Learning Commons News & Events

Banned Books Week 2025 will be held October 5 – 11, 2025. The theme of this year’s event is “Censorship Is So 1984. Read for Your Rights.” 

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools. The annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas.

Current efforts to ban books and information held in schools, libraries, archives, and bookstores are a truth close to fiction – namely, the depiction of extreme censorship by an oppressive regime in George Orwell’s cautionary and prescient tale 1984. The Banned Books Week 2025 theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.

Visit the SKYCTC Banned Books Week Research Guide for more info! Also, stop by the Library in the Learning Commons to see our Banned Books Week display and check out a banned book! Need suggestions? Visit our Ask! page!

Check out our Research Guides to find subject-specific library resources to help you with your research assignments. Get free access to online databases for eBooks, articles, newspapers, media, and more. We have a Research Guide for all subjects taught at SKYCTC including English, First Year Experience (FYE), CIT 105, Communication, and Nursing, as well as Medical Terminology, Culinary Arts, Welding, Citing Sources, Biology, Business Administration, and more! Go to our Ask! page to schedule an appointment with a Librarian for help navigating the Research Guides and library resources! 

Use the all-in-one Library Search to find articles, books, and videos in our library collections and databases. Library Search works best when you want to find a lot of different types of information on a topic or when you are starting your research. You can watch our video tutorial on Library Search and if you need assistance, visit our Ask! Page to request assistance from a librarian!

Check out the Course Reserves collection in the SKYCTC Learning Commons! As you start your classes, see if we can help you study! Course reserves include textbooks, films shown in class, and other helpful materials. You can use these resources in the Learning Commons for 2 hours. If you are in the Textbooks for Troops program, you can use select books all semester. If you have any questions, visit our Ask! page.