Kerrville Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library joining the American Library Association in sponsoring Banned Books Week this week

The Kerrville Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library will be joining the American Library Association in sponsoring Banned Books Week this week, September 18-24, an annual celebration of the right to have access to books without censorship.  Since its inception in 1982, the event is intended to allow readers an opportunity to decide for themselves what to read.

Since 1990, the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office has recorded more than 10,000 book challenges, which means that there was a formal, written complaint requesting a book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum.  Some of these requests have included classics like “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” and “To Kill a Mocking Bird.”

Kerrville’s library will be hosting an exhibit featuring frequently banned and challenged materials.  

The American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the ALA, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers and the National Association of College Stores sponsor Banned Books Week.  The Library of Congress Center for the Book endorses the observance.

For additional information, call (830) 258-1274.