Top Ten list of most frequently challenged books for 2009

Last July we had a lively and thought provoking discussion about Censorship and the Library as a follow up to that discussion I thought I would post a link to the ALA Top Ten list of most frequently challenged books for 2009. What I find interesting is that the popular Twilight series of books has been added to the list. It seems that the challenges are theme based rather then content based for this series of books. The majority of these books are works of fiction which are challenged because they offend values of the complaining individuals. So the question that all this raises (again) is: should offended individuals prevent others from having general access to works of literature, art, music or film because they may have controversial themes or content? In my opinion taking the time to attempt to censor a particular work just calls attention to it and rather then removing the offending work from general circulation it just promotes that work to those who may indeed find it to be influential. Which is contrary the intent of the censors.

New Photo Exhibit in the DMDS

Laughing--December 2007

The Library’s Digital Media Design Studio is hosting a new exhibit in their 200 Snell Library space, highlighting student work, and starting with the photography of student Sierra Smith. If you’re interested in displaying your work, please contact Thomas Bary (t.bary@neu.edu) or Debra Mandel (d.mandel@neu.edu). Here is a following statement from the photographer: “I don’t know if I’ve been working long enough to develop a style, but my work does tend toward the artistic, rather than the journalistic. It’s often fairly colorful, too. Though I would say I’m pleased with my portfolio, it’s been mostly limited by my camera; I’ve been using the same one for years, and it’s not exactly something a photographer would flaunt. Because of its quality, my work is often narrowed into a single style. However, it also forces me to compensate by looking for things that another photographer with better equipment may not see. While he’s letting the camera dictate his photograph, I’m letting my artistic vision do the honor.” -Sierra Smith Journalism, Class of 2014 Sierra is also the Library’s event photographer and you can see many of her pictures on Snippets as well!

New Reproductive Technology in the Library

Scanner in Snell Lobby My student assistant was wondering if that thing in the lobby of Snell Library was perhaps some kind of medical device? Well, close, but it does have to do with reproduction! It’s actually an overhead scanner called a Book2Net Kiosk which we are testing out this week, to see what we think about expanding scanning options in the library. If you haven’t noticed, our photocopiers are aging, and we’re wondering what to do about replacing them. Does everyone who uses them really need paper? Would a .pdf or .jpg file do as well? Are the Infocommons scanners adequate and convenient? For myself, I feel that sometimes you just need paper, and I’d like us to continue to offer at least one copier even if it means dropping a dime now and then. At the same time, the copiers have a lot of limitations. Unlike the copiers, this scanner offers color reproduction, the ability to copy large items like maps, and it won’t break the spines of our bound periodical volumes. I haven’t experimented with advanced features, but I believe this particular machine can zoom, pan, and rotate in the advanced mode. Try it next time you’re here. It’s very easy to use, just bring a flash drive to save your documents. And let us know what you think! Is it about time for new reproductive technology at Snell?

Barbara Neely’s Blanche series

I recently read an article on The Root about the popularity of Kathleen Stockett’s The Help. While I haven’t read The Help yet, I found Hopkinson’s  article interesting in that she talks about how, while she enjoyed the book tremendously, she felt frustrated: “In the world of publishing and Hollywood, it helps to be talented, as Stockett clearly is. But it also helps to be white.” Hopkinson later writes
Let’s look at the criminally underrated and uncelebrated work of Barbara Neely. Her Blanche White series is absolutely brilliant, pitch-perfect and probes at the issues of race and class from the perspective of a murder-solving black maid with a biting wit. I remember discovering them years ago, and thinking Neely’s Blanche is like a feminist response to Walter Mosley’s hard-boiled detective character Easy Rawlins. They are the same, delicious, pulpy read, sly commentaries about class and society. There is not a false note in any of her books. This is a writer who knows the correct Ebonics syntax of the verb “to be.” I can’t recommend her series enough. Buy every single one. Each takes about a day to read. And each gives you the same made-for-book-club pleasure that The Help gives you.
I took her recommendation and have finished Blanche on the Lam and Blanche Among the Talented Tenth. The Library has all four of Barbara Neely’s books in our collection. They’re nice, slim volumes…short, but also rather dark–not cozy mysteries, but engaging and well-written ones. Reading it to me, it seemed like an older time–more like the 1950’s or 60’s–but Blanche mentions a Run-DMC tape at the beginning, and at the end an African American Miss America, and Joints Chief of Staff, which seem to place it in the 1980’s, though the first book was published in 1993. Blanche is a domestic worker, and I found her narrative an interesting exploration of class issues as well. Blanche on the Lam finds Blanche on the run after being jailed for a bad check in her hometown of Fairleigh, North Carolina. She starts working for a wealthy family and once the bodies start turning up, Blanche investigates to avoid becoming the prime suspect. In Blanche and the Talented Tenth, Blanche has moved and is living nearby in Roxbury. She heads to Amber Cove, Maine, to a posh black resort, where she still encounters prejudice, secrets, and crime. Visiting her website, it also looks like Barbara is a fellow Bostonian as well, and I highly recommend her series!