More groups that fight Censorship!

In honor of Banned Books Week, here is a shorhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift list of nonprofit organizations committed to preserving your right to read freely. You can join any one of these to show your support and stay informed about First Amendment issues! (Thanks to the American Library Association for these links).

The Freedom to Read Foundation is the only organization in the US whose primary goal is to protect and promote the First Amendment in libraries. Members receive a quarterky newsletter, The FTRF News.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifThe Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression promotes and protects the free exchange of ideas, particularly those contained in books, by opposing restrictions on the freedom of speech.

The National Coalition Against Censorship is an alliance of 50 national nonprofits, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups that works to educate both members and the public at large about the dangers of censorship and how to oppose it.

And yes, this geek blogger's favorite:

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund works to protect free speech in comics by supporting First Amendment rights for members of the comics community, fans, and professionals alike. (Gotham City Public Library librarian Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, would surely approve).

More ways to defend your right to read

(From Robert Doyle and the American Library Association)

Report censorship to ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracks attempts to remove or restrict books across the country. By reporting censorship incidents, you can help identify trends in censorship cases and document responses and solutions to censorship. All identifying information is kept confidential. You can file a report online here.

Attend and participate in public hearings.

Write letters to public officials.

Send a letter or an op-ed article to local news organizations.

Work with community groups--professional associations, civic organization, religious groups--to spread the word about intellectual freedom and ask them to lend public support to efforts to protect the right to read in your community.

Form a coalition to oppose censorship in your community. These folks did.

Seek assistance from national groups.

And importantly, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES. Join the PTA. Join Friends of the Library groups. Participate in Banned Books Week (hey we still have a couple of buttons left).

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."

-- John F. Kennedy. Remarks made on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America at H.E.W. Auditorium, February 26, 1962

How You Can Protect Your Right to Read: Stay Informed

In honor of Banned Books week, here are some tips from Robert P. Doyle and the American Library Association on how you can arm yourself with information in the fight against censorship:

Be aware of what's happening. When you encounter censorship, be prepare to speak up or let others know. Ask your public, academic or school librarian if there are any current attempts to remove materials from their shelves.

Attend school board, library boards and PTA meetings. Learn about policies governing access to information.

Subscribe to print and online news publications to stay current on First Amendment rights and censorship issues.

Here are a few links to get you started:

The ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom:publishes the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom and maintains a blog, a Twitter account and the IFACTION mailing list.

The First Amendment Center: maintains an online First Amendment Library and provides breaking news about First Amendment issues via its RSS newsfeed.

The McCormick Foundation's Post-Exchange has original reporting and commentary on First Amendment and intellectual freedom-related news and also publishes an electronic newsletter aggregating news from around the country and the world on these issues.

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only weapon against bad ideas is better ideas." ~Alfred Whitney Griswold, New York Times, 24 February 1959

We're with the BANNED

“Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof; or Abridging the Freedom of Speech, or of the Press; or the Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble, and To Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances.”—First Amendment

It's Banned Books Week 2011, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to read: not only the freedom to choose what to read, but the freedom to select from the full array of possibilities. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are rooted in the First Amendment. We are fortunate to have a greater quantity and availability of information than ever before, but we must all work to ensure that access to this material is not infringed.

Frequently a challenge is brought against a book out of the desire to protect children from material that someone finds objectionable, usually because the book contains language that is sexual, profane or racially charged. The desire to protect children is commendable. However, it is important that a parent make that decision for his or her own child, and that an adult be able to choose for himself or herself what to read. Banning or challenging a book isn't just someone expressing a point of view: it is an attempt to remove that book from the shelf of a school or library, effectively taking away your ability to make that choice for yourself or for your children!

In honor of Banned Books Week, we in the library have assembled a display of some banned and challenged books, from Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter, from Twilight to I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. We invite all of you to stop by and have a look. Maybe one of your favorites is in there. Maybe one of your least favorites is in there, too. We hope that you will find the exhibit thought-provoking.

Do you have a favorite banned or challenged book? Come by and tell us! We also have a limited supply of Banned Books Week buttons. Pick one up and advertise your commitment to a free society that reads freely.

“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.”—On Liberty, John Stuart Mill

“Only the suppressed word is dangerous.”—Ludwig Börne

Year of Ireland speakers THIS THURSDAY in the Library!

Slainte!

The Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage will present two very special programs this Thursday, September 22, and the Hill Freeman Library & Spruill Learning Center is fortunate to host both of them.

At 2pm on the third floor of the library, Dr. Elizabeth Corrie of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University will be here to discuss the East Belfast Mission and provide an overview of religious conflict and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. Dr. Corrie traveled to Northern Ireland this past summer as part of Emory's Journeys of Reconciliation program. Dr. Corrie is dedicated to the preparation of young people to become citizens of the world. Her research interests include nonviolent social change, the religious roots of both violence and nonviolence, international peacebuilding initiatives, and character education and moral development in children and youth.

Then at 6pm, also on the third floor of the library, Kevin Conboy will speak on the topic of economic development in Ireland and its ties to the southeastern United States. A dual citizen of Ireland and the United States, Mr. Conboy serves as the president of the Atlanta chapter of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. He has worked with Irish clients as well as U.S. clients doing business in Ireland, and led a trade mission to Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2007 with Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. He has served as interim president and on the board of directors for the Atlanta St. Patrick's Foundation, a nonprofit group that works with the Atlanta St. Patrick's Day Parade and raises funds for children's charities.


Click here for a complete schedule of upcoming Year of Ireland and Irish Heritage events.

9/11 Remembered

If you have a chance to come by the library today from 2pm to 11pm, Melissa Doyle has put together an excellent display of books on topics related to the attack on America and its aftermath. Something profoundly changed in our nation that day ten years ago. I don't think we ever considered ourselves safe or untouchable again. Most of our students were just children on 9/11. I am very interested to hear their recollections. They may not remember what life was like before that day. Sometimes I can't.

There was division in our country before, and there was division afterward, but for a little while there none of that mattered. We were united in our shock and grief. This blogger had a small daughter who was two days away from celebrating her first birthday, and I wondered what kind of a world we had brought her into. I couldn't envision what 9/11/11 would be like. I am proud to see that ten years later, our flag is still waving.

Maybe with the passage of time, we can reflect on actions we did or did not take personally or as a nation. Not everyone is in agreement with the paths we took. There will always be time for debate on important issues like war and individual liberties. Some of the books in our display can give different perspectives as we wrestle with these questions. I am proud to be associated with an institution of higher learning in which we can discuss these issues seriously and openly. I am even more proud to live in a country where this is possible.

Ten years ago our world changed