Freedom to Read Week
Past Displays
The University Library is a proud participant in Freedom to Read Week. In past years, we have often put on displays that highlight challenged books in our collections. The following image galleries show some of the displays that were produced in various library locations over the years.
2014
Murray Library
2014 was the 30th anniversary of the Freedom to Read movement in Canada. It was 1984 when the Book and Periodical Council, through its Freedom of Expression Committee, first published this annual review to explore the freedom to read in Canada.
2014 marked the first time in many years that the University Library put on a display for Freedom to Read Week. It was one of the first times that we extended our display space in Murray by adding tables next to the Research Help Desk. One library employee called it "simple, attractive, well-produced, and just the right bit provocative". The display received so much positive feedback that library staff decided to renew the tradition and put on new FTR displays every year.
2015
Law Library
"I love my freedom to read whatever I want" was the theme for Freedom to Read Week in 2015. Several branches of the University Library had displays throughout the week, including the first floor of the Murray Library (by the Research Help Desk), the Education & Music Library, the Law Library, and the Engineering Library.
The display at the Law Library was our first instance of flames - evocative of book burnings throughout history. The display even featured the citations for the court cases!
Murray Library
"I love my freedom to read whatever I want" was the theme for Freedom to Read Week in 2015. Several branches of the University Library had displays throughout the week, including the first floor of the Murray Library (by the Research Help Desk), the Education & Music Library, the Law Library, and the Engineering Library.
The Murray display was covered in caution tape and each book had a label on it that warned readers about its contents. Caution! Reading may cause original thought!
2016
2016
Images of 2016 displays have been lost to the sands of times. However, ambitious explorers can scroll all the way back to 2016 in the photos on the library's Facebook page to see some of the challenged books we highlighted online during that week.
2017
Murray Library
In 2017, the theme for Freedom to Read Week was "The Beautiful and the Banned" and the poster had a large dragon breathing fire on a knight reading a book. The Murray Library took the imagery of fire quite literally and used quite a bit of orange construction paper!
2018
Murray Library
In 2018, the Murray Library decided to make their display more hands-on! You could read the description of the book's offense on an envelope, make a guess, then remove the envelope to find the book underneath. By far the easiest one to guess was "depiction of wizardry and magic."
2019
Murray Library
Freedom to Read Week marked its 35th anniversary in 2019! The Murray Library loved the "guess the book" idea from 2018 so much that they did it again for 2019.
Law Library
Freedom to Read Week marked its 35th anniversary in 2019! The Law Library stuck with the tried and true book burning theme.
Education and Music Library
Freedom to Read Week marked its 35th anniversary in 2019! Children's books are challenged quite often by concerned parents, so the Education & Music Library was able to put together a large display this year.
2020
Murray Library
For 2020, the Murray Library ditched the "guess the book" display and put their books in jail. Each book had a rap sheet tucked into it so people would know exactly why it was behind bars.
Law Library
To match the bright colours of the 2020 Freedom to Read Week poster, the Law Library made up colourful books bands explaining why each book was challenged.
2022
Law Library
Education and Music Library - Part 1
Education and Music Library - Part 2
Murray Library
2023
Education and Music Library
Murray Library
