Talk:Banned Books Week

Adding cleanup tag

This page needs cleanup. The cleanup rules say, "Editors are STRONGLY encouraged to try and perform clean-up themselves before posting articles to this list. Help in cleaning articles on this list is also greatly appreciated." However, it might be less controversial if I do not make the actual changes since some who watch this page may feel I would add POV. So I'll leave it to others to do the bulk of the work.

But look at the page. It clearly needs cleanup.

It needs balance too, but that's another story. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 22:44, 17 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

please feel free to indicate on this page what you think needs clean-up. The page looks fine as far as I am concerned. Jessamyn (talk) 03:09, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I was hoping to stay out of it. Generally, the page would undergo massive copy editing if it were to be published. The problem has nothing to do with the subject matter, only with the mechanics of writing. Grammar, style, links, accuracy, a whole pile of things I saw wrong with this article.

How about this. I'll go and make some changes. They will be examples of the kinds of problems, and I see one editor already fixed something. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 08:51, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There, I've made a few changes by way of example. I'll still try to stay out of this.

But the writing is wishy-washy too. "So 'Banned Books Week' is a more useful title in their overall aims." What? Overall aims? That was not even discussed. Who is making that decision? It is not a very encyclopedic phrase. I think there is a policy on weasel words.

And a separate section for the names of the sponsors? Wimpy to me.

There are so many other problems. It definitely needs further cleaning up.

Perhaps Strunk and White's Elements of Style and Elements of Grammar are banned books. That might explain why the page looks like a middle school assignment. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 09:05, 28 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Adding NPOV tag

Some recent clean up attempts have been made. Great. More clean up is needed.

But if we can set aside the extremely poor wording of this article for a moment, the article looks like it was written by a member or admirer of the American Library Association. I'm about to list examples. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 23:55, 13 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Banned Books Week is an awareness campaign, sponsored annually by the American Library Association (ALA)" - I think it is sponsored by a number of organizations, although the ALA is the major on carrying the torch.
"Offering Banned Books Week kits, the ALA sells posters, buttons, and bookmarks to celebrate the event." - the ALA's selling things in the second paragraph? Hello?
"First Amendment rights are valuable to the ALA, and the organization dedicates itself to promoting intellectual freedom, viewing it as an undeniable right that should be guaranteed to all citizens." Wonderful, even if it is POV. But in the first paragraph of Banned Books Week page?
"Challenging and banning books both threaten readers’ abilities to access materials" - this should be on the examples page for same POV, OR (original research), and unverifiability. There is no reference proving people are "threatened."
"A book banning occurs when these controversial materials are actually removed from a library or curriculum, thereby restricting access to other readers." Excuse me? The US Supreme Court in Board of Education v. Pico does not support this POV statement. The case appears nowhere on this page yet it is directly relevant.
"Robert Doyle, author of “Books Challenged or Banned in 2006-2007,” believes that challenges are just as dangerous as bannings themselves." - Really? WHo cares? The guy actually flat out lies to ensure statewide filtering legislation is defeated in Illinois, and actually coordinates a possibly illegal action to deprive citizens across Illinois of taxpayer services by getting local libraries to restrict or cut off access to the Internet, and yet he is here on the Banned Books Week page so important as to actually be named in the article. POV anyone?
"attempts to censor can lead to voluntary restriction of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy" - again, "attempts to censor" is a POV issue that ignores Pico and has little or nothing to do with reality.
"However, the best way to ensure access to materials is to report any challenges at the American Library Website at www.ala.org." - This looks like an advertisement for the ALA.
The references are all ALA or pro ALA.

