The last time a book was banned from a Buffalo public library was 1939, but there were more books banned during the last year throughout the country than ever before.
“If people think this couldn’t happen here, they’re wrong,” said John Spears, director of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System.
The Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System has joined Unite Against Book Bans, a national campaign to protect the rights to access information, and is taking part in the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, Oct. 1 to 7.
New library cards with artwork promoting the freedom to read debuted Tuesday at all 37 library branches.
Various activities also are planned for Banned Books Week, including a read-out of books banned in other areas, speakers and presentations and a writing workshop for teens. There also will be a more permanent display featuring banned book covers on the exterior sides of the Central Library. Learn more at buffalolib.org.
The goal is to bring attention to book bans affecting libraries of all types in the United States and around the world, Spears said.
Efforts to ban books are nothing new. “The Grapes of Wrath,” by John Steinbeck, was banned in 1939 because it contained “vulgar words,” according to the American Library Association.
More than 1,200 attempts to ban books from libraries took place last year, the highest number since the association started keeping track of such bans more than 20 years ago.
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