Colgate University Libraries News and Events

Do you know what this week is? Yes, Sept 27th means you’ve survived your first month at Colgate - congratulations! However, it’s also the beginning of Banned Books week, an annual event first begun in 1982. Books are typically challenged for all the right reasons, frequently to protect children from material deemed racist (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), too sexually explicit (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) or that contain graphic language (The Color Purple). Differences of religious or political opinion also come into play (Golden Compass).

In his book Free Speech for Me—But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other, Nat Hentoff writes that “the lust to suppress can come from any direction.” He quotes Phil Kerby, a former editor of the Los Angeles Times, as saying, “Censorship is the strongest drive in human nature; sex is a weak second.” (ALA banned books website 9/23/2008)

Why is this important to you? Take a look at the lists of most frequently challenged books at the American Library Association . How many of these books have you read - Harry Potter and …, Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye? Freedom to read without interference means that librarians all over the country examine and place books in age appropriate collections; handle challenges to those books fairly; and defend appropriate decisions. It means that here at Colgate, we do not give out information about who has checked out books or films from our libraries. You could even say that it means that there is a free flow of information from and about our government that is so necessary in a democracy.

This is a time when I stop and think about that freedom- I should probably do that more often.

So cuddle up with good book (banned, challenged, or not), and celebrate!
 

So, here we are, 1 week after the final leg of this election's run for the White House has begun. Has this campaign gone on forever, or is it just me? So, what are you doing to following election? Do you have favorite websites, newspapers, blogs? You can find links to some of mine at:
http://exlibris.colgate.edu/help/guides/election2008.html
It includes the new CQ Press "Political Bedfellows widget, which uses voting data to compare stands on issues for any 2 representatives, including, of course, Obama and McCain. Check it out and send me your suggestions for additions to the webpage.
 

A list of content added to America's Historical Newspapers during August 2008 has been created.
 
Included within this update are two Cazenovia newspapers in full text- the Pilot from 1808-1821 and the Union Herald from 1838-1840.

 
Hurry up and catch up on what it's all about before election day from our new reference books.
Guide to the Presidency Ref JK516.G83 2008
Read chap 4, Rating the Presidents:
Great - Washington,   Lincoln,  F.D. Roosevelt
Near Great: Jefferson, T. Roosevelt    Jackson, Truman, Reagan, Eisenhouwer, Polk, Wilson
Above average:  Cleveland, J. Adams, McKinley, Madison, Monroe, L. Johnson, Kennedy
Failure: A. Johnson, Pierce, Harding, Buchanan
Below average:  B Harrison, Ford, Hoover, Carter, Taylor, Grant, Nixon, Tyler
The remainder are just "average".
AND:
Watch out for "trackers" - defined in:Safire's Political Dictionary JK9.S2 Tracker - "videographer working for one campaign assigned to follow an opposing candidate to catch any slips or bloopers"
And in case you want to get away from it all, you can imagine yourself in one of the "Expeditions of the 20th century", p. 182 in the
Atlas of Exploration Case Ref G1036.A85
Also includes chapter "Jesuits in the Himalayas"
2008-09-08

Lists of new titles added during August by call number and subject have been created.  A separate list of new videos cataloged during August is also available.