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The OCPL Board of Trustees sponsored a Banned Books Week Read-a-Thon on September 27 and 28, at the Central Library. Community leaders and library employees read from their favorite banned or challenged book to celebrate the freedom to read in America. Each reader chose a book from a list of banned or challenged books drawn from the American Library Association, as well as other sources.

Readers included Dr. Gregory Eastwood, President SUNY Upstate Medical University, who read excerpts from “To Kill a Mockingbird;” Ed Kochian, Deputy Onondaga County Executive, “Gulliver’s Travels;” Bea Gonzalez, President of the Syracuse Common Council, “The Handmaid’s Tale;” Dale Sweetland, Chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature, “Alice in Wonderland;” Mike Conner, Executive Editor of Syracuse’s The Post-Standard, “Ulysses;” and Sally Roesch Wagner, Executive Director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, “Woman, Church and State.”

The two-day event culminated in a reception that featured award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson, who presented "Censorship: Child of Fear and Father of Ignorance."

An additional event on Sept. 27, at the Central Library, featured Barrie Gewanter, Director of the CNY Chapter of the Civil Liberties Union, who presented "Dirty Words and Dangerous Ideas: Why Books Are Challenged" .

On September 28, Joyce M. Latham, Executive Director of OCPL, addressed the Library Associates of Bird Library at Syracuse University on “The Read Creed: A History of the Development of Intellectual Freedom in Libraries”. Also on September 28, Soule Branch Library presented "Banned Books: You Mean We Can't Read That?", during which, Marcia Hayden Horan, retired English teacher, discussed some of the more frequently banned books.

"The Banned Book Celebration at OCPL was a major event for us. Not only did we highlight our ethical commitment to access as library professionals, but we also engaged our community in that celebration with us. Members of county government, the local higher education community, and political candidates joined with our board members, literacy partners and friends group to help us raise the visibility of the need for open access. We highlight banned books, but it is actually about all barriers to access to all types of materials. As a public library, we are the pivotal player in reducing illiteracy, expanding cultural resources, developing information literacy and urging an engagement with the written word whether it is in print, on line or streaming through an audio connection. We are the advocates of access.

During Banned Book Week our community gave us quite a boost. They told us they recognize and support our role in our community. We thank them for that vote of confidence. It’s a celebration we choose to continue day after day after day."
-- Joyce Latham, Executive Director