NEWS | ALA Broad Speech Ban Rejection Urged The Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), an offshoot of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, has joined publishers, booksellers, writers, and other media groups in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a 1999 statute that, if upheld,
Calendar ALA Events Sept. 11–13: Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, www.bcr.org/ arsl. Oct. 1–4: Library and Information Technology Association National Forum, Salt Lake City, Utah, www .ala.org/lita. Oct. 7–9: Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services Conference, Everett Washington, www .abos-outreach.org.
Nov. 5–8: American Association of School Librarians National Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina, www.ala.org/aasl. 2010 Jan. 15–19: ALA Midwinter Meeting, Boston, www.ala .org/midwinter. Mar. 23–27: Public Library Association National Conference, Portland, Oregon, www.ala.org/pla.
ALA Joins in Salinger Amicus Brief Filing ALA and its Association of College and Research Libraries joined the Association of Research Libraries, the Organization for Transformative Works, and the Right to Write Fund in filing an amicus curiae brief August 3 asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse the Federal District Court judge’s ruling in Salinger v. Colting. In July, the district court ruled in favor of author J. D. Salinger, who claimed that Fredrik Colting, the author of 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, infringed his copyright on Catcher in the Rye. The district court’s preliminary injunction prohibits the publication and distribution of the book, which the groups believe implicates free speech rights of authors, publishers, and the public protected by the First Amendment.
The Smartest Card Candace Parker, 2008 Women’s National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year and Olympic gold medalist, is honorary chair of this year’s Library Card Sign-up Month. Observed each September since 1987, the observance reminds parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. Visit www.ala.org/ librarycardsignup.
“The library card is the smartest card in my wallet. Sign up for yours today.” CandaCe Parker, Olympic gold medalist, WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year, and NCAA college player of the year. http://www.candaceparker.com/
SePTeMBeR iS LiBRARY CARd SigN UP MONTh. Visit your library today. It is a community hub of activity. In tough economic times, your library card will give you free access to books and computers, homework help, assistance with resumes and job searches, accurate financial information, adult education courses, assistance for new Americans, CDs, DVDs and much more.
For more information, please visit: ilovelibraries.org/librarycard
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Oct. 18–24: Teen Read Week, www.ala.org/yalsa.
would allow the government to ban a wide range of material it deems to lack value, including many mainstream books, magazines, and movies. The lawsuit concerns the criminal conviction of a Virginia man, Robert Stevens, who was sentenced to three years in prison for creating several documentaries that included scenes of dogfighting. In the amicus brief filed in July in U.S. v. Stevens, FTRF, the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and other members of the Media Coalition urge the Supreme Court to overturn Stevens’ conviction and strike down the statute on the grounds that the law seriously threatens freedom of speech. U.S. v. Stevens is scheduled to be argued before the Supreme Court October 6. The brief is available online at tinyurl.com/ mf3hjp.
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