It's the time of the year when we celebrate our right to intellectual freedom and our library will have an exhibition of Bibles and other religious texts in September 17th and 18th brought to us from the Sociedad Biblica de Puerto Rico and sponsored by the Spiritual Life Department. Religious texts have been banned and censored over the centuries, just like other types of documents. Let's fight against censorship by exercising our right to choose what we read, listen to and watch. Limiting access to information keep us in the dark, let's keep the light on. Top 11 Most Challenged Books of 2018Facts about Censorship
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Every school year, our library celebrates our freedom of expression and intellectual freedom. We all have a right to read and discuss information on different topics, even those that are difficult and controversial. This week we celebrate the books we love and that have been challenged. I have many on that list, but here are some of my favorites: Which is your favorite banned book?This week we celebrated Banned Book Week (September 28th to October 2nd) by acknowledging the art of book making of the Middle Ages. Creating a book at that time was a craft left to monks and their artistry is breath taking. Our 8th grade students worked on Medieval illuminations with their art teacher, Ms. Arlene Ruiz and they are being exhibited at the library this week along with books on the Middles Ages and posters with facts about censorship and intellectual freedom during that historical period. We also had a video on how the printing press was creating and how this invention signaled the end of the Middle Ages and gave way to the Renaissance. Students were able to make a connection between Now and Then. They realized that even though not many people knew how to read and write, censorship as we know it had it's beginnings during the Medieval time and gain force in the Renaissance. And that there were people that found ways to fight against censorship even then. Here are some interesting facts: Censorship is something that will always be present but it is important to protect our right to choose what we read, see and listen to. It is through the exposure to a variety of topics and formats that we become open minded, we learn to respect other peoples' believes and we become knowledgeable.
Our Constitution protects our right to express our thoughts and ideas freely. There are people that, misguided by their good intentions, try to dictate what we can and cannot read. This is called censorship. Throughout the centuries, people like Socrates, Galileo and Miguel de Cervantes have been censored because of their ideas. Libraries, bookstores and schools celebrate our freedom to choose what we read and have censorship awareness activities during Banned Book Week. Here is a slide show of some of the many books that have been censored. Do You?
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AuthorVilmarie Torres, Upper Level Librarian Categories
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