic.” “Many profane and obscene references, vulgar Spanish words, and glorifies witchcraft and death.”	“Violence.” “Cursing.” “Negative view of religion.” “Underage sex.”	“Blasphemous.” “Obscene.” “Dangerous to the morals of youth.”	“Pornographic, offensive, and vulgar.” ~Charleston, WV, 2000. “Criticizes U.S. government policies.” “Encourages draft-dodging.”	“Pornographic.” “Inappropriate for curriculum.” “Explicit.”
“Sacrilegious.” “Heretic.” “The work of the devil.” Burned outside London in 1988.	“Filthy, trashy sex novel!” “Offensive language.” “Unsuitable.” “Graphic.”	“Completely sick.” “Garbage.”	“Troubling ideas about race relations, man’s relationship to God, African history, and sexuality.” “Rough language.” “Explicit.”	“ “Coarse language and dialect.” “God’s name used in vain.” “Dangerous!”

Control the Books! (Not really: Information wants to be free.)

Beginning November 1, 2019, Macmillan Publishers will allow libraries to purchase only one copy of each new eBook title for the first eight weeks after a book’s release.  This means WVREADS would only be able to get one copy for over 34,000 active users (that is for 66 library systems across the state of WV).

Usually the debate about eBooks vs. paper revolves around tactile sensations and the way books smell. But people don’t always realize how much eBooks can help the visually impaired, physically disabled, and those with learning disabilities.

“One of the great things about eBooks is that they can become large-print books with only a few clicks, and most eBook readers offer fonts and line spacing that make reading easier for people who have dyslexia or other visual challenges. Because portable devices are light and easy to hold, eBooks are easier to use for some people who have physical disabilities.” ~ American Library Association

The Parkersburg and Wood County Library would encourage you to consider signing this petition to tell Macmillan CEO John Sargent that eBooks are for everyone. #eBooksforAll

• If you are a reader, visit http://ilovelibraries.org/
• If you are a library worker, visit http://www.ala.org/advocacy/e-books
• If you are a member of the media, visit http://www.ala.org/news/library-ebook-lending-press-kit

Censor The Books! (Actually Please Don’t…)

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries shelves and from classrooms. The OIF tracked 347 challenges to library, school and university materials and services. Overall, 483 books were challenged or banned in 2018.

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.

Banned Books Week (September 22-28, 2019) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools. It brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.