There is an article in today’s Globe and Mail titled “After six years, diplomatic lifeline allows Chinese dissident to reunite with family“. Jiang Weiping, a Chinese journalist who had been put in prison for exposing political corruption. Since he was convicted on subversion charges in 2001, Mr. Jiang’s story was heard around the world. The…
The Tyee recently published a great article, The Urge to Burn Books, on book burnings in Nazi Germany in 1933. I like how Stan Persky brings this historical event into the present with this comparison: So, whenever people burn books — whether it’s the ancient library of Alexandria, Egypt going up in flames nearly two…
Photo credit: florian.b on flickr The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom just published their list of the top ten banned books from last year. I haven’t read Olive’s Ocean or TTYL yet, but if they really are sexually explicit and have offensive language I will probably enjoy them immensely. 1. “And Tango Makes Three,” by…
I went to Portland for the long weekend. Portland is fantastic. There is Voodoo Donuts, a donut shop that doubles as a wedding venue and Swahili language school. There are also lots of fantastic independent bookstores like Powells and Reading Frenzy. I am often puzzled by the United States. The American Booksellers Foundation for Free…
When people find out that I’m a librarian they often respond “Oh, I love books”, mostly because I think they don’t know what else to say. The “I love books” people drive me nuts, and I usually respond with a snarky”I don’t like books at all” or “I don’t read fiction.” That usually shuts them…
Canada Border Services Agency sent out their quarterly list (24 page PDF) of items (CDs, newspapers, records, books, calenders, CD-ROMs, comic books, DVDs, DVD-Rs, magazines, pocket books, and video cassettes) that have been seized and reviewed by the Prohibited Importations Unit. For me the white supremacist stuff makes me really angry and is the most…
Xtra West is Vancovuer’s Lesbian and Gay Biweekly free newspaper. Xtra West has been banned for free distribution at Granville Island and Fraser Valley public libraries, with the ban later rescinded at both Granville Island the the libraries . Here are some recent highlights from their website and print newspaper. This is a clip, of…
Canada Border Services Agency sent out their quarterly list (19 page PDF) of items (CDs, newspapers, records, books, calenders, CD-ROMs, comic books, DVDs, DVD-Rs, magazines, pocket books, and video cassettes) that have been seized and reviewed by the Prohibited Importations Unit. In the 19 page report there is half a page of items listed under…
The recent military crackdown in Burma got me thinking about access to information around the world. The media also commented on the role that the internet played in getting uncensored information out about the monk’s protests against the military dictatorship as well as how the internet was essentially shut off to stop the flow of…
Has anyone noticed that a Google search now displays how many times you have been to a certain website and the last time you visited if it comes up in the search? More of our personal information stored on those famous US servers.
intellectual freedom committee - bcla 
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