Library Stuff

NYT – “Students using the computers at Camdenton High School here in central Missouri have been able to access the Web sites for Exodus International, as well as People Can Change, antigay organizations that counsel men and women on how to become heterosexual. But the students have not been able to access the Web sites of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.”

Washington Post – “Mike Blasenstein and Michael Dax Iacovone, creators of the one-month-only Museum of Censored Art, have received the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award for intellectual freedom by the American Library Association, one of the most well-known anti-censorship organizations in the country.

The museum was responsible for showcasing the censored film, “A Fire in My Belly,” by gay artist David Wojnarowicz. The video was originally a part of the gay and lesbian art exhibition “Hide/Seek” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, and contains an 11-second segment that shows ants running on a crucifix.”

AP – “Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday challenged tight controls on media in the Middle East, calling censorship counterproductive and urging Arab leaders to allow their citizens the freedom to unleash their creativity…”In the face of an inconvenient story, it can be tempting to resort to censorship or civil or criminal laws to try to bury it. This is not only a problem here,” Murdoch said. “In the long run, this is counterproductive.”

NYT – “The Chinese government is taking a cautious approach to the dispute with Google, treating the conflict as a business dispute that requires commercial negotiations and not a political matter that could affect relations with the United States.”

NYTimes – “While China’s censorship policies are prompting Google to consider quitting its operations in the country, some technology companies see the restrictions as a golden business opportunity.”

Kentucky.com – “A dispute over books at Montgomery County High School has embroiled parents, teachers, students and others over the past several months, extending to authors and censorship groups at the national level. The continuing ruckus revolves around contemporary, young-adult novels that have been used in conjunction with classical works like The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and the epic poem Beowulf in some sophomore and senior accelerated English classes.

Kentucky.com – “Sharon Cook is either a hero or a villain. She is either due your thanks for doing everything in her power to protect children from obscenity or she is due your disdain for wantonly taking away the constitutional rights of the people of Jessamine County. She never meant to do the latter. She absolutely meant to do the former.”

Book Ninja – “Aside from selling kids a steaming load of plastic shite (along with a few TV tie-in books) in their “book” catalogues, Scholastic has now pitched their corporate tents in the realms of bigotry, censorship, and homophobia.”

More here

NYTimes.com – “If you go to the Brooklyn Public Library seeking a copy of “Tintin au Congo,” Hergé’s second book in a series, prepare to make an appointment and wait days to see the book. “It’s not for the public,” a librarian in the children’s room said this month when a patron asked to see it.”

More here

Slate Magazine – “Why did Yale University Press remove images of Mohammed from a book about the Danish cartoons?”