Explore the forbidden - read a banned book!

It's Banned Book Week! For most librarians, this is the equivalent of the first day of spring, or Fourth of July fireworks. You know the image we all have of shushing librarians in tweed skirts telling us what to do? Here's their secret: within those cardigan-wearing chests beat some very rebellious hearts. I haven't met a librarian yet who really believes censorship is a good idea. If you seriously ask a librarian point-blank for a piece of information, no matter how "dangerous" society deems it to be, I bet nine times out of ten she (or he) will drop everything to get it for you. And that goes double for something "dangerous" to read - watch those sensible shoes make tracks into the stacks to retrieve Huck Finn or Invisible Man at top speed.

Here in the Savidge Bowers Library, I'm proud to say that of the top 100 most frequently banned and challenged books of the last century, we own 83. And I'm working on getting the remaining 17. As I said, that doesn't make me unusual - it makes me part of a whole universe of librarians who care about helping people preserve their intellectual freedom. Today I had one of those singular moments that really makes a librarian feel like this is her calling, not just her job: Mrs. Dozier brought in a class of eighth-graders to look through the banned book display for some free-reading selections. Several inquisitive students asked who has the right to tell anyone else what they're allowed to read. "Nobody!" said Ryan F. That's exactly right - nobody. It's a short hop from banning books to banning speech to banning thought.

So, celebrate your personal freedom and pick a banned book for yourself this week. I can make recommendations based on taste, but only you get to decide which one you take home.

Autumn arrives

Equinox: from the Latin for "equal night," meaning that the length of daylight and evening hours are just about equal at this time, the vernal or autumnal equinox.

Today, officially, is the first day of fall - my favorite time of year. Here in Sarasota it doesn't feel much like fall in the traditional sense; it is, after all, in the 90s or close every day. Still, there's the feeling that we're all settling in and getting down to business. School clothes, book buying, tests, Homecoming, Winter Break, spring finals . . . scholars often claim that contemporary humans have lost the cyclical sense of time our ancient forebears used to have, that because most of us no longer reckon our existence based on the planting cycle we forget there are seasons. But for those of us in academia, the years go by in a continuous spiral of beginning, middle, end and back to beginning. I've said this before, but I'll say it again - many people do not welcome fall with the same sense of pleasure I do, because if winter is the metaphorical death of the year, then autumn is its slow decline. For me, though, autumn will always be the finest season, a time of new beginnings and fresh possibilities.

Yes, we have it

The Lost Symbol is here. That's right, we have it. Well, sort of. We had it, and then we lent it out. Most people think of the school library as the place to check email, do homework, and use the occasional Civil War reference book, but guess what? We are also a hotbed of the latest and greatest. When you wanted Twilight, I had that, and now that you want The Lost Symbol, I've got that for you too. Or, at least, I will have it for you when it comes back on the 25th, then the next one in line gets it. So, that's my point: put a hold on it in the library system, and you can claim your prize with just a few keystrokes.

While we're on the subject, I have New Moon, too. Ask at the desk. In the meantime, over the summer we received several hundred other new books, all of which are just dying to be checked out and taken home, so why not give another book a chance while you're waiting? You might just discover the next Great American Novel back there in the stacks before anybody else does.

Everyone's a critic

This week I visited the 10th graders in Mrs. Giraud's English classes to show off one of my favorite features of the new library software system. The new system allows readers to write and post book reviews of books we have in the library - readers can give up to five stars for "awesome," and can include a written review of up to 1,000 characters. After they get approved by me (of course), they get posted to the catalog for everyone's edification - bang, we're just like Amazon.

In fact, I want and need these reviews and so do other students. When I go to purchase something for the library, I read reviews on Amazon and in Booklist and other trade publications - if the reviews are uniformly bad, I don't buy it. On the other hand, if all reviews about this author or that one are glowing, sometimes I buy everything he or she has written.

So if you've got a favorite author, now is the time for your voice to be heard! Want help finding the "reviews" tab in the library interface? Ask at the desk. You knew that already, right?