Those are just some of the problems with POV, reliability, verifiability, and on and on. I am not saying the ALA is bad for this wiki page being written this way. I am saying this wiki page clearly violates numerous wiki policies, most especially NPOV, and it needs serious reworking to make it even passable. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 00:15, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

LAEC, your personal website linked in your profile (and your username) is specifically anti-ALA. You seem, to me, to have a conflict of interest regarding this article and the issue of whether or not it is neutral. The ALA is a 65,000 member organization. There is no issue with someone who is an ALA member making edits to this page in and of itself, but NPOV is important. That said, editorializing on the talk page is not really the way to move forward with clean up to this page and your remarks about Robert Doyle don't really have a place here. His book is an important book on the subject and your personal opinion of his actions are not relevant to this Wikipedia article. Jessamyn (talk) 19:48, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Jessamyn. You really have to stop following me around and announcing that everything I say is biased.

Everything I said here is legitimate. Everything. Everything I said here is based on wiki policy. Everything. I even specified "I am not saying the ALA is bad for this wiki page being written this way." For all I know at this time, the ALA and its members have nothing to do with the page. So it really is getting tiresome that you follow me around and make statements based on your own biases against me instead of actually considering what I said. This wiki page stinks as it is. You know it, I know you know it. It's just plain poor writing -- looks like a middle school homework assignment. I am perfectly within my wiki rights to raise the issues the issues I have.

Further, I gave numerous examples, just to avoid the appearance of my being merely nit picky or the like. Certainly the majority of the issues I raised or legitimate and even compelling.

Notice carefully I have not made any edits precisely because of my stance regarding the ALA. I am leaving it to others to make the changes they see fit within the guidance of wiki policy. Yet here you are telling people I'm biased and can't be trusted. Who cares? This is a Talk page. I haven't changed the wiki page significantly.

Thank you for announcing to the world, yet again, that I am "anti-ALA" -- I am not and I am a member of the ALA. I am against the policies of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom and its propaganda efforts. Are you suggesting I'm not allowed to oppose the OIF? Can we finish announcing my bias wherever you follow me and get back to following wikipedia policy and treat each other with the required respect due under wikipedia rules? I think you need to reference this guidance: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_a_dick Looking forward to working with you, as soon as you come around and join the wiki community like most everyone else.

Oh, the stuff about Robert Doyle belongs here because he is not a reliable source since he lies to make his points (and I can show it -- it is a matter of public record, not my personal opinion as you claim), and he was mentioned by name in the body of the wiki page as if he were some great source for information on BBW. He is not precisely because of his statements in the public record. Hence my including that as one point in a series. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 23:44, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I am not following you around, please do not say that I am. This page is on my watchlist. I do not want to get involved in another debate about this with you. Jessamyn (talk) 23:54, 14 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I am happy to hear that. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 11:17, 15 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

New information from the Library Journal on this topic: "Censors" Are So Scary, by Annoyed Librarian, Library Journal, 6 Oct. 2008. It and its sources confirm exactly what I have been saying, and more. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 02:54, 8 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding Cleanup and POV

I'm new to this - contributing to Wikipedia - and will admit to this being my first discussion post. I felt compelled to get involved here because I came to Wikipedia for information on Banned Books Week and, instead, got a treatise on banned/challenged books. I don't believe that the information on this page is appropriate for an entry titled "Banned Books Week" - there's no information about the history of the event, when the event takes place, who the sponors are, etc.

I found the information below at the ALA website (including information on the other sponsors of the event) and believe this would be a more appropriate entry for Banned Book Week. Certainly, one could link to another entry called Banned Books and/or Challenged Books for more information about what those titles mean.

I don't know what the protocol is for making changes to the page itself and certainly wouldn't want to simply dis someones efforts. If the creator of this page would like to use the following, I think (as I said) that it's a better explanation for the event:

"Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. 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 and 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. As the Intellectual Freedom Manual (ALA, 7th edition) states:

“Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.”

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) is asked why the week is called “Banned Books Week” instead of “Challenged Books Week,” since the majority of the books featured during the week are not banned, but “merely” challenged. There are two reasons. One, ALA does not “own” the name Banned Books Week, but is just one of several cosponsors of BBW; therefore, ALA cannot change the name without all the cosponsors agreeing to a change. Two, none want to do so, primarily because a challenge is an attempt to ban or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A successful challenge would result in materials being banned or restricted.

