In the early 1950's comic books were a big issue in Washington. Many believed that comic books were corrupting our youth by contributing to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency.How widespread was it? In 1954 there were Congressional hearings on the issue and the resulting Comics Code was the death knell for many popular comics. It was censorship at its finest.Words like"crime", "horror" and "terror" were know forbidden in comic book titles Also a no no was any mention of "vampires", "werewolves"and "zombies.""Tales from the Crypt" was a casualty of this madness.16 months ago, after a 53 year hiatus, a new issue...
Go Shopping – Help the Public School Library
Now here's an idea worth spreading.Caroline Kennedy and Sarah Jessica Parker helped kick off the annual Shop for Public Schools week in New York City. Over 200 retail locations across the city will donate part of their proceeds this week to public school libraries."Think of it like a rebate made payable in library books" is one way they frame it.The event is put on by The Fund for Public Schools, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving New York City’s public schools; Caroline Kennedy is the Vice-Chair.Below is the perfect, pure New York, tote bag designed by Cynthia Rowley for the...
Poor Richard’s Biblomac
Though it sounds like a cross between Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack and an e-reader by Apple, the Biblomac was a short lived newspaper for the book world. It debuted in New York in August of 1940 and lasted all of 3 issues.Stephen Ferguson at Princeton University's Rare Book and Special Collection blog unearthed a copy of the premier issue and shares an excerpt of the lead editorial written by one of the publishers, Herbert Burstein. For the most part, Poor Richard’s Biblomac reflects an idea we have - an idea that anyone whose stock-in-trade is books - the librarian,...
Sarah Palin’s Library Issue is Now a Campaign Issue
The McCain campaign has released a memo addressing the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin's involvement, or lack thereof, in a book banning crusade at the Wasilla Public Library."A vicious smear has spread across liberal outlets and blogs into the mainstream media...This smear is categorically false and has no basis in fact. It is an urban myth — nothing more." says the memo.A response to the memo on Truthdig highlights the fact that "the campaign’s 1,615-word memo on the subject indirectly supports the accusation. As Palin’s mayoral predecessor recalls, “She asked the library how she could go about banning book,” and though...
The Wasilla 90 : An Internet Legend is Born
Woman standing in front of the Wasilla Public Library (1950s)Update: McCain Camp Assails Book-Banning Report as a ‘Smear’ via Truthdig McCain Camp Memo - Smear Machine Rolls On: Governor Palin And Library Books"Ah, the power of the internets.Following an article on the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin in Time Magazine, where mention is made of a conversation Palin had with the library on how one goes about banning books, a list of alleged banned books surfaced as a comment on the blog librarian.net and quickly spread through the book universe. Unfortunately, a few of the titles mentioned where published after...