Safeguarding Your Right to Read
Banned Books Week is an annual celebration of the freedom to read and, as detailed in this blog post, was co-founded by native Pittsburgher Judith Krug. It’s sponsored by the … Continued
Developing & Maintaining Collections in Challenging Times: A Public Service Perspective
When working with the public, the occasional negative comment regarding the collection just comes with the territory. Every branch serves a different demographic, so what may be a smash hit … Continued
Developing & Maintaining Collections in Challenging Times: A Collection Development Perspective
As part of our Collection Development Policy, CLP is committed to having a vast range of books and materials in our collection in order to best benefit our extremely diverse … Continued
Judy Fingeret Krug, Founder of Banned Books Week
Born and raised in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Judith “Judy” Fingeret Krug devoted her career as a librarian and advocate to the defense of intellectual freedom and the freedom to read without censorship. Judy graduated from the … Continued
Making Connections
Previous posts this week have focused on the ways that Censorship Divides Us. That phrase is one half of this year’s Banned Books Week theme. The other is Books Unite Us … Continued
Book Challenges at CLP
Our previous Banned Books Week posts focused on intellectual freedom and the recent increase in coordinated challenges to library materials in school and public libraries. While Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has … Continued
Organized Opposition to the Right to Read — Recent Changes to the Library Landscape
An unprecedented volume of attempts to reduce access to materials and services from school and public libraries was documented in 2021 by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom … Continued
Censorship, Intellectual Freedom and the Freedom to Read
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP) strives every day to live up to the words etched above the entrance to our Main Library and ensure our city’s libraries and the information … Continued
Banned Books Week – Book Challenges Explained
When people first hear about Banned Books Week, they often ask one of two questions: “Who doesn’t have the freedom to read?” and “Are books really banned?” Neither answer is quite as straight-forward as you might think.
Banned Books Week – How Challenges Offer Opportunities for Reflection
Given that libraries celebrate Banned Books Week and condemn censorship, how is it possible that the occasional challenges that Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh receives from our users are not unwelcome?