Sunday, January 31, 2010

Edmonton Public Library Freedom Ball


Here's a chance to celebrate the freedom to read and to see the beautiful new art gallery all at the same time! The Edmonton Public Library's first-ever freedom ball is happening on February 27, 2010 and, best of all, it's FREE! Join the "Freedom Ball" page on Facebook, or visit their Freedom To Read Week website for more details.

"The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) is a champion for intellectual freedom and it is our responsibility to guarantee and facilitate access to all expressions of knowledge and intellectual activity.

This year, EPL is supporting Freedom to Read Week – an annual, nation-wide event that encourages people to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom – by hosting our first-ever Freedom Ball.

The Freedom Ball is a party that celebrates our freedom to read, view, listen, write, perform… The Freedom Ball will feature a performance by the local group, People’s Poets—three Edmonton emcees and a DJ who rap about social justice issues. We will also be showing some of the more explosive Freedom Challenge submissions.

Where: Art Gallery of Alberta (2 Sir Winston Churchill Square)
When: 7:00pm Saturday, February 27
More: Admission is FREE. All ages welcome. No registration required.
Web: http://www.epl.ca/freedom"

image courtesy of EPL

Saturday, January 30, 2010

CNIB Right to Read



Did you know that the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) library receives no government funding toward their operations?
Unlike most other public libraries in Canada the CNIB library operates solely on charitable donation, a situation that has become unsustainable for the future of this incredibly important collection.

The CNIB is Canada's largest producer of accessible reading materials for the visually impaired; their circulation is approximately two million items per year. The collection is very diverse including braille, audio recordings and accessible digital formats. This library has been serving Canadians for 90 years entirely subsidized by the CNIB. Producing materials along with operating a library that requires accessible infrastructure and specially trained staff is costly. In most industrialized countries including the United States, Sweden and Denmark, libraries like the CNIB are supported by the government, so why is it not in Canada?

The CNIB is asking the federal, provincial and territorial governments to partner with the organization to share the cost of maintaining library service for the visually impaired in the same way public libraries are funded. Immediate government funding is needed to ensure that vital services remain accessible to the library's patrons. Without the support of government, people who rely on the CNIB library services will face a significant erosion in services beginning in April. This includes increased wait times and fewer books available for readers.

Our governments are currently drawing up budgets for the coming year and the CNIB needs support from Canadians to ensure that library services for everyone are maintained. The CNIB is continuing to support this organization and the governments of Ontario and Alberta (go Alberta!) have been leaders in committing funds to this cause. The federal government and the remaining provinces and territories must do so as well!

You can help by writing a letter to Stephen Harper and you Premier. The CNIB site has an online letter you can fill out with your information - it only takes a couple of minutes and is the driving force behind this initiative. We need to let our government know that we think this is a very important program and that as Canadians we support access to reading materials for everyone.

You can also join the Right to Read campaign on Facebook for progress updates.

Also check out the CNIB Right to Read website for more information about this important initiative (which ties in nicely with Freedom to Read Week)

I know all of you 'freedom to read' loving future librarians know a lot of other librarians, reader, socially conscious folk - please help to spread the word about this issue and flood our government leaders' mailboxes with support for the CNIB library.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Freedom to Read Week Opportunities




There are a lot of events and opportunities coming up to get involved with FLIF. If you missed today's meeting here are some of our upcoming projects:

Freedom to Read week is February 22nd - 28th. We have events taking place both on and off campus and are looking for volunteers as well as book donations.

FLIF is partnering with the CLA student chapter and will be manning a display of banned books and clever librarian buttons in HUB during Freedom to Read Week.
We are looking for volunteers to take two hour shifts at the information table. This is a great opportunity to get involved (with just a little time commitment). It is a really relaxed and fun way to interact with the students and staff on campus and promote both Freedom to Read week and SLIS in general.
If you are interested in volunteering for Freedom to Read Week please send an email to flifblog@gmail.com

FLIF is also collecting book donations for two projects for Freedom to Read Week.
We are looking for loaned books that have been challenged for the table display in HUB (YOU WILL GET YOUR BOOKS BACK! Please put your name and/or email address inside the cover of any donated books so that we can return them to you.
You can find a list of commonly challenged books here: Freedom to Read - Challenged Books and Magazines and here
American Library Association Frequently Challenged Books

