Let Books Be: UB Libraries Mark Banned Books Week With a Look at Science and Censorship

If you think book banning is a relic of the distant, less-informed past, think again.

This October, University at Buffalo Libraries are asking students to consider a harder truth: Some of the most challenged books today aren't racy novels or political manifestos. They're science.

From Oct. 4-10, UB Libraries will join the nationwide celebration of Banned Books Week under this year's theme, "Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read." The libraries are putting their own spin on the week, framing it around a theme with particular relevance to a research university: "Science, Censorship, and the Freedom to Know." The programming traces a line from early modern experimentation in the 1500s to today's debates over biotechnology, genetic research and medical equity, asking students to consider who gets to control scientific knowledge, and why that knowledge is so often suppressed.

The program is anchored by two texts: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a novel about the dangers and possibilities of unchecked scientific ambition, and Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the true story of a Black woman whose cancer cells were taken without her consent in 1951 and became the foundation of modern medicine, from the polio vaccine to cancer research, without her family's knowledge or compensation.

UB Libraries has spread events across all campus libraries, including the Law Library, Abbott Library, Rare Books Collection, Lockwood Memorial Library and Silverman Library, to reach students across disciplines.

Events at a Glance

• Monday, Oct. 5, 2-4 p.m., Banned Books Café, Lockwood 109. Stop by for a beverage and a snack, make a craft, and browse a curated selection of banned and challenged books.
• Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1-3 p.m., Banned Books Café, Abbott Library, Room B15. Same event, South Campus edition.
• Wednesday, Oct. 7, 5 p.m., Banned Books Movie Night, Silverman 310. A free screening of the 2017 HBO film "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," starring Oprah Winfrey, Rose Byrne and Renée Elise Goldsberry. The screening opens with remarks from Keith Mages, curator of the History of Medicine Collection, and Ophelia Morey, coordinator of Community Outreach Services, framing the film not just as movie night but as a launching point for discussing the book's own history as a challenged text. Sandwiches, snacks and beverages will be provided.
• Monday, Oct. 5 - Friday, Oct. 9, "Access Forbidden: Banned and Censored Books, 1549-1940," UB's Rare Books Collection, 420 Capen Hall, open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This pop-up exhibit traces 400 years of book-banning history, from the Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum (in effect 1560-1966) to the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (active 1873-1950). The exhibit features banned and censored scientific, political and literary texts, including a first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
• Topical Research Guide: Human Genome Project and Legal Impacts in Indian Country, a new resource from the Charles B. Sears Law Library for students and scholars beginning research into how genetic research has affected Indigenous communities in the U.S. and beyond.