Dear Mr Kenney

The BCLA recently sent a letter to Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration expressing concern about the failure to include direct references to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedom’s express prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation, and to Canada’s legalization of same-sex marriage, from Canada’s new citizenship guide, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship.

We were particularly concerned that, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Press, Kenney’s office ordered the removal of several sections of the draft document, relating to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada, laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, and the legalization of same-sex marriage. Further documents show that senior staff members in Kenney’s department felt this was information that should be included in the guide and urged its re-insertion and that his office declined to follow this recommendation.

For the Globe & Mail news report, see http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/immigration-minister-pulled-gay-rights-from-citizenship-guide-documents-show/article1486935/

Text of the BCLA letter is on the BCLA web page. Thanks to IFC members, to Faith Jones, and to the BCLA Board & Executive for producing the letter.

Beyond the blindfold at Greater Victoria Regional Library

Avi and Leah with the blindfolded mannequin

Avi Silberstein, the Outreach Librarian for Greater Victoria Regional Library describes their provocative and engaging Freedom to Read Week display.

We thought it would be fun to have a mannequin – blindfolded – at the entrance to the library.  So we made a few phone calls and visited a few stores, and after some persistence were able to convince the owner of a local consignment shop to loan us a mannequin.

We picked out a mannequin that was lying on her stomach with her hands near her face, dressed her up in clothes from the consignment store, and propped a book up in her hands.  Then we tied on a blindfold.  We put her up on a table, and filled an adjacent table with banned/challenged books.  We also made sure to put up some signage explaining the display and that the books were there to be borrowed.

The response we received was overwhelmingly positive.  Patrons loved it, staff loved it, and more than anything it got people to stop in their tracks and walk up to the display for a closer look.

Free a Book at New Westminster Public Library

Faith Jones wrote about New Westminster Public Library’s Free a Book initiative to celebrate Freedom to Read Week.

We’re encouraging patrons to release their own books, using the Book Crossing project. We’ve put up a display from our collection and are giving out the attached flyer (made by two of our artistically talented staffers). I’m also attaching the lovely poster they made.

FreeaBookhandout

Find a Challenged or Banned Book at the University of Victoria

Susan Henderson from the University of Victoria shared this wonderful Freedom to Read Week event:

The University of Victoria Libraries and Bookstore are organizing a special campus event to celebrate the 26th year of Freedom to Read Week. We really liked the BookCrossing idea on the FTRW website so we now have 26 campus representatives (including students, faculty, university staff and university administration) releasing 26 challenged books using BookCrossing.com. During February 21-27 these books will be released on campus or around our region to spread the word about challenged and banned books. There are also FTRW displays in the McPherson Library and the Curriculum Library and the University of Victoria Bookstore. The Martlet (student newspaper) is publishing a feature article and photo and a feature and photo went into The Ring, another campus publication http://ring.uvic.ca/10feb/freedom-to-read.html. We’re very pleased the event has captured people’s attention and a lot more students are prepared to defend a book if called upon to do so at some point in their lives.

University of Victoria's Freedom to Read Week image

Happy Freedom to Read Week!

This year’s Freedom to Read Week takes place from February 21 to February 27. Freedom to Read Week is our chance to highlight issues of censorship and start conversations about intellectual freedom with our patrons and public. Ideas for celebrating Freedom to Read Week at your library include:
- Giant “checklist” of banned & challenged books, where patrons get to tick or put a start by books that they’ve read
- Book readings of banned & challenged books, particularly if local authors are involved
- Get yourself a special Intellectual Freedom Committee t-shirt from http://www.tshirtmonster.ca/designer/gallery.asp?Designer=bclaifc
- Create a themed display on a current issue, such as free speech & the Olympics

If you need some visual inspiration, check out these photos:
http://bclaifc.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/creative-ftrw-displays/
http://bclaifc.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/ftrw-contest-winners/
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/03/library-celebrates-b.html

There’s more about the week at www.freedomtoread.ca.

