OCC staff and students are allowed free access to many banned and controversial books
via the OCC Library.
Due to recent renovations, the OCC Library has been relocated to the Russell Building,
and will be located there for the foreseeable future. With this relocation a lot of its books had to
be put into storage, but some have been put back on the shelves that previously weren’t.
The library’s location is much smaller than before, but the dust, quietness, and old book
smell remains from the original. Just like the original, staff and students are allowed to use the
library as a studying and research center.
The types of books that can be found at the OCC Library range from comics such as
“Batman: The Long Halloween,” by Tim Sale and Jeph Loeb, “Voices From The Third Reich: An
Oral History,” by Johannes Steinhoff, and a book of recent controversy called “Gender Queer: A
Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe.
CBS put out an article in 2022 titled “The 50 most banned books in
America” where “Gender Queer: A Memoir” sat at the number one spot. “The most banned book
of the 2021-2022 school year was ‘Gender Queer: A Memoir’ by Maia Kobabe. It was removed
from school libraries and/or classroom bookshelves on 41 separate instances” Jennifer Martin,
the writer of the article, wrote.
Books like “Gender Queer: A Memoir” and many others can be found at the Ocean
County College Library, and are made free for staff and students to enjoy. All that you must do is
present the book that you’re choosing to read and your student or staff I.D. Once that is done
please remember to return your book before its expiration date.
