Rollins College will be holding the 2nd Annual Banned Books Read-Out at Olin Library Wednesday, September 28th from 11am-1pm. The Banned Books Read-Out is an educational and exciting event to exercise your first amendment rights by reading challenged and banned books. The national alliance came together in 1982 as a result of the massive amounts of books that were being challenged. This year, the coalition chose to celebrate diversity. Erin Gallagher, the Electronic Resources and Serials Librarian in Olin, brought the annual Banned Books Read-Out to Rollins because of her great experience with the event at her alma mater. The American Library Association organizes and promotes the Banned Books Week, but Erin’s main reason for starting it here was because of the educational conversations that spawned from some of their favorite books and to share her belief about the importance of allowing participants to engage in conversation about censorship and our freedoms to read.
One of Erin’s main goals for this event is to raise awareness about the freedom to read. The Library Bill of Rights, Article 3 states, “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.” Erin hopes to be able to spread the message that by limiting access to books, we restrict the education of children and adults, which is unacceptable in an educated society. As an educational society, we should be encouraging curiosity, diversity, and inclusion, not censoring the books that are beneficial to the youth. Erin hopes to be able to shed light on these issues with a fun, positive, and uplifting style. Mostly, Erin hopes that all the students who join the event will enjoy themselves as well as learn.
Banned Books Week Coalition is not about attacking those that are challenging books; it is about protecting the rights of the rest of the public, since most challenges come from parents trying to control what their children are exposed to. The event highlights freedom of speech, which includes being able to stand up to those challenging different books. Join your Rollins community the 28th of September and bring one of your favorite, censored books to engage in some intellectual and intriguing conversations. The library will also have plenty of books on hand for you to choose among.
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