Cornell University Library Celebrates Banned Book Week – September 29-October 6, 2007
By Anne R. Kenny, Interim University Librarian
Cornell University Library is participating in the twenty-sixth anniversary of Banned Books Week -- a nationwide initiative to celebrate the fundamental right to read.
I'm profession-proud that libraries have been at the forefront of those who have vigorously defended this freedom, one that has been attacked by both the left and the right and all points in between. And in recent years, assaults on the basic freedom to read have become more challenging and intense under the impact of new technologies, litigation threats, and concerns about national security. In July, Cambridge University Press agreed to destroy all unsold copies of its 2006 book, Alms for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World, in response to a potential libel suit. The publisher didn’t stop there, however. Cambridge Press agreed to ask university libraries worldwide to pull the book from their shelves. When they come knocking on our door, we'll say no.
During this week, there will be a display in Olin Library highlighting famous banned books, including those by Cornell authors whose publications have been attacked. Books by Kurt Vonnegut, E.B. White, Toni Morrison, and Vladimir Nabokov number among the top 42 of 100 best novels of the 20th century that have been challenged or banned.
We also created a pamphlet that contains excerpts from Cornell faculty, students, and librarians who have shared their thoughts on favorite banned books -- copies of this brochure have also been distributed to all the library units.
Other Banned Books Week events at Cornell include a Speak Out co-sponsored by the Library and the Cornell American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on October 3rd at Ho Plaza beginning at noon.
Ithaca events include a reading on Sunday, Sept. 30th at the Unitarian Church, which is sponsored by the Ithaca City of Asylums Voices of Freedom. Speakers will include Sarah Mkhonza (Swaziland), Ithaca City of Asylum's writer in residence, and Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), City of Asylum/Pittsburgh's writer in residence. The Ithaca City of Asylum is also sponsoring readings by Horacio at Cornell and Ithaca College on Monday October 1.
On Oct 18th, Sir Salman Rushdie will be on campus to participate in the Cornell Creative Writing Programs Fall 2007 Reading Series. Rushdies book, The Satanic Verses, so angered Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini that he issued a fatwa (religious edict) against Rushdie and called for his death. Rushdie spent nearly a decade in hiding, appearing in public only rarely.
I'm also pleased to report that CUL has joined over 30 other research libraries in North America as organizational members of the Freedom to Read Foundation. Serving as the First Amendment legal arm of the library community, the Foundation has participated in much of the key landmark litigation that has defended intellectual freedom in our courts. This is of critical importance to libraries, to the users they serve, and to the ongoing health of a democracy. The written word is powerful indeed.