In addition, this year we are going to spread our freedom to read message off campus by participating in a BookCrossing enabled stealthy distribution of reading material across the city. Bookcrossing is an online system that allows you to release books into the wild and track their travels. We will be leaving books with information about Freedom to Read Week and BookCrossing around the city. If you have books you would like to donate to this project (any kind of books!) there will be a labelled box in the SLIS lounge on campus or you can send us an email to arrange a pick up at flifblog@gmail.com

There are also events taking place off campus during Freedom to Read week. Check out the EPL Banned Books Cafe that will be taking place at the Stanley Milner and Whitemud branches. Volunteers will be reading from challenged books.


Outside of Freedom to Read Week FLIF is involved with helping APIRG (Alberta Public Interest Research Group) catalogue their library. Their office is located in HUB and cataloguing takes place on Wednesdays from 5pm - 7pm. This is a very flexible project and if you would like to stop in for a little (or a long) time, learn about their collection, drink some tea and do some cataloguing send us an email at flifblog@gmail.com

FLIF is also pleased to announce that we are taking over the Community Bookshelf Project from GELA and are in need of interested volunteers to help maintain and extend this program. Community Bookshelf provides books to various community organizations and sets up a table of free books at Homeless Connect twice a year (in October and May). This project would involve picking up books from EPL and delivering them to various locations in the city once per month. We are interested in acquiring book donations so if you have a library connection or know of someone who is getting rid of some reading material please let us know! GELA would also like someone from FLIF to sit in on their meetings and keep them up to date on the program activities. Meetings are monthly, generally during a weekday evening. If you are interested in participating in the Community Bookshelf project please send us an email at flifblog@gmail.com

Finally the new co-chairs who will be happily continuing FLIF projects into the next academic year are Jordan and Shannon. If you have any questions or would like to get involved but aren't sure just which of these great opportunities to volunteer for please feel free to ask!

See you all at Freedom to Read Week!




*Freedom to Read poster from the Pelham Library Blog http://pelhamlibrary.blogspot.com/

Librarian Mixtape!


Though not directly related to intellectual freedom issues per se, we wanted to share this mix of songs celebrating libraries and librarians. It's a step above of your usual library mixtape (and yes, we've seen many) and hopefully it'll get you through the last grey days of an Edmonton January....

See you in an hour at the meeting and.....

Enjoy!

Monday, January 25, 2010

FLIF Meeting on January 26, 2010 - TOMORROW!



REMINDER!!!!!

Come to the FLIF meeting tomorrow (January 26, 2010) at noon in Henderson Hall to find out more about our Freedom to Read Week activities, including tabling in Hub Mall and materials workshops where you can put your creativity to work in the name of intellectual freedom. You will also find out more about our partnerships with the Greater Edmonton Library Association's subcommittees and more.

There will also be COOKIES.

See you there!

FLIF co-chairs 2009-2010
Julie
Madelaine
Brianna

Dictionaries - Sexually Explicit?


Our faithful tipster C.H. has just sent us this link about a dictionary ban in Southern California's schools:

"Dictionaries have been removed from classrooms in southern California schools after a parent complained about a child reading the definition for "oral sex".

Merriam Webster's 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the "sexually graphic" entry is "just not age appropriate", according to the area's local paper."

Does this constitute censorship, or should classrooms offer more age-appropriate dictionaries with definitions less prone to elicit playground titters? Should encyclopedias, with their illustrations of human anatomy, be banned from classrooms as well? Where do educators and librarians draw the line?

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Interview with Dr. Toni Samek


SLIS student Brett Lambert sat down with SLIS's own revolutionary librarian, Toni Samek, for a chat - you can check it out at the International Week website.

As Toni asserts, "Librarians around the world are engaged with the many information issues of today, such as copyright, privacy, access to information, surveillance, intellectual freedom, information ethics, and so on. Librarianship is not a passive profession. There is a lot of advocacy and the communication of ideas." HEAR HEAR!

