October 2007 - Posts

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:31 PM

Looking for a quiet place to study in the Library?

It's a fact - Irwin Library is a popular place in the evenings for group study, and we welcome this.  However, if you are looking for more individualized, quite study spaces, check out the study carrels on the west side of the Irwin Library basement.  Or, inquire at one of the Service Desks and staff can direct you to areas of the Library that are more conducive to quiet study.  We are a small space with multiple needs, accommodating both group study and quiet study, so please be courteous of the study needs of others around you.

Thanks!
posted by sneal with 0 Comments [Edit]
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 2:11 PM

Library Lost & Found

Now that the weather is finally cooling down, more people are wearing jackets around campus. Unfortunately, since we're not in the habit yet, many are leaving them at computers or around the library.

If you've left your jacket, notebook, keys, memory stick, or anything else in either of the libraries, please check with the Circulation Desk in that library, which is where our "Lost & Found" areas are located. If you find something left behind by someone else, please take it to the Circulation Desk.

Thank you.
posted by spfitzin with 0 Comments [Edit]
Friday, October 19, 2007 2:48 PM

RSS Feeds for New Books

The Butler libraries now have RSS feeds available to let you know about new books that have been added to our catalog.

Using your favorite aggregator (we recommend Google Reader or Bloglines), just add any of the following feeds and you'll be notified every time a new book is added to our catalog in that subject area.
posted by spfitzin with 0 Comments [Edit]
Monday, October 01, 2007 8:51 AM

Banned Books Week, Sept. 29- Oct. 6

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. This year it is from Sept. 29 - Oct. 6. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular. It stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

Between 1990 and 2000, of the 6,364 challenges reported to or recorded by the Office for Intellectual Freedom:

  • 1,607 were challenges to "sexually explicit" material (up 161 since 1999)
  • 1,427 to material considered to use "offensive language" (up 165 since 1999)
  • 1,256 to material considered "unsuited to age group" (up 89 since 1999)
  • 842 to material with an "occult theme or promoting the occult or Satanism" (up 69 since 1999)
  • 737 to material considered to be "violent" (up 107 since 1999)
  • 515 to material with a homosexual theme or "promoting homosexuality" (up 18 since 1999)
  • 419 to material "promoting a religious viewpoint" (up 22 since 1999)
  • 317 to material involving "nudity" (up 20 since 1999)
  • 267 to material involving "racism" (up 22 since 1999)
  • 224 to material involving "sex education" (up 7 since 1999)
  • 202 to material considered to be "anti-family" (up 9 since 1999)
Links
Proclamation from the Butler Libraries
Quotes relating to Banned Books Week
posted by spfitzin with 0 Comments [Edit]