Submitted by Kathy Campbell, Librarian at Rio Rancho Public Library
Banned-Tastic Display
The Rio Rancho Public Library looks forward to Banned Books Week each year, where the librarians use their creativity to come up with different displays. This year Youth Services Librarian Jenny Gregg and Adult Services Librarian Kathy Campbell created a new and novel display.
Jenny envisioned a video featuring a variety of citizens reading from banned books in front of a police lineup background. She approached city councilors, Friends of the Library, public safety officers, journalists, students, and others. The result was a display with an 11-minute video, surrounded by actual challenged books and “flames.” Kathy designed an informative brochure to go along with the video, explaining why each of the 12 featured books had been challenged. The display was positioned near the entrance of the library, across from the circulation desk. The video was quite the attention getter among patrons. The circulation staff heard such comments as “I can’t believe the dictionary was banned!,” “Hop on Pop? Really?!,” and “Look! There’s the Fire Chief!”
You can see the video on RRPL’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/165415853659946/videos/241511226714138/.