Interested in the BCLA Intellectual Freedom Committee?
- Post or comment to this blog. You can comment without logging in; if you want to post, just e-mail us at bclaifc@gmail.com
- Check out our web site at http://www.bcla.bc.ca/ifc/default.aspx
- Join our e-mail list
- Attend one of our sponsored sessions at the BC Library Conference in Penticton, April 2009 (http://www.bclibraryconference.ca/page/program.aspx). Sessions are: Free Speech & the Olympics: What Happened?; Ain’t on the Globe & Mail Bestseller List; and Literacies and Issues of Intellectual Freedom in the Digital Age – for children’s and youth librarians)
- Contact Beth or Aili at bclaifc@gmail.com

We’d love to hear how you’re celebrating Freedom to Read Week, and we’d love to post your photos on our blog. Thanks to Monica Finn of VIRL who sent in a photo and won a collection of Freedom to Read Week buttons – see below for Monica’s photo! If you need any suggestions or help planning displays or events, please get in touch with Beth or Aili at bclaifc@gmail.com.

Enjoy Freedom to Read Week!

Freedom to Read Week on Vancouver Island

Monica Finn, Customer Services Librarian at the Vancouver Island Regional Library, wrote to us about the Freedom to Read Week displays she’s organizing for the VIRL:

I’m arranging a Freedom to Read Week display in each of the 39 branches of Vancouver Island Regional Library so I’ve already photographed a display which will be sent out with instructions.

I’m attaching the photo, hope it helps. The duotang in the photo will hold the first 12 pages of the 25-page PDF on challenged titles. I set that list out last year and found customers were interested and read through it. It’s an especially good list, I think, because it explains the reason for the challenge and the result.

Vancouver Island Regional Library Freedom to Read Week Display 2010

Thanks so much to Monica for sending us the photo & information. The list she’s including is the one from the Freedom to Read Week web site at www.freedomtoread.ca/censorship_in_canada/challenged_books.asp. We’d love to get more photos of ways in which your library is celebrating Freedom to Read Week. Please send them to bclaifc [at] gmail.com.

The demise of the independent bookstore?

Tara e-mailed about the sad demise of Duthie’s, a Vancouver legend in the independent bookstore business. Press release is at http://www.duthiebooks.com/

Over the 10 years I’ve been a librarian, and the 15 or so I’ve lived in Vancouver, I’ve seen independent bookstore after independent bookstore close down. From generalists like Duthie’s, to specialists like Women in Print, year after year sees less diversity and choice in the bookstores in our town. As an on-the-side small publisher, I see similar stories in cities across North America. It seems like it’s no longer viable to run a bookstore unless you’re a mega-chain.

The demise of independent bookstores hurts the diversity of the materials we have available to read. The loss of independent booksellers means the loss of decades of cumulative experience in the book trade, of a vast knowledge of publishing, and writers, and readers. In the world of books and readers, there needs to be a better link between booksellers and librarians.

But it’s more than that. This is one of the rare times where librarians have some kind of economic leverage. Our buying power could support local independent bookstores with targeted purchases tailored to the needs of our patrons. It infuriates me that we buy from large publishers’ catalogues rather than from local bookstores. It drives me crazy that we ignore the wealth of expertise on our doorsteps, and turn instead to the easy option, the option that gives us a little bit more of a discount at the expense of diversity in our collections. It makes me angry that when I shop at local bookstores as a librarian, I’m an anomaly, often the only librarian buying from that bookstore.

As Tara mentioned, People’s Co-op Bookstore, my absolute favourite Vancouver bookstore, is celebrating 65 years in business with a fundraiser this Friday, January 22, 8pm at the WISE Hall. See http://www.peoplescoopbookstore.com/.
For a list of other local bookstores, see http://thetyee.ca/Books/Bookstores/.

Go shopping!

Beth