It was National Banned Books Week here in the United States earlier this month and the organizations behind it put together a Google Map of bans and challenges to books around the country over the last three years. It’s worth a good look.
Banned Books Week has been running for 28 years now and is backed by some very reputable organizations, but the campaign’s Web presence is very simple. It’s great that Google Maps makes it so easy for anyone to display sets of information on a map like you’ll see below. As more and more content becomes available online, how will that impact banning of and access to literature?
View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 in a larger map
It would be nice if the points on this map were color coded to make bans and challenges distinct. This feels like just the beginning of what could be done, but it certainly is a good beginning.
Banned Books week is sponsored by the American Library Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. Banned Books Week is also endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress. This map was found on Google Maps Mania, a great place to learn about lots of creative uses of Google Maps.
