City officials in San Bernardino, California, last week agreed to restore a painting of a nude fairy to its place in a public library exhibit after the National Coalition Against Censorship said its removal raised “serious constitutional concerns.” The painting…
Tag: public library
What Do We Know About the Frequently Challenged Comics of 2014?
Following the news that comics made up almost a third of the books on the American Library Association’s Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books for 2014, we did a bit of investigating for more information on the challenges that…
Long Beach Library Reverses Course on Police Shooting Artwork
Citing a “misunderstanding,” the Long Beach, California public library yesterday invited local artist Lethia Cobbs to return a doll that a library employee had told her to remove from her artwork earlier this month. The piece includes a white police…
Undead Books Live on in Texas Library
A local minister’s effort to remove books dealing with vampires and the occult from the Young Adult section of the public library in Cleveland, Texas failed last week when the city council met to address the issue. In response to…
Texas Minister Wants Vampire Books Banned From Library
A minister in the small Texas town of Cleveland is spearheading a petition drive to have 75 books that he labels “demonic” removed from the Young Adult section of the local public library. Pastor Phillip Missick of King of Saints Tabernacle…
Long-Ago Book Challenge Illustrates Importance of Library Policy
In the first half of the 20th century public libraries were strictly for edification, not entertainment. Most librarians thought nothing of excluding or removing from their collections books that were considered too frivolous (comics chief among them, of course) or…
Lost Girls Rated 18+ by New Zealand Government Censors
Almost a year ago, Auckland City Libraries in New Zealand declined to add Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s Lost Girls to their collection, fearing prosecution under the country’s child pornography laws. The book was subsequently submitted for review by the…
ALA Report Shows Internet Filtering Curtails Free Speech
In a few days we will mark the 11th anniversary since the Supreme Court decided in United States v. American Library Association that filtering of Internet access on school and library computers does not infringe on free speech rights. The…
Hertfordshire Libraries Restrict Comics Borrowing for Children and Teens
After a parent in the small English town of Harpenden complained that one of her children was able to access adult graphic novels in the local library, new borrowing restrictions for minors have been imposed across the entire Hertfordshire library…
Who’s Afraid of Fun Home?
In light of the unprecedented and vindictive budget cut currently making its way through the South Carolina legislature as punishment for the College of Charleston encouraging (but not requiring) students to read Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, we thought we’d share…