Don't forget to attend her presentation during International Week! You can find the details in the previous post - FLIF.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

International Week - Dr. Toni Samek Speaks!


The University of Alberta's International Week 2010 will run from February 1-10, 2010. You can see the full program guide here or you can pick up a print copy on campus. Of particular interest is Dr. Toni Samek's presentation on revolutionary librarians and the global information justice movement. Come down and check it out - and best of all - it's FREE! It all begins on January 29 with a round dance in the Dinwoodie Lounge in the Students Union Building (SUB).

Details for Toni's talk:

Wednesday February 3, 2010.

1:00 PM – 1:50 PM

Education Centre South 164

Revolutionary Librarians: The Global Information Justice Movement

Dr. Toni Samek, School of Library and Information Studies

Come and learn about library and information
workers in many nations who identify as
political actors, who offer new possibilities for
strategies of resistance, and who challenge
censorship and other networks of control.
Dr. Samek discusses how their often
courageous approach to library and
information work is grounded in practical,
critical and emancipatory terms. These
librarians help shape a growing global
information justice movement – from
Argentina to Zambia!

See you there!

FLIF

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Prisoners' Right to Read Statement


Late last year, Diane Walden of the ASCLA LSSPS Library Service to Prisoners Forum (Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies) posted this draft Prisoners' Right to Read Statement and is soliciting suggestions or comments here until January 24, 2010. We think this would be a welcome addition to ALA's collection of position statements and strongly feel that the Canadian Library Association should adopt a similar statement. Perhaps "Books Behind Bars," the GELA Prison Sub-Committee presentation for the 2010 CLA Conference here in Edmonton will serve as inspiration for librarians across Canada.

The Prisoners’ Right-to-Read Statement
An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights


When a society, living under the rule of law, decides to segregate certain of its members—for the safety of society, for the protection or treatment of the person, or to correct the behavior of the person—the right to read, to access knowledge and information, does not disappear on the institution’s doorstep. Prohibition of materials should only occur in order to ensure the safety and security of residents and staff and based on those restrictions required by law. While such reasonable limits may restrict the range of material available, the extent of limitation should be minimized by strict adherence to clear and universal guidelines.
Prison, jail, detention center, and mental health facility libraries may be required by the rules of parent agency rules or federal, state, or local laws to prohibit material that:
ß instructs, incites, or advocates criminal action (bomb making or escape);
ß instructs, incites, or advocates bodily harm (murder or suicide);
ß or is itself a violation of law (obscenity or child pornography).

Prohibiting material for any other reason is censorship. Because material may depict or describe criminal activity, harm to persons, or violations of law should not be a reason to censor it. Because material may contain unpopular views or even repugnant content is not a reason to censor it. The U.S. Supreme Court has found that only when material advocates or promotes illegal behavior or activities should First Amendment rights be limited by the need for security, order, and rehabilitation.

Censorship is an exclusive process by which authority rejects specific points of view. Selection is an inclusive process. It is the search for the best of materials, regardless of medium, that present diversity and a broad spectrum of ideas. While accepting that we can not afford everything of value, our collection must reflect the needs of community and strive to meet those needs.
Unfettered access to information is essential those who wish to prosper within a democratic society. As unfettered as practical access to information is even more essential to persons held against their will, if they are to restore themselves whole to society. Suppression of ideas does not prepare the incarcerated for transition to freedom.

Even those who a lawful society chooses to exclude permanently deserve a role in the human struggle and that role requires access to information, to literature, and to a window on the world, no matter how narrow.
As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in his opinion for Procunier v Martinez [416 US 428 (1974)] :
When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded. If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.

Officials may wish to believe that prisoners think differently than people in the free population or believe that books make a prisoner have bad thoughts. The reality is that prisoners accurately reflect free society. Their flawed actions placed prisoners in need of correction and only new information, new insigh--t—not isolation and punishment—can provide that correction.

It is a library’s obligation to make available materials that provide a broad range of diverse beliefs and opinions. In that way a library counters negative books with positive books, helps replace harmful thoughts with beneficial ones. Libraries are in the business of providing information to increase the likelihood of reasoned thinking, encourage investigatory research, and promote critical thinking, so that people can reach their own conclusions rather than be limited to the imposed ideas of others. It is the responsibility of the library to teach users how to access and how evaluate material, not its job to tell them what to think.

