Library Hosts Banned Book Read-Out Event

The Banned Book Read-Out occuring in front of the James A. Cannavino Library. The event moved inside later in the day. Photo by Eric Johnston '26.

On Oct. 7, the James A. Cannavino Library at Marist University hosted a Banned Book Read-Out event in its front courtyard. The event was one of several events that the library hosted to commemorate Banned Book Week, a nationwide event designed to fight book bans of all kinds.

“This is actually a pretty commonly done event at a lot of libraries,” said Elizabeth Clarke, coordinator of library instruction. 

The event consisted of people reading either portions of or the entirety of select banned books in half-hour shifts from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Clarke emphasized the importance of “exercising our right to read these books that have potentially been banned or challenged.”

Some of the titles that Clarke was referencing include books from the “Goosebumps” series, “Twilight,” “How the World is Passed,” “And Tango Makes Three,” “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” “Catcher in the Rye” and “The Giver.” Clarke and the rest of the team at the library had no hand in the title selection process, as they let the readers choose what they wanted to read.

The library has been incredibly active in other affairs during Banned Book Week.

“This past Sunday [October 5], we ran a zine-making event focusing on banned books and censorship,” said Gill Friedlander, the public and research services librarian.

The Poughkeepsie Public Library District (PPLD) Bookmobile, Rover the Roaming Library, also showed up at its usual spot parallel to the Hancock Center on Oct. 3. The visit of the Bookmobile prioritized handing out library cards for the PPLD “to help students gain more access to libraries and books,” said Clarke. 

Library employees also constructed a display in the main lobby of the library regarding banned books, and there were “interactive prompts on our whiteboard and on social media,” according to Friedlander.

Clarke and Friedlander felt that it was more important now than ever to bring these sorts of events to Marist.

“The numbers [of banned/challenged books] have been rising exponentially over the past couple of years, and it’s going to keep getting worse,” said Friedlander. “Most of these books, if not all of them, focus on diverse topics… stories that people need to see and representation that matters.”

“I also think, in a lot of ways, college is supposed to prepare you for life as a citizen and as a person,” added Clarke, who emphasized the importance of making sure “that people have a sense of empathy” with regards to these books and the often marginalized communities they are written about, for or by.

Clarke and Friedlander still hold out hope for the future of free expression and the written word - a fight that Marist students can actively partake in. 

“Read the books, talk about them, have these conversations, know that it’s happening, get informed,” said Friedlander.

Clarke also mentioned that bans of this nature have hit close to home for the Marist community, referencing the 2022 banning of Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by the Wappingers Central School District, which drew staunch opinions from both sides of the aisle and a student protest. 

“It’s a good thing to be aware of how you can stand up and fight back against it in your local community if it comes up,” said Clarke.