Intellectual Freedom News

General Interest, Intellectual Freedom News, Legislation, Privacy

Intellectual Freedom News

February 25, 2016

 Office for Intellectual Freedom

  • Report your challenges! OIF is working to finalize numbers for 2015 challenges and our annual list of most frequently challenged books. The deadline is Friday, February 26, 2016. ala.org/challengereporting
  • Intellectual Freedom & Thomas Paine at your library. OIF and Ian Ruskin offer libraries an opportunity to provide advance screenings of To Begin the World Over Again: the Life of Thomas Paine as a program for their communities before it’s aired on public television. In addition to the film license, libraries are supplied with the DVD format to circulate in their collection and resources to promote and structure the library program. This is a great opportunity for libraries to support ALA and Intellectual Freedom.
  • Webinar: Finding Intellectual Freedom Friends. March 7, 1:00pm CST. As librarians, we are often cocooned in library voices. But there are other industries and professionals whose principles and values often align with ours; especially intellectual freedom. This webinar will share examples of potential partners and how collaborating with non-library organizations can strengthen your message and increase your reach. Collaboration with like-minded organizations can create renewed enthusiasm and new library supporters. Whether you’re designing programs and curriculum or looking for writers and speakers, you may want to consider friends who share your values but can offer different perspectives.
  • Call for students: Do you have a teenage student, or access to them? Dr. Laura Crysel at Stetson University is doing an interesting IRB approved study: does what we read affect us, particularly controversial books? Crysel seeks your assistance in finding parents or teachers who can help identify students willing to read one of 8 books. Four of them are “controversial,” and four are not. The books are: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Golden Compass; The Hobbit; The Catcher in the Rye; 1984; The Color Purple; and Jane Eyre. Participating students will then be asked to fill out a short questionnaire whose answers will be private and confidential. Naturally, parents have to approve of participation, as well as teachers, and the students really have to read the books, not just see the movie. If you have any questions about the research, please feel free to contact Dr. Laura Crysel at lcrysel@stetson.edu, or call at 386-822-7396. But do help if you can: we need research like this. And feel free to forward this call to other, relevant email lists.

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