Get Your Banned Book On…Do a Virtual Read-Out!
Have your two minutes of fame reading a dangerous book for a YouTube video – participate in the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out!
Banned Books Week (September 24 – October 1 this year) turns a spotlight on attempts to censor books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the U.S. This year, you can show your support for the “freedom to read” by posting a video of yourself reading excerpts from a banned or challenged book to a dedicated YouTube channel. Here’s how:
- Pick a book from the American Library Association’s lists of Banned & Challenged Classics or Frequently Challenged Books (browse at left of this linked page by year, authors, and decades).
- If you don’t own a copy of the book, search the GSU Library GIL-Find catalog by title (or perhaps the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System catalog), and go check it out!
- Find a favorite passage to read from the book – and remember your video can be no more than 2 minutes.
- Grab your digital video device – if you don’t have one, you can check out a Flip video camera from the GSU Library!
- Rock your banned book reading for the camera – and maybe give a shout out to the GSU Library for clueing you in to the Virtual Read-Out.
- Follow the instructions HERE for uploading it to the dedicated YouTube Channel.
Curious to learn more about the history of book censorship? Here are some other library resources to explore:
- Our reference volumes that give overviews of literature suppressed on sexual, social, political, and religious grounds.
- Various books on the role of libraries in opposition to censorship.
- An article exploring U.S. public opinion from 1976 to 2006 regarding removing racist books from public libraries.