Although they were the targets of attempted bannings, most of the books featured during BBW were not banned, thanks to the efforts of librarians to maintain them in their collections. (See also Censorship and Challenges and Notable First Amendment Cases.) Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

To assist in planning the weeklong celebration, each year a BBW kit is developed. This kit includes three posters, 100 bookmarks, a button and a Resource Guide, which contains suggested activities and ideas for a BBW celebration. Moreover, the Resource Guide contains an annotated list of challenged or banned books and is an excellent reference for conducting research on censorship. (Since 2001, the Resource Guide is published every three years. Between new editions, kits include one List of Books Challenged or Banned since the last BBW.)

Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. Although this is a commendable motivation, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (ALA's basic policy concerning access to information) states that, “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.” Censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech, whether for protection or for any other reason, violates the First Amendment.

As Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., in Texas v. Johnson, said most eloquently:

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

If we are to continue to protect our First Amendment, we would do well to keep in mind these words of Noam Chomsky:

“If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.”

Or these words of "Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 1953, p. 20):

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

For more information on Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read, please contact the American Library Association/Office for Intellectual Freedom at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4220, or bbw@ala.org.

Banned Books Week Sponsors include:

American Booksellers Association American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression American Library Association American Society of Journalists and Authors Association of American Publishers National Association of College Stores Endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress"

Alexinmadison (talk) 15:50, 6 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well welcome, Alexinmadison. Looks like you have a great future career in Wikipedia. Keep it up. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 20:11, 6 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! That was a very kind thing to say. - Alexinmadison (talk) 21:23, 7 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

References

I'm fixing the references as best as I can. Please improve if possible. —Rossumcapek (talk) 04:09, 7 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Original research

This article contains original research. These may also be examples of NPOV violations.

Examples:

"Whether the books feature graphic language, strong violence, or explicit sexual content, people that challenge materials feel that others should not have access to them."
"Most challengers are individuals or groups that feel readers should not have access to materials for their own benefit."
"The most successful challengers are national conservative organizations, which use their large budgets to 'eclipse the First Amendment,' by challenging materials in libraries."
"Because these groups network and share resources, some are successful in challenging books in libraries." The American Library Association also networks and shares resources. Seeing a problem with this is OR and/or NPOV.
"Even when challenged books remain in schools and public libraries, the damage is already done, as attempts to censor can lead to voluntary restriction of expression by those who seek to avoid controversy." Censor? That's POV. If a book is legitimately removed, say under the Pico case, no censorship has occurred. Further, censorship as used here is the ALA's definition, not the real definition, so it is inherently POV.
"However, the best way to ensure access to materials is to report any challenges at the American Library Website at www.ala.org." What, did a PR flak for the ALA write this article? This is wikipedia, not ala.org.
"For help fighting a challenge, the ALA’s website also provides helpful information and links for advocates of free speech."
"Offering Banned Books Week kits, the ALA sells posters, buttons, and bookmarks to celebrate the event." Apparently, this is ala.org, not wikipedia.
"Challenging and banning books both threaten readers’ abilities to access materials...."
"A book banning occurs when these controversial materials are actually removed from a library or curriculum, thereby restricting access to other readers." This is pure ALA policy right from its web site, though not word for word. Again, this has become ala.org, not wikipedia.

Don't these examples reek of OR, NPOV, and even sales pitches by the ALA? To be clear, I'm am not saying any member or employee of the ALA is responsible for the biased material appearing on wikipedia.

No one has done anything to give this article any balance whatsoever, so far as I can see, despite previous tags placed on this page almost half a year ago, at least. Somebody better do something soon or I'll take matters into my own hands and clean the "shameless propaganda" out of this article. Then I'm sure there will be major personal attacks headed my way since that is the usual course of a propagandist's action. No mention will be made of my near half year restraint on this article to try to make it wikiworthy. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 05:04, 7 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Proposing RS for controversy

I am suggesting an edit be done to this page. Will someone help?

