42% of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century have been banned or challenged
That’s an attention-getting statistic, isn’t it? I was surprised to find this out myself, when putting together our Banned Books Week display for the second floor.
The statistic comes from the American Library Association (ALA). The Radcliffe Publishing Course created a list of the Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, and according to the ALA, at least 42 of these titles have been the target of banning attempts. See the whole list here.
People are often surprised to hear that challenges to books happen with any frequency. They are more common than people realize – according to the ALA, there were 517 challenges in 2008 across the United States. Take a look at the top 10 challenged books of last year.
To get a more local perspective, you can access lists of all the book challenges in the state of Oregon since 1988.
The American Library Association has a strong Freedom to Read Statement. This statement is referenced in our library’s policy on selecting materials (PDF). It closes with the following statement:
“We here stake out a lofty claim for the value of the written word. We do so because we believe that it is possessed of enormous variety and usefulness, worthy of cherishing and keeping free. We realize that the application of these propositions may mean the dissemination of ideas and manners of expression that are repugnant to many persons. We do not state these propositions in the comfortable belief that what people read is unimportant. We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society.”
So get out there and exercise your freedom to read!
Posted by Lisa, a second floor librarian
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