Freedom to Read Week 2015

Hello friends!

Freedom to Read Week is almost upon us!

In celebration of that, FLIF will have a table in HUB on Tuesday, February 24th from 10 am to 3 pm. Come talk to some lovely FLIF members and learn some interesting facts!

Have a lovely rest of your week,
Kyera

Banned Books Week

It is now Banned Books Week, and hopefully you've seen some of the resources and articles raising awareness and celebrating intellectual freedom.

The CLA put out a press release on last year's survey of challenged resources and policies, as well as a report written by Alvin Schrader and Donna Bowman.

The ALA always has their webpage.

And there's an organization sponsored by publishers.

There are tons of ways to get involved this week. Raise awareness in your community (not everyone is as aware of banning/challenging books as you are). Loudly proclaim your commitment to and love for intellectual freedom over the internet or in person (Loudly: all in caps, at the top of your lungs). Take a commonly challenged book out of the library (return it on time and in good condition, please), or use your dollar vote to show support to publishers and authors of controversial works. Hug an intellectual freedom fighter (aka: librarian).

Here are some fun things that I found today:

A comic:

And a quiz.

Please let us know what you've found, what inspires you, or just whatever your brain wants to drop out in the comments.

Oh, and remember: banning and challenging works is real, and very serious. Don't celebrate Banned Books Week; celebrate our freedom to choose what we consume, and the people that fight for this freedom.

--Ken

Practice of Banning Books Still Going Strong

Just in time for Banned Books Week in the United States, there have been attempts to both ban books from school libraries and remove them from reading lists. Recently, Ohio Board of Education President Debe Terhar has stated that she wants to have The Bluest Eye, written by Toni Morrison, removed from state guidelines for schools. This book was also targeted in Alabama at the end of August when Senator Bill Holtzclaw sought to have Morrison's novel removed from school reading lists. Additionally, he has offered support to have the book removed from school libraries. He describes the book as "completely objectionable, from language to the content".

Even more distressing is the recent ruling by the Randolph County board in North Carolina to ban the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison from school libraries, not just from reading lists. Regarding the novel, board member Gary Mason said that he "didn't find any literary value".

Books are great avenues for creating discussion about important issues. Who, if anyone, should be able to tell you what you can and cannot read? Sound off in the comments.

Chicago Public Schools Remove Copies of Graphic Novel Persepolis

Many news outlets have reported on the removal of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis from Chicago Public Schools (CPS). According to American Libraries, though the CPS CEO initially asked for copies of the graphic novel to be removed from both classrooms and libraries, the decision was quickly revised to include just classrooms. Even though the school libraries may retain their copies of Persepolis, some library organizations have criticized the decision to remove the graphic novel from schools. Barbara Jones, the Director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom and Executive Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation, has written a letter to the decision-makers, urging them to reconsider their decision. In addition, the Freedom to Read Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information from the CPS regarding the removal of Persepolis.

The Chicago Public Libraries has published a press release regarding this issue, explaining that the title has been singled out for “strong” content including torture.

Freedom to Read Week Events in Edmonton

Today is the first day of Freedom to Read Week! See the event listing below to find out about the events taking place this week in Edmonton:

Sunday February 24

• The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) and the University of Alberta Libraries are hosting a talk with Chris Hedges, who will speak about his newest book Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.
• The EPL Woodcroft Branch is having a Banned Books Café.

Monday February 25

• Members of FLIF will hosting a Freedom to Read booth at the Jasper Place High School Global Café during their Living Library event. For more information, see Vue Weekly or the Facebook event page.

Tuesday February 26

• FLIF will again be promoting the Freedom to Read at the Jasper Place High School Global Café Living Library event.
• The EPL Stanley A. Milner Library is having a Freedom to Listen event.

Wednesday February 27

• Cabaret will be shown at the Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre as part of a Freedom to View event.

Thursday February 28

• Wiebo’s War will be shown at the EPL Idylwylde Branch as part of a Freedom to View event.
• The EPL Capilano Branch is hosting a Freedom to Create event.

To find out more about the EPL events, see the EPL Freedom to Read webpage.

Thanks to the FLIF Global Café Radical Bookshelf team for putting together FLIF’s Freedom to Read event this year! Watch this blog for more information about the Jasper Place High School Global Café Living Library event.

Update: The Jasper Place High School Global Café event was erroneously first posted on this blog as a closed event. We are happy to report that it is actually open to the public!

Censorship and Self-Censorship of “Fifty Shades of Grey”

The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) recently added a blog post entitled Fifty Shades of Grey: Why Should We Care About a “Bad” Book?. Barbara Jones, the Executive Director of FTRF, discusses why we should resist attempts to ban materials that censors do not consider to have “literary quality.” The book “Fifty Shades of Grey” is used as an example in examining librarians’ professional values and practices as well as in thinking about the larger economic context. See the article for one librarian's thought-provoking view on book quality and censorship.

Barbara Jones has also written an article for the American Libraries Magazine on library self-censorship. Controversy in Fifty Shades of Grey discusses how collection development policies have been used by libraries to censor controversial material such as “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Though we are typically concerned with outside censorship, self-censorship is a related issue that we should reflect on as library and information professionals.

Freedom to Read Week: Countdown

Freedom to Read Week 2008 is just over a month away, and FLIF is gearing up for our on-campus activities. Stay tuned to what's going on. This banner is clickable:

More Scrotal Controversy...

Author Neil Gaiman posts his reaction to the school library censorship of Susan Patron's The Higher Power of Lucky. Gaiman sharply, humourously illustrates the absurdity of using the presence or absence of the word "scrotum" to distinguish between quality literature and "other" literature.

He also points to an excellent list of children's literature which also contains the word scrotum. Educational!

Challenged Books in Canada

Freedom to Read Week is just around a month away, and before it arrives you might want to check out (or even read) some books that have been challenged, removed from shelves, and even shredded in Canada.

There are some extremely interesting, provocative, and even surprisingly familiar titles on the list. The list compiler(s) also did an excellent job of providing dates, contextual background, and case-specific details about the "objectionable content" in each book.

And now (for your amusement), Buttercup's Gut Reactions:

Most dubious disbursement of police spending:
Friday, Nancy. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Sexual Fantasies.
In brief: Several metropolitan libraries were searched for this book in two different police raids in two different provinces after the complaint of an anonymous radio talk-show caller makes its way to the Crown attorney’s office!

Unread title that inspired the most "unhealthy" curiousity (for this blogger, in any case):
LeBlanc, Pierre, and Robin Konstabaris. Scrambled Brains.
In brief: “The book includes recipes such as “Exploding Jesus Cake,” a section called “Cooking with Weed,” and one illustration in which a semi-naked man displays an intimate interpretation of roulade, a rolled meat dish usually stuffed with a pickle.”

Suspected of the “censor first, read later” approach:
Sernine, Daniel. Les envoûtements.
In brief: Although the narrative exposes the “bewitchments” as fraudulent, the book is charged with “promoting occultism.”

Most ironic challenge:
Dworkin, Andrea. Pornography: Men Possessing Women and Woman Hating.
In brief: The very book referenced by the Supreme Court of Canada in its interpretation of the landmark Butler/Obscenity case is detained by Canada Customs due to the conflicting interpretations of the judges.

Source: Buttercup, MLIS student