Banned Books Week, iSchool style

Do you have a favorite banned book? Harry Potter? Green Eggs & Ham?

Each year, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from library shelves and classrooms. And each year for the past four years, ALA organizes a “Banned Book Virtual Read-Out” as part of Banned Book Week to bring attention to attempts at censorship. People from all walks of life read from their favorite banned books and post their videos online.

Five Information School Ph.D. students/candidates organized a “Read Out for Eliza” virtual readout during Banned Books Week 2014 (Sept. 21 – 27) that coincided with the iSchool Fair welcoming new and returning students.

Ivette Bayo Urban, Katie Campana, Sean Fullerton (pictured), Liz Mills, Beth Patin and Sarah Evans, dedicated the event to Professor Eliza T. Dresang, who passed away in April, 2014. Dresang’s birthday coincides with Banned Books Week and she was a tireless advocate for freedom of expression through her work as the Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services . 

The students invited faculty, staff and students to celebrate the Freedom to Read by reading out loud from their favorite banned books and having their video posted online. Joyce Wiehagen, Jen Kern, Marin Brouwer, and Sean Fullerton  helped with the event, which was sponsored by the Information & Society Center.

Watch any or all of the many videos produced for this event:

Emily Keller, UW Librarian, Political Science 
The Absolute Story of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr.

Mary Dickson, Assistant Director, Corporate & Foundation Relations 
Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume

Cynthia Del Rosario,  Diversity Programs Advisor
Radical Change, by Eliza Dresang

Ivette Bayo Urban, PhD Candidate
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire

Helene Williams, Senior Lecturer
The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron

Shannon Gilmore, Grants and Contracts Manager
Green Eggs & Ham, by Dr. Seuss

Sarah Evans, Ph.D. Candidate UW College of Education and iSchool Lecturer  
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Andre Evans
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling

Karen Erickson, Assistant to the Dean  
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

Ricardo Gomez, Associate Professor       
Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak

Anya Bartelmann, UW Science Librarian
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

Erin Quarterman , Librarian at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology  
The Giver, by Lois Lowry                                

Lois Haight, MLIS Graduate 2014
To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee