FERRUM, VA, October 9, 2023 – The Stanley Library currently has banned books on display to encourage discussion about why they were banned and by whom throughout history and the impact banning has on literacy, culture and development.
The display was built by library staff last year to show books that had been burned from the Nazi Burning Parties to present. The goal was creating something that looked like a furnace to draw attention to the display for Banned Books Week.
“Currently, the most challenged books are often about LGBTQ+ topics, but there are some classics that seem to get challenged over and over again (Beloved, Bluest Eye, Catcher in the Rye, ect.),” Stanley Library manager Rachel Walton says.
Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. Typically, the week is acknowledged during early fall, this year October 1-7, and the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas. More information can be found on the College’s LibGuides page at https://libguides.ferrum.edu/bannedbooks/current
