Book Vandals and the Dust Jackets of Joe Orton November 4, 2009

Maury County, TN Library Director Elizabeth Potts shows one of several bookswhich have had “dirty” words marked through. Others have editorial comments added. Library books attacked by censors and vandals have recently been in the news. This is not strictly news; library patrons with blue pens and scissors have been a bane of librarians for centuries. Neatnik Censor Attacks Books Neatly According to the Columbia, Tennessee Daily Herald, someone has been crossing out dirty words…

The Ex-Gay Cry Censorship: No One Wants Their Books October 23, 2009

The headline of the story on FOX News is a doozy: “Gay Reversal Advocates Say School Libraries Banning Their ‘Ex-Gay’ Books.” A Chicago-based group, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), is suing the Montgomery County, MD school district for their purported “exclusion of “ex-gay” information in its sexual orientation health curriculum.“ PFOX (I am assuming no relation to FOX) says “there’s an entire community of people across the world who say that their…

Banned Books Week Illustrated October 1, 2009

Sometimes a picture can save more than a thousand words. As we mark Banned Books Week, an image serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting our freedom to read. In this case a photograph of the parking garage of the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri. The books featured on this facade were chosen by citizens, who voted for their favorite titles. Interesting, most of the winners have something else in common: they…

Has the Government of Nepal Shut Down the Kathmandu Post? September 24, 2009

Servers for the Kathmandu Post have been been non-responsive for the last forty-eight hours in the wake of two stories within the last week involving books, freedom of the press and speech issues. In the midst of gathering material for yesterday’s post on Barnes & Noble in Kathmandu, I came across a curious story in the online Kathmandu Post (aka Kantipur Online) about the rare book trade in Nepal. On September 20, 2009, Harsha Man…

Banned Books Week Coming Soon August 12, 2009

Banned Books Week is scheduled for September 26th- October 3rd, 2009. Every time we think that banning books in the United States is a thing of the past, we are sorely reminded that there are still many who believe that removing books from book stores and library shelves will make the social issues that the books represent go away and that the world will be a better place. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression…