The Intellectual Freedom Committee for NDLA will sponsor two speakers at NDLA’s annual conference this September.

When: Thurs. Sept 20, 1:45pm-2:45pm
Speaker: Jack McDonald, Attorney at Law
Session: The First Amendment and How It Relates to Media and Journalists

When: Friday Sept 21, 10:00am-11:00am
Speaker: The Honorable Daniel J. Crothers, Justice of the Supreme Court of North Dakota
Session: Federal Cybersecurity Responses: CISPA, PIPA, SOPA and More

For more information refer to the article written by NDLA IF Committee member Charlotte Hill in the latest issue of The Good Stuff (pg 22).

Check out the IF Committee’s Banned Books Activities slideshow!

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our events and congratulations to the winners of the Banned Books Gift Baskets. The t-shirts were donated by Out of Print Clothing. If you didn’t win a gift basket and want a t-shirt check out their site!

Conference attendees asked us to post the URLs for the QR Codes we were wearing. See below:

Aubrey Madler as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: QR Code

Breanne Meier as Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls: QR Code

Christine Kujawa as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey: QR Code

Eric Stroshane as Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs: QR Code

Kalan Davis as The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: QR Code

Laura Trude as Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut: QR Code

Lori West as Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: QR Code

Mary Markland as On The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: QR Code

Matt Hovland as Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: QR Code

Patricia Fischer as The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: QR Code

Suzanne Morrison as Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: QR Code

The NDLA Intellectual Freedom Committee has been selected as one of six recipients for a Banned Books Week grant from the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), via its Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund.

“The strength of the applications for Judith Krug Fund grants this year was really impressive,” said Kent Oliver, FTRF president. “The six winners have very unique projects that were chosen based on many criteria, including their creativity, sustainability and commitment to Judith Krug’s vision and legacy…These grants will help shed light on the power of the First Amendment and the importance of defending our right to read.”

In addition to the grant, FTRF is also providing Banned Books Week merchandise, sold by the American Library Association Store, to the grant recipients.

The following activities, which were cited in the grant won by the committee, will be offered during the conference.

Living Banned Books Event
Committee members and other librarians passionate about Banned Books will wear t-shirts emblazoned with banned book covers. Each living banned book will provide a short reading, summary of the book and why the book has been banned in the past. The location for the event will be the hotel’s main lobby/hallway. NDLA members will be encouraged to walk through the area and choose different books to stop at. In addition, a QR code will be attached to each t-shirt for attendees to scan with their mobile devices providing additional information about the book. Note: NDLA members may scan the living banned books any time throughout the conference as they see one!

When: Thursday, Sept. 22 from 11:00 am-12:15 pm

Banned Books: Who Decides? Intellectual Freedom as an Approach to World Literature
We are sponsoring a session that will be presented by two UND language professors, Dr Sherrie Fleshman and Dr Claudia Routon. Victor Lieberman, a reference librarian at Chester Fritz Library will also take part in the presentation. The session will be based on the culminating academic experience of a Capstone course in Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures that was offered at UND in 2010-11. The course covered censored literature/film as a means to bring together multiple language and literary traditions.

When: Friday, Sept. 23 from 9:00 am-10:00 am (check schedule for location)

Banned Books Themed Gift Basket
Librarians love a good gift basket, especially when it’s free and contains banned book paraphernalia! Committee members will be pooling together items and creating the gift basket. It will be placed at the registration desk and conference attendees may sign up for a drawing to win it. The drawing will take place during the NDLA Awards Banquet.

We hope you join us in these activities as we show our support and interest in the importance of intellectual freedom.

(From Jonathan Kelley, IFLA/FAIFE volunteer)

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Social media has become a hugely important force in the world, and the historic events in recent months have proven how integral they are to how we engage, learn, and communicate in 2011.

In an effort to learn more about how librarians, library workers, library students, and library associations use social media, the Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions has developed a short survey on these topics. Our hope is that the results will allow us to better communicate with those in the worldwide library community – using the most effective tools at our disposal. We’re also very interested in those who DON’T use certain social media, and why not.

Please take a few moments to complete the survey – and share it widely with your colleagues and members! http://www.surveymonkey.com/IFLAsocialmedia

Many thanks,
Jonathan Kelley,
IFLA/FAIFE volunteer