It is important that a library reflect the needs of its community. For prisoners, those needs may appear to be challenging the conditions of confinement, preparing or appealing their cases, overcoming mental health issues, and preparing to transition from incarceration to society. In fact prisoners have a more diverse set of needs than people in a free population but much less access to vital information and ideas. Library and correctional facility staffs must respect the wide range of needs in their populations. It is not the function of a library to collect only material that support the values and mission of the agency or its leader but rather to provide for the multi-faceted needs of their population within the limitations and restrictions inherent in restricted environments. It is not the librarian’s responsibility to build a collection around individual tastes, whether those of staff or the incarcerated, or to meet perceived mental health needs but rather to build a collection and provide resources for the community as a whole.

Lists of approved books, titles reviewed by an agency or facility and determined to be acceptable for prisoner use, may prove satisfactory starting points, however a library should not be limited to purchasing only previously reviewed and approved materials. Libraries must be allowed to purchase books in advance of agency or facility review and be trusted to follow guidelines in determining whether those books should be added to the library collection. Libraries must be allowed to solicit materials from a wide range of sources in order to ensure a broad and diverse collection.

Lists of censored books must include the rule or regulation which the content of the book violates, specific reference to the text that is censored, enough information about the source document that the librarian can confirm it is an exact copy, and the assurance that a high-level official of the parent agency sanctioned the censorship. This assures that library collections include more than those materials deemed “good for them,” and that repugnant content is not the sole reason for material to be censored.

There shall be no ban on sexually explicit material unless the content is in violation of law, that is it is obscene or it is child pornography. In order to designate sexually explicit material obscene and a violation of the law, the material must meet all of the following criteria: the average person, applying contemporary standards, would find that the material appeals to the prurient interest in sex; it depicts or describes certain sexual acts defined in local law in a patently offensive way; and a reasonable person would find that the material lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. While the library would not seek material for it sexually explicit content neither would it exclude material from its collection because of such content.

There shall be no prohibition on materials in any foreign language. Based on the needs of a given population, based on the ethnic or linguistic demographic of that population, the library should make all reasonable efforts to provide sufficient materials to meet the needs of non-English fluent prisoners.

Redaction is a form of censorship and shall only be employed if required to allow access to information to that would otherwise be justifiably restricted by the rule of law or the safety and security of the institution.

There shall be no ban on certain types of media. Each medium has its purpose and to reject a medium could make it impossible to add certain material to a collection. The institutional reluctance to provide opportunities for the introduction or maintenance of contraband in library materials such as hardbound or paperbound books, disks, tape cassettes, or playback devices can be overcome by the use of technology. Electronic devices and fluoroscopes can pierce the any potential hiding place and allow materials into a library where the library staff can control the security of items that might afford opportunities for contraband to be hidden or ability to hurt self or others. Creative thinking and use of resources can expand library collections to a variety of media.

While unfettered access to the Internet via person computers may be impractical, the correctional library shall provide access to information from the Internet and knowledge of the sources available through it. If practical, controlled access to the Internet and to e-mail accounts shall be provided as an adjunct of the services of the library.
We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read for all who live in our democracy and a right to read for those persons with just or unjust limits on their freedom.
Just as we believe that free communication is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture, we believe that restoration of a held person to family, friends, and freedom requires real and minimally limited communication and access to knowledge.
The freedom to read is guaranteed by the Constitution. It is one civil right not lost at sentencing for criminal behavior no matter how heinous the crime. While the institution may impose restrictions on the right to read within narrow limitations, the basic right to read, to write, to think, should not be impaired.
Those with faith in people, in the ultimate decency of humankind, will stand firm on the constitutional guarantees of these essential rights. Those who cherish their full freedom and rights will exercise the responsibilities that accompany these rights and they will work to see the right to read, to write, and to think, extended to those in juvenile facilities, jails, detention facilities, prisons, state hospitals, mental institutions, immigration segregation facilities, and prison work camps.
We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society and destroys the hopes of those segregated from society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours. When free people segregate some of their own, they acquire the responsibility to provide the tools required to bring the prodigal home. Chief among those tools is a right to read.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

MSF and Haiti Update

Just got this update from Doctors Without Borders in my inbox and thought I would share:

"Dear Friend,

In light of the severity of the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, and the outpouring of concern from supporters we've heard in the days since, I'll be sending you regular updates on the work we are doing in Haiti.

