Library Stuff

The Daily Beast – “Meet the Librotraficantes—the “book smugglers” protesting the state’s controversial ban on ethnic-studies classes—and putting Mexican-American works in students’ hands.”

More here, from the NYT

Houston Chronicle – “A grass-roots caravan from Houston to Tucson – filled with writers, students and activists – will bring prohibited books back to Arizona over spring break. When Tony Diaz heard that Tucson schools had dismantled a popular Mexican-American studies program and yanked Hispanic history books from classrooms, he began organizing a protest. Adding fuel to his fire: Two of the titles now prohibited in Tucson classes were published by the University of Houston’s Arte Público Press. Diaz coined a word to describe his new mission: Librotraficante – or “booktrafficker.”

Law and Disorder – “I work on occasion from my local public library, a wonderful spot with huge glass windows overlooking an attached park. The views are nice, the quiet is terrific, but the free Wi-Fi is indispensable. But the Internet connectivity comes with limits, in the form of a content filter that periodically prevents me from accessing research materials. Infuriating, yes. But illegal? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just filed a complaint (PDF) on behalf of a Salem, Missouri resident named Anaka Hunter, who contends that the Salem public library is unconstitutionally blocking her ability to access information on “minority” religious views. Federal and state law both govern libraries in Missouri, which are generally ordered to block access to obscene online material and child pornography. But the Salem library allegedly goes far beyond the mandate.”

Contra Costa Times – “VILLAGE VENTURE, the street festival that represents the one day of the year Claremont welcomes outsiders (and their money), is Saturday. As a true Claremonter, that’s my cue to leave town. But I may have to hang around this time. Outside the Claremont Library, 208 N. Harvard Ave., people will be reading aloud from banned books.
A project of the Friends of the Claremont Library, the Banned Books Readathon is a belated marking of September’s Banned Books Week. “We chose Village Venture because it’s a big event and a lot of people will see it,” Friends president Laura Bollinger told me.”

LA Review of Books – “As the author of the perennially protested Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Barbara Ehrenreich knows a thing or two about being banned. But as Ehrenreich helps us wrap up Banned Books Week on the LARB blog, she clues us in to the cold, hard truth: getting banned isn’t always so easy.”

LA Times – “The landmark 1966 literary nonfiction book “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote may not make it onto a high school honors reading list in Glendale after obections were raised by a committee made up of school principals. The school board must approve the book before it can be taught; “I think ‘chilling’ is far too benign a word to use,” school board member Mary Boger said of it.”

News Telegram – “It took 105 years, but the Charlton Public Library has finally made things right with Mark Twain. With a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the library board of trustees put “Eve’s Diary” back in circulation, reversing the board’s 1906 decision to ban the author’s 1905 short story. “It was more of a symbolic gesture,” said Richard Whitehead, the library trustee who shepherded the work, written in the style of a diary kept by Eve — yes, that Eve — back on to the shelves, in a telephone interview yesterday. “Certainly the book could have gone back in circulation earlier.”

Reuters – “A school board in southwest Missouri on Monday restored two books it had banned from public schools for being contrary to teachings in the Bible. The Republic School Board voted 6-0 to make the two books – “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Twenty Boy Summer” – available to students for independent reading as long as they are kept in a secure section of the school library. Only parents or guardians can check them out.”

News Leader – “Weeks after a series of national groups demanded the Republic school board reverse a decision to remove two books from the high school, the governing body will take up the issue. The board will meet today to discuss revising a policy that paved the way for the books — “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut and “Twenty Boy Summer” by Sarah Ockler — to be pulled from classrooms and the library. Superintendent Vern Minor didn’t return calls, but a proposed revision to the book standards policy posted online outlines one significant change”

Care2 – “A Catholic school student who identifies herself by the avatar name “Nekochan” started an unofficial library of banned books that she runs out of her locker at school. She began to lend books to her classmates when her school banned a long list of classic titles, including The Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost and Animal Farm. Concerned about getting in trouble for violating school rules, Nekochan wrote a letter to an online advice column to ask if it was “ok to run an illegal library” from her locker.”