I have edited this page from time to time. The article contains a few sentences on controversy that could be expanded a little with the right noteworthy, reliable source. The following article could be such a source: "US Libraries Hit Back Over Challenges to Kids Books," by Sara Hussein, Agence France-Presse [AFP], 6 September 2009.

I would like to edit this page accordingly to add the source. However, I am named in that article, and I specifically call into question the American Library Association's claims about "censorship" as promoted by Banned Books Week. Therefore, I thought it best that I not add the RS and whatever associated text that may improve the article given the above. But if no responses appear here after a week or so, I'll go add what I think would be best. So someone please make the edit or explain why it should not be used. Thanks. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 04:28, 8 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Done. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 14:29, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

LegitimateAndEvenCompelling: I have reverted your edit, which served only to add your own personal views on Banned Book Week to this page. Your edit not only smacks of self-promotion, it reveals your animus to this event and your lack of a neutral viewpoint. It's also telling that you added the quote without any attibution that would reveal that you are the speaker.

I would second the comments of Jessamyn and other commenters above: you have a specific beef with ALA and Banned Books Week, and so therefore have no business editing this page, especially given the POV demonstrated by your website, www.safelibraries.org. -- [User:Bibliolover|Bibliolover]] (talk) 22:31, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I can understand your passion and love for Banned Books Week. So much so that your very first edits, all three of them, where made right here and right now on this very page. You then went on a personal attack--you are new to Wikipedia but you decided to personally attack. Okay, you are new, that's how things are. But please know we work cooperatively with each other here and on Wikipedia generally. People have even made comments here about how well we are getting along though we disagree on things. I hope you will consider contributing in that manner.

In the mean time, I will revert your removal of the sentence +ref. Adding material as I have done is acceptable where, among other things, it is done in an acceptable manner. This I have done. Indeed, that's the whole purpse of this Talk page subsection. I fully understand how someone new like you would find it surprising. I found things surprising too when I first started. But I assure you I have followed proper procedure.

Be that as it may, it is always good to have more editors here. Do not let my reversal of your first edit discourage you in the slightest. I hope you will stay here and continue to edit here and on Wikipedia generally. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 22:38, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Let me add that some of your comments are factually incorrect. For example, you say, "It's also telling that you added the quote without any attibution that would reveal that you are the speaker." That is factually incorrect. Read my comment, the very one to which you responded. It says, among other things, "I would like to edit this page accordingly to add the source. However, I am named in that article, and I specifically call into question the American Library Association's claims about 'censorship' as promoted by Banned Books Week." So clearly I have advised everyone here that I was involved and that I oppose the ALA on its false censorship claims. As to not naming myself in the article, that's simply not the issue. The issue is opposition to BBW. The Sara Hussein AFP article is perfect for that generally, and specifically the quote I cited. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 22:52, 17 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I stand by the edit. It is a fact that you operate a website and organization devoted to denigrating ALA and Banned Books Week and it is a fact that you promote a particular, non-neutral point of view on Banned Books Week. Those facts - not opinions, or a personal attack -- by themselves should disqualify you from editing this article. But your obfuscation that the article "appears to add useful information" appears to be a blind to add your own quote - your opinion and viewpoint -- to the article, not an attempt nto add good, factual information about Banned Books Week or banned books. And your failure to identify yourself as the souce of the quote in the Wikipedia article itself - few people read beyond to the discussion page - is a second attempt to obfuscate your intent here.

