DAPHNE, Ala. — Banned Books Week is coming to the Daphne Public Library tomorrow through Oct. 2, allowing the public to read books restricted from mainstream reading collections.

Anne Morris, reference librarian for the Daphne Public Library, is looking forward to the week, knowing it highlights libraries and their value to the public.

“Librarians are always very happy about Banned Books Week, because it proves the point that we are a very valuable resource,” Morris said.

The American Library Association released the “Top 10 most challenged books of 2009.”

Morris noticed some new and old books on this year’s list.

“If you look at ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ they stand the test of time,” Morris said.

“One of the newest entries is ‘Twilight,’ which has brought many people to reading and many people to the library.”

Books were challenged for certain topics, which include nudity, sexually explicit language, offensive language, being unsuited to certain age groups, drug usage, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, anti-family views or actions, suicide and violence.

The Daphne library has seven of the 10 books on the list available for immediate reading, Morris said.

The library doesn’t have “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things,” according to Morris. However, they are available in the county, so the library does have the option of acquiring a copy for the public. The library needs another copy of “Tango Makes Three,” Morris said.

Week’s origin

The American Library Association, a non-profit organization, started Banned Books Week in 1982. The week happens annually during the last week of September.

The association stresses that the week celebrates free and open access to information while causing awareness of the negatives of censorship by highlighting actual and attempted books banned across the United States, as stated on its website ala.org.

“There are two parts of Banned Books Week, and the first is the celebration of our freedom to read. We’re free to explore new ideas and opinions,” said Debra Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the American Library Association for the Department of Intellectual Freedom. “The second part is noting the fact that censorship still occurs despite out First Amendment freedom to read. There are boards that keep books out of libraries for a number of reasons.”

The Department of Intellectual Freedom has tracked book challenges and bannings since 1982, and Caldwell-Stone said she’s no longer surprised by some of the books being challenged.

“The most eccentric one I have ever seen is a challenge to a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ book, and someone found one picture where a woman was (sun)bathing topless and filed a complaint for that. It is a very small picture in size and you had to look for it. You couldn’t see anything; you just could tell she was sunbathing face down without a bikini top on.”