Banned Books Week begins Oct. 1 in Carlson Library

While drugs, sex, offensive language and violence usually have no place in a library, the 18th-annual Banned Books Week welcomes books with all those topics and more in a celebration of reader’s rights.
The vigil will be held Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the fifth floor of Carlson Library.
Arjun Sabharwal, Digital Initiatives Librarian and UT Banned Books Coalition member, describes the event as a “celebration of our right to read, speak and create in general.”
“As students go through college and are exposed to books through these events, they have better information of what they may have missed while they were growing up,” Sabharwal said. “And at the same time, they have the opportunity to evaluate, and that’s the idea of reading, is that you evaluate your sources, just like when you research, you have to say, ‘OK, well is this really a good book, or a reliable book?’”
According to Sabharwal, this year’s theme centers around young adult books and he said he understands where the concern is coming from in regards to the impressionable young minds that young readers possess.
At the same time, he also said that with libraries cutting off access to books deemed as inappropriate, young readers are being deprived of great opportunities thus causing their field of vision to be narrowed.
A Banned Books coalition member and former staff reporter at The Independent Collegian, Josephine Schreiber, wrote in an email interview that she sees it as a violation of her rights whenever she hears of a library or school challenging or banning a book. She views UT’s Banned Books Week and Banned Books Day as a way to give students the ability to defend their rights as citizens.
“While I think it’s okay for parents to oversee what their child reads, I don’t think it’s okay for a public group or administrator to dictate what can and can’t be read by a group of people,” Schreiber wrote.
Not only does UT’s Banned Books Week and Banned Books Day celebrate the books that have been banned, it also helps students and staff learn more about their rights as readers.
Danielle Pigula, fourth-year communication major and Banned Books Coalition member, said that the event covers aspects of the First Amendment including freedom of speech and freedom to protest. Pigula stressed how important the event is in correlation to ending the banning of books in schools.
“I guess I feel that it affects you in ways that you don’t even know. When I went to this banned books vigil I was thinking, ‘Oh, they don’t do that anymore, that was just the past that they banned books,’ but it’s still an issue today,” Pigula said. “Especially in high schools, like what kind of books they’re allowed to read and what books libraries will offer. So I definitely think that it’s important for us to keep making strides to not have any books banned. Freedom to read, freedom to get any information that we can.”
Pigula said she encourages all of the students and staff to attend at least one session of the Banned Books event because it will be covering a wide range of topics and will appeal to many of their interests.
The public is also invited to Banned Books Day; it’s a free event that will feature twenty-minute presentations and speakers. Light snacks will be provided throughout the day. Door prizes and banned books will also be given away every half hour.