As you read this, MSF medical teams in Port-au-Prince are treating thousands of people who were injured in the quake. Most have fractures, head injuries and other major trauma injuries. We have set up four tented facilities beside the now damaged hospitals we used to work in. The need for wound treatment and major surgery is immense.

In the next 24 hours an MSF field hospital will arrive by air, equipped with two operating theatres, along with trauma surgeons and anesthetists. Our teams on the ground in the capital are also trying to identify intact buildings that could be used to do surgery.

Food, water and shelter materials are all in short supply, but medical stocks are not yet exhausted. Forty tonnes of material will arrive on the ground tonight, conditions permitting, and an additional 80 staff will join the 800 MSF staff already working in Haiti. Teams will be distributing medical disaster kits, blankets, plastic sheeting, hygiene and cooking sets, tents and jerrycans.

If you've already donated to the relief effort, thank you. You can continue to help by forwarding this message or sharing it with your networks on Facebook and Twitter.

If you haven't had a chance to support these relief efforts and would like to do so, please click here to make a donation now. Thank you for your solidarity at this most difficult time.

Marilyn McHarg
General Director, MSF Canada

PS: Due to the high level of interest in our crisis response, MSF Canada has been experiencing slower performance on our website. We are working to resolve this. Thank you for your patience."

San Francisco Public Library Hires a Social Worker


Often on the front lines of progressive library service to marginalized populations, the San Francisco Public Library has chosen to hire a psychiatric social worker as a way to deal with complaints concerning the behavior of homeless patrons. Leah Esguerra directs patrons to social services, trains library staff in how to deal with out-of-control or threatening behavior, and supervises "health and safety associates," formerly homeless patrons who are employed by the library to clean bathrooms and to distribute leaflets on where to find services such as food and housing.

Rather than seeing homeless patrons as "problem patrons" and developing exclusionary policies to restrict library access to certain segments of the population, libraries would do well to adopt SFPL's model. Of course, with budget cuts always looming, not every library will have $85 000 to spend on a full-time social worker, however, partnerships between libraries and public health departments or even a part-time presence may be feasible for some libraries. In an age of eroding public space, libraries must welcome users from all backgrounds and provide a safe space for those users. As SFPL employee Luis Herrera states, "It's the most democratic institution. We absolutely want it to be open to everyone, but you cross the line and it's a behavioral issue. We're not labeling. We don't make any value judgments."

You can read more here.

Addendum to the Previous Post

You can also help Haitians by donating to one of these organizations. Even better - the Canadian government will match your donation.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.


Please consider making a donation to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to support their efforts to aid those affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti:

"The first reports are now emerging from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams who were already working on medical projects Haiti. They are treating hundreds of people injured in the quake and have been setting up clinics in tents to replace their own damaged medical facilities.MSF is working hard to get more staff into the country...

Around 70 more are expected to arrive in the coming days. MSF is sending out a 100-bed hospital, with an inflatable surgical unit, consisting of two operating theatres and seven hospitalization tents. Nephrologists to deal with the affects of crush injuries will also be part of the team. However, transport links are difficult and it is not yet clear whether supplies and medical staff will have to go in through neighbouring Dominican Republic. MSF is concerned about the safety of some of its own team members. There are 800 staff and not all have yet been accounted for because of the poor communications and general disruption following the disaster."

You can donate here.

SLIS Forum for Information Professionals



Formerly known as "PD Day," the Forum for Information Professionals will be held at the School of Library and Information Studies on February 5, 2010. Grad students from the school will be presenting on a variety of topics, including Edmonton Public Library's Community-Led Model, library policies and gender identity, literacy initiatives for incarcerated mothers, Queer YA lit, and much more. For anyone interested in social responsibility and underserved populations this is the year for you!

