Commissioners recognize banned book week in the Camden County Library System

Over the centuries, some of the most critically acclaimed books have been banned from the shelves of libraries. The Camden County Library System is celebrating the freedom to read on Monday with a display of previously banned books at the entrance of the library underscoring their importance to our society and democracy. The library system is following the theme of the American Library Association and Banned Books Week Coalition for Banned Books Week 2026: “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” Banned Books Week will take place October fourth through the tenth.

  “Books and having the freedom to read is what keeps a democracy thriving and provides a lesson in tolerance and equity in our community,” said Commissioner Colleen Bianco Bezich, liaison to the Camden County Library System. “When we look back at some of the more authoritarian governments throughout the world we see, in their playbooks, that book banning and misinformation is what they thrive on. On Monday morning we will celebrate the freedom to read, and I can’t think of a better theme than Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.”

As one example of a book that will be on display, Ulyssess, by James Joyce, which has been called the greatest book of the millennium, was pulled from bookshelves and banned by censors. In fact, individual book sellers and owners were prosecuted for having it until a landmark federal court ruling (United States v. One Book Called Ulysses) acknowledged the book is not indecent, lifting the ban ten years after it was eliminated from bookshelves in 1933.