Library Banned Books Exhibit

NEWS RELEASE

Ocean Shores Public Library
573 Pt. Brown Ave NW
Ocean Shores, WA  98569

For Immediate Release:
Date:                 September 23, 2011
Contact:             Keitha Owen, Library Director
                            360-289-3919
                            Keitha@osgov.com
Re:                     Library Banned Books Exhibit

Did you know that every year books are challenged at public and school libraries across the country?

Check out the titles that have been banned, now on display at the Ocean Shores Public Library.

How many have you read? Here’s just a few:  Grapes of Wrath, Gone with the Wind, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm and many more.

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.  Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week.  BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.

The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings.  Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections.  Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

The Ocean Shores Public Library is located at 573 Pt. Brown Ave NW.
For more information please call 360-289-3919.