Speaking of which, it's with loads of excitement that we can officially announce the "super secret special guest speaker" for this year's forum: Rory Litwin! Yes, that Rory Litwin, of Library Juice fame. Check out his blog as well as Litwin Books and the Library Juice Press, which cover topics such as:

* Information as a public good (and attendant political struggles)
* Privacy
* Government and corporate secrecy and disinformation
* Intellectual Freedom and Civil Liberties
* The Public Sphere and its decline
* International solidarity in information issues
* Print culture, web culture, visual culture, and the meaning of literacy
* The state of the library profession (issues of identity, work life, and
deprofessionalization)
* IP: Information Policy, Intellectual Property
* The Information Society
* Information Ethics
* Social infrastructures
* The Decline of Civilization and the position in which it puts us as librarians

(from Litwin's blog).

Register right away!

Hope to see you there,

FLIF

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

FLIF Meeting on January 26, 2010


Rising out of the Ashes, it's FLIF!!!!

Come to our meeting on January 26, 2010 at noon in Henderson Hall. We will discuss more opportunities to get involved, talk about what we have planned for Freedom to Read Week (Feb. 21-27, 2010), and more. We know some of you have afternoon classes, so you can expect the meeting to be less than an hour - bring your lunch and we'll bring the cookies.

We hope to see you there!

FLIF

Saturday, January 09, 2010

Winter Term FLIF Meeting


It's been a while, hasn't it?

We hope you survived last term and had an enjoyable break - now it's time to kick it up a notch and get involved!

We are planning a meeting for the week of January 18-22 and would like to plan it around first year classes, so a Tuesday or Wednesday lunchtime meeting is likely. We will solidify plans soon and let you all know, but wanted to give you a heads up. At the meeting we expect to discuss our involvement in Freedom to Read Week (February 21-27, 2010), plans for a year-end fundraiser for UBC's Libraries Without Borders group, opportunities to get involved with the GELA Prison and Community Bookshelf subcommittees, and we can also discuss leadership possibilities for the upcoming year.

We hope you can make it to Henderson Hall and look forward to seeing you there! The date will be confirmed ASAP.

Thanks!
FLIF

The Redwood Coast Review


In uncertain times, libraries are turning to innovative ways to raise funds and keep their doors open. Since 1999, Point Arena, California's Friends of the Coast Community Library Chapter has published an award winning journal-slash-newsletter, The Redwood Coast Review, to promote the literary arts AND the daily workings of a library run almost entirely by volunteers. Nestled between personal essays, illustrations, book reviews, poetry and short fiction are moving tales of a library struggling to operate almost solely on volunteer power.

The Review is published on a quarterly basis and subscriptions are $24 USD. You can preview articles on the website. A must for those interested in how libraries with limited funding can continue to meet the information needs of their communities and a testament to the important role libraries continue to play in society.

Feel free to comment if you know about similar Canadian initiatives, and welcome back to classes!

FLIF

Friday, January 08, 2010

GELA Women's Prison Library Looking for Donations


Happy New Year future librarians!

The GELA women's prison library and reintegration committee has put out a request on behalf of the library users looking for specific book donations. They are going to be making these requests monthly and it looks like a great way to support this important project and clear some space on your bookshelves (for new books, of course!)at the same time.

This month they are looking for:

Specific Titles:
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Bright Shiny Morning -James Frey
Children of the Lamp(series) - P.B. Kerr.
Cloud of Bone - Bernice Morgan
The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
Mummy – Anne Rice
Push – Sapphire
Pyrates (series) - Chris Archer
Shattered Silence - Melissa G. Moore
Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer
Where the Red Fern Grows- Wilson Rawls

Anything by: (authors)
Tess Gerritsen

Anything about: (topic)
Nutrition
Learning Braille
Traditional Aboriginal Medicine
Hobby/ Craft Magazines
Science Magazines

Other:
National Geographic, June 1985 and April 2002 (Sharbat Gula editions)
Current High School- Chemistry, Physics, Biology text books


If you have anything from this list to donate, please email kwurmann@ualberta.ca or tanyadriechel@legalresourcecentre.ca to coordinate a drop off. For more information about the committee, visit their blog at http://gelaprison.wordpress.com/