8/19/2023 0 Comments Banned books weekWhen you take away books, when you ban them, you’re taking away people’s choices, and it undermines our democracy.” What kinds of books are being challenged in 2022? In our country, we believe people have the right to choose so many things, and books are one of those things. One of the conclusions I’ve come to is that democracy hinges on personal choice. Reflecting on her ongoing studies, Beaudoin said, “I’ve been reading a lot of articles about access and social justice. Efforts to ban books can really lead to polarization,” Kirchner said. “The goal of the Middletown public library is to create community. Neither has experienced a book being challenged in Middletown, but both still find it important to recognize the dangers of censorship. Kirchner comes from a background of 18 years as a school librarian in Providence, and Beaudoin, who grew up in Utah, is currently completing her master’s in library science from the University of Alabama. Kirchner and Beaudoin actively follow national news and conversations on censorship and book banning. This has been going on for a long time.”īanned Book Week is sponsored by a coalition of national organizations including the American Library Association, Amnesty International USA, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the People for the American Way Foundation.īut it's public librarians like Kirchner and Beaudoin who bring the message home to their local communities. “This isn’t new this year because of the political climate. ![]() “Banned Book Week started in 1982, defending the right to read anything you want. Sitting alongside her fellow librarian Jessica Beaudoin in the children’s section of the Middletown Public Library next to a display they designed together with a sign reading, “Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes: Read a Banned Book,” Kirchner explained the significance of the annual Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read scheduled for Sept. MIDDLETOWN - People may not think of the local librarian as safeguarding their civil liberties and democracy, but in reality, says Wendy Kirchner, “We so are.”
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