My understanding is that Wikipedia absolutely discourages editors from self-promotion and promotion of political viewpoints. If the article is so useful, then it should be added by a neutral editor. In fact, it appears to be a standard BBW article that rehashes the information already in the Wikipedia article. -- Bibliolover (talk) 11:34, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Clearly I have not been effective in properly guiding you. Given the nature of your comments, I will likely have to get others involved. Leave the material in the main page until there is consensus here for its removal. Your removing it a third time may be viewed negatively. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 12:08, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I need no guidance to recognize bias, self-promotion, and frankly, an attempt to exclude information that contradicts your viewpoint (why else would you exclude the link to the banned books map, or the citations that demonstrate that Banned Books Week draws attention to banned books as well as challenged books?) I have reverted your edit, since the default should be to exclude disputed, controversial material. If you revert again before other editors weigh in, I will apply an NPOV tag to the page and approach the appropriate noticeboards and ask for mediation.--Bibliolover (talk) 13:25, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Another Wikipedia editor has already reverted the page while I was writing my explanation. Thanks to Stephan Schultz. --Bibliolover (talk) 13:28, 18 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

External links

Two external links are flawed. One is a link to what already exists in a footnote. The other is a subpage of an existing external link. Setting aside POV, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that is to be written in an encyclopedic fashion. Duplicative links, whether by repetition or by subpages, are not encyclopedic. They just clutter the page.

Further, the map linked is seriously flawed for reasons substantially similarly to those detailed here. It is simply not encyclopedic to reprint as truth what is essentially the POV of some organization.

Lastly, the rapidity, frequency, and non wiki friendly fashion in which the links are being pushed by a single editor further evidence the POV nature of the links and the perseverative use of the links. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 06:00, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

NPOV Tag - 2009

User:LegitimateAndEvenCompelling, an acknowledged critic of Banned Books Week who maintains a website and an organization dedicated to denigrating Banned Books Week (see http://www.safelibraries.org), who also comments negatively about Banned Books Week in the mass media (see the article, US Libraries Hit Back Over Challenges to Kids Books at http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iMj2Fmuq6lqm4kdFfy5Vhp8-suQg), appears to be editing this article to push his point of view concerning Banned Books Week. This concern over his conflict of interest has been raised before (see earlier entries on this talk page.) His last batch of edits - eliminating links to resources that contradict his views, attempting to add his own quote to the article, and now creating notes containing cherry-picked quotes that are provided without context - seem to confirm this conflict of interest. I will file notices with the appropriate noticeboards to ask for assistance; in the meantime I will attempt to restore the information eliminated by User:LegitimateAndEvenCompelling. Bibliolover (talk) 06:13, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bibliolover, I am willing to listen to you. Understand that NPOV tags are used to point out what is NPOV and why. They are not used to make conclusory statements about editors themselves allegedly having some POV.

Please keep the following in mind:

If you suspect POV-pushing is happening, please remember to assume good faith and politely point out the perceived problem either on the article's talk page or the user's talk page. If the problem persists, consider filing a request for comment, get a third opinion, or if appropriate, file a report at fringe theories noticeboard. There are other options available to resolve such situations explained at dispute resolution.

Please update this section with exactly what is NPOV and exactly why, and please do so without addressing personal characteristics of editors. Thank you. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 06:55, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can we all just get along?

Bibliolover, it is Wiki policy to politely advise editors that they may be edit warring. I am hereby politely advising you that you are edit warring. Read more about the here: WP:3RR The polite advisory is intended to keep people cool and to promote their working cooperatively together. I have constantly asked you to take matters to the talk page. Your not having done so has resulted in this 3RR message.

IGNORE THIS PARAGRAPH - I SEE THE NPOV TALK SECTION WAS ADDED WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS: By the way, it is also Wiki policy that NPOV tags be explained in Talk. See WP:DRIVEBY. Since you have not done so, I am going to remove your NPOV tag. Please feel free to add it back, but it is being suggested that Wiki policy be followed and that you provide reasons for your NPOV tag in this Talk page if you decide to continue to pursue the NPOV tag.

There is so much that can be accomplished if everyone works together. The majority of your edits, other than the perseverative ones (all of them, not just the external links), have been valuable in the article. I am certain you might agree my edits have been valuable as well. There is no need to battle against me as you have. Please try to work more cooperatively with me and others. Thank you. --LegitimateAndEvenCompelling (talk) 06:45, 25 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]