Bring up banned books, and the discussion typically turns to J.K. Rowling, Allen Ginsberg or their compatriots. However, fiction and literature compose only a portion of printed material that gets caught in the crosshairs of people wanting to outlaw anything that offends them.

Banned Books Week holds a great deal of significance for academic and research libraries,said Sophie Bogdanski, monographs cataloging unit librarian for the WVU Libraries.

Bogdanski and other library employees will join the discussion by staffing a Banned Books information booth in the Mountainlair from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sept. 25-59.

She said that the week celebrates and promotes awareness of the research library’s obligation to collect, preserve and provide access to all material regardless of point of view.

A balanced non-biased library collection is the building block of empirical research and academic teaching,Bogdanski said.Libraries are the conservationists’of man’s opinions, beliefs, actions and experience, as well as, discoveries, inventions and understanding.

Anatomy and medical books have made people uncomfortable since the Renaissance. Critics today have challenged books such asOur Bodies, Ourselves;Understanding Health;andLife and Healthfor speaking too frankly about aspects and functions of the human body and for illustrating bodies too graphically and questioned their appropriateness in public and school libraries.

Books such asAIDS, You Cant Catch it Holding Hands;One Hundred Questions and Answers About AIDS ;andWhat You Can Do to Avoid AIDS were challenged by individuals and concerned groups who felt the books discussed in too much detail how to contract the disease and have questioned their appropriateness for a librarys collection.

Science has also been a popular target.Probing the Unknown: From Myth to Sciencewas criticized for its detailed account ofoccult theories.And the bookEarth Sciencewas criticized for presenting the theory of evolution and failing to mention the theory of creationism.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of American Library Association organizing Banned Books Week. Google has joined the event with a new edition to its website:

www.google.com/bannedbooks . The website shows the classics that won laureates and other for prizes for literature and had, at one time or another, been challenged by an individual or a group who felt that the book offended them in some way and deserved to be taken off of library shelves.

The process of banning a book starts with a challenge: a formal, written complaint from a group or individual requesting that a specific book be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. About three out of four of all challenges are to materials in

schools or school libraries, and public libraries make up the other quarter.

Since 1990, the American Library Associations Office for Intellectual Freedom has recorded more than 8,700 book challenges from individuals and groups, including 405 known attempts in 2005.

According to the ALA web site, the top reasons given for challenging books are that the books are sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, contain offensive language, contain occult theme or promote the occult or Satanism, are violent, promote homosexuality, or promote a religious viewpoint.

Despite the volume of challenges, ALA reports that most challenges fail and the materials stay on library shelves.

For more information about Banned Books Week, visit the booth in the Mountainlair or visit the ALA Web site:www.ala.org/bbooks