And while I bitch and complain about the name “Banned Books Week” every year [and the BBW acronym just continues to amuse] and think that “Free People Read Freely ®” is some sort of Orwellian catchphrase, there are some people doing some nifty things for BBW on the web. I’m not sure what happened to the logo thing that ALA was doing last year, I sort of liked it. The Office of Intellectual Freedom blog entry has some of the best information about how ALA is moving in to social spaces to discuss and promote BBW.
- The Hatcher Graduate Library in Ann Arbor Michigan has made a Flickr photoset of their staff reading banned books. Here’s how they announced it on their website.
- Amnesty International has a page outlining people who got in serious trouble for their writings. This isn’t taking Harry Potter off the shelves, this is getting jailed or killed for speaking out.
- Google Book Search is doing its part. I know a lot of people have weird feelings about Google moving towards something that looks more like an OPAC but I think we should be more concerned that everything they put on the web, pretty much outranks everything everyone else puts on the web.
- The ACLU of Texas has issued a report discussing the status of challenged books in Texas schools (link goes to 2006 report, new one due out real soon now) in the last year. It’s interesting reading. As a result of challenges sixteen books were removed from school shelves entirely including Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and a book on how to draw manga.
Feel free to include other projects in the comments here, this is just a few links I enjoyed and thought merited further attention.
I’m glad I’m not the only person who chuckles at ALA stuff promoting “BBW”! (If someone’s looking for ALA graphics for “BBW,” I recommend they put their “Safe Search” on. Unless, y’know, they dig…that kind of imagery.)
Your link to the Texas ACLU report is for the 2005-2006 school year, the tenth annual report. I am eagerly awaiting the eleventh annual report for the 2006-2007 school year which is supposed to come out this week. I used the ACLU reports from the last five years to construct a display of challenged children’s books on my floor. I manage the curriculum collection that supports the College of Education at my smaller state university here in Texas. The reasons some of the books were challenged were quite eye-opening.
On Wednesday, our library is hosting a presentation on science textbooks and censorship.
Our library (Wicomico County Free Library) is doing a teen “Banned Books & Authors” scavenger hunt – pretty cool.
That Flickr set was a great idea! I’m having some fun with Banned Books Week over at Shelf Check, and including different links to BBW sites and activities after each strip.
BBW strip #1: “Why Was I Banned?” with special guest Julie of the Wolves
BBW strip #2 “Why Was I Banned?” with special guests James and the Giant Peach
and so on. Tomorrow, strip character Dave will speak candidly about the banned book that turned him into a cannibal…
JFYI, the badges (though not linked to up front) are available at http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/bbwwebbadges.htm.
Also, I wanted to note that BBW (heh) isn’t just a production of ALA Inc. It’s co-sponsored with several other groups, so a lot more people either planned a good joke or didn’t plan a good joke.
The Hatcher Flickr set is great. Do you know if anyone has done this with local officials/celebrities? I think that would be another interesting angle.
Once again I didn’t get around to writing a rant about how Banned Books Week is a stupid fraud perpetrated on the public by hypocritical librarians.
Let’s see some librarians reading some porn and erotica books stocked by their library. If your library isn’t carrying this material, you are just being hypocritical with this nonsense about “banned” books. Librarians should tak a long look in a mirror before they go on about banned books.
Chuck
The University of Washington chapter of SALA will be doing a banned books event with some interesting speakers, including myself. (http://students.washington.edu/sala/)
I’ll be reading from ‘The Turner Diaries.’ Last time I pulled this stunt, about 15 years ago at a banned books reading series on campus, I was practically hissed from the stage, and the series was terminated. I’m hoping the library school students will ‘get it’ a bit more than the general undergrad, but I’ll be sure and frame my remarks fully. Nor will I be taking chances elsewhere: I’ll be sure and point out to the crowd that the copy I’m reading from is not checked out to me, but is officially ‘at the bindery’ for the day.
Guybrarian, I don’t get it. Why is it not checked out to you? Do I have to be familiar with “The Turner diaries” to get it?
The Turner Diaries is a noted contemporary racist novel. Guybrarian, don’t you trust the library to keep your information private? I hope it goes well.
Yes, thanks JW, it went quite well, though I was kind of nervous. And Ellen Forney came on after me with some great juicy stuff and dirty pictures to clean up the stink I left by reading from that hideous book. (I love showing dirty pictures to librarians, btw, and will do it any chance I get, which is probably why I’m starting to catch on as a speaker at conferences…)
And I’m not really habitually paranoid about my library or any library in particular – probably not paranoid enough, in fact. But I tell ya, when the moment of truth came at the self-check to create an electronic link – however fleeting – between myself and that notorious title, it just seemed wise not to risk the hassle. I mean, I’m probably on one or two lists already – ACLU, etc, and I really don’t need to be on THAT list. All in all it gave a nice capper for my speech, i.e. if folks don’t feel safe checking it out, it don’t much matter whether you’ve gotten or kept it on your shelf.