News Briefs
Staff -- School Library Journal, 10/1/2000
Potter the Profane
Catholic school bans 'Harry'
Holy Family Catholic School, in Rockford, IL, has decided to ban J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter books from its libraries because school officials think the series presents witchcraft and astrology in a positive light.
According to the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF), the Potter books were the most frequently challenged books of 1999. Judith Krug, director of OIF, thinks it's ironic that all the challenges to Harry have come from schools, since teachers and students tend to be so high on the series. Notes Krug: "Teachers will say [to their classes], 'Okay, if you're good, we'll read some Harry Potter at the end of class.'"
Krug also notes that none of the challenges to Harry have come from public libraries.
Shame on Us
A group of educators, doctors, and psychologists thinks that the billions spent on America's school computers and Internet connections is a big, fat waste of moola. The Alliance for Childhood, a group critical of technology in the classroom, insists that there is little evidence that links computer use to higher academic achievement. "We've been down this highway of bringing computers into elementary schools with so little debate, and spending such huge sums," Joan Almon, the head of the organization's U.S. branch, told the Associated Press. "If we were spending so much money on other aspects of education with so little evidence of gain, we'd be ashamed of ourselves."
Today's Kids...Tomorrow's Donors
Microsoft mogul Paul Allen donates $20 million to library
Many folks talk about the importance of giving something back to their communities. But Paul Allen, former Microsoft mogul and newfound philanthropist, has taken that maxim to the max: the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation recently donated $20 million to the Seattle Public Library (SPL)--the library that Allen and his sister frequented as kids. Allen's parents also happened to be librarians.
The money will be used to upgrade SPL's collections. "We'll be able to update all of our collections with compact disks and electronic and paper magazine subscriptions," says SPL's Andra Addison. By happy circumstance, Bill Gates, who donated $20 million to the library several years ago, also used SPL as a child.
Unfiltered
New Hampshire library drops Internet filters
Residents of New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, have a little more freedom these days. The Nashua (NH) County Public Library (NCPL) has removed filters from its adult computers under the threat of a lawsuit by the Nashua-based First Amendment Legal Defense Fund. The library now filters only one machine in the children's area. But library officials are clearly not happy with the change. "The same child who is allowed to download an X-rated Web site isn't allowed to walk down the street and rent an X-rated video, because it's considered obscene," says NCPL's assistant director, Bob Frost. "There needs to be a more consistent train of thought from the government."
Say Can You See
New exhibit of Allen Say's art
Allen Say's evocative watercolors are on display at the Japanese-American National Museum in Los Angeles through February 11, 2001. The retrospective, entitled "Allen Say's Journey: The Art and Words of a Children's Book Author," features 55 original watercolors from the last three decades, including the cover art from Say's Caldecott Medal-winning Grandfather's Journey (Houghton, 1993). Art from the artist's soon-to-be-released book, The Sign Painter (Houghton/A Walter Lorraine Book), is also on display, along with a collection of Say's sketchbooks, drawings, and personal artifacts. For more information, call (213) 625-0414.
