Banned...

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas," The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.

Banned Books Week is September 23-30... a good time to talk about censorship and intellectual freedom. The American Library Association has a variety of resources available, including background information, banned book lists, and an action guide. (Also, being the ALA, selling bracelets, posters, etc.)

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression has a fun poster of the Statue of Liberty reading the book in her hand...
Google takes a break from digitizing to urge us to Celebrate Your Freedom to Read...
Good news from USA Today... Challenged books drop to a new low...

Library Thing, the you-catalog, is sponsoring a banned book "bookpile" (see image.) A bookpile signifies the number of books in your virtual listing that correspond to a theme... last week pirates, this week banned books.

And locally, watch for displays and special Banned Book READ posters produced by the Public Relations committee and student assistant K-Ci. Have your own little party and read some of the titles that have been challenged... it's a mark of distinction. After all, "if you are not offending people who ought to be offended, you are doing something wrong" ... Noam Chomsky.