What do Toni Morrison, Jodi Picoult, James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Harper Lee, Madeleine L’engle, Shirley Jackson, John Steinbeck, JK Rowling, Sherman Alexie, Khaled Hosseini, Margaret Atwood, Mark Twain, J.D.Salinger, George Orwell, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Golding, and Kesey have in common?
If you guessed they were the authors of books on your teenage children’s summer reading lists, you might be right. But if you guessed they were the authors of the most banned books in the country, you would definitely be correct.
Yup, books such as The Bluest Eye and Huckleberry Finn, The Kite Runner and 1984, Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird have routinely found their resting place in the trash heap after being deemed dangerous to the moral fiber of our children.
Book banning and censorship are real threats to truth and knowledge right here in the United States.
Join us on Wednesday, March 26 fom 7–8:30 pm at The Cabot in Beverly when a panel of experts will discuss the definitions of book banning and censorship; their history in the US; why these infringements matter; recent threats and trends in schools and public libraries; and what we, the public, can do about it.
Barb Fecteau will be our moderator. Barb is a Beverly High School librarian, president of the Mass School LIbrary Association, and a former Jeopardy contestant and winner! She will be joined by Laura Saunders, associate dean and professor at Simmons University School of LIbrary and Information Science; Jennifer Varney, librarian at Martin Luther King Jr. School in Cambridge; and Reba Tierney Waltham High School librarian recognized by the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth “for her unwavering commitment to advancing LGBTQ+ equality and diversity within her school and community,” A Q&A will follow the panel discussion.
Recognition of the winners of the fourth annual Leading Ladies Art as Activism contest for high school students will precede the discussion. This year, contestants were asked to create posters that raised awareness about, as well as encouraged action to combat, book banning and censorship.
Moderator and Panelist
Barb Fecteau
Barb Fecteau is the Library Media Specialist at Beverly High School, a senior visiting instructor in the Library Media graduate program at Salem State University and the president of the Mass. School Library Association. She has the distinction of having been on Jeopardy four times and only winning once. She enjoys reading, crochet and swimming, but rarely at the same time. Back in the 1990s she moved into her house for the sole reason that it was walking distance to the Beverly Public Library and what was then known as the Cabot Cinema and has never regretted it!
Jennifer Varney
Jennifer Varney is an elementary school librarian in Cambridge, MA. She is the past president of the Massachusetts School Library Association and is currently the MSLA liaison to the Massachusetts Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee and is on the Steering Committee of the New England Helpline. The helpline is a grant funded project from the American Library Association that will create and staff a helpline for anyone in New England facing intellectual freedom challenges. When not defending the first amendment, Jen can be found with her dogs or kayaking slow waters in Maine.
Laura Saunders
Laura Saunders is a Professor and Associate Dean at Simmons University School of Library and Information Science. Her teaching and research focus on the areas of information literacy including mis- and disinformation as well as reference services, and academic libraries. She regularly presents workshops and webinars on issues related to mis/disinformation; information, news, and media literacy; and civic literacy to national and international audiences. She hosted the 2018 Know News symposium, which brought together librarians, journalists, and allied professionals to discuss interdisciplinary responses to mis/disinformation, and has hosted several international delegates on the topic through a collaboration with WorldBoston. Her most recent books include the Reference and Information Services: An Introduction, 7th edition, co-edited with Melissa Wong and the open access textbook Instruction in Libraries and Information Settings: An Introduction, co-authored with Melissa Wong. Her articles have appeared in a variety of journals including College & Research Libraries, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, and Communications in Information Literacy. Laura has a PhD and a Master of Library and Information Science, both from Simmons College, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Boston University. She is the 2019 recipient of Simmons University’s Provost Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching.
Rebekah Tierney
Rebekah (Reba) Tierney is the Library Teacher at Waltham High School. In addition to working for over 20 years as a high school librarian, she has also worked in both academic and public libraries. A voracious reader from a young age, she loves all things literary. Besides the library, her favorite place is the beach. She is grateful to have an amazing, supportive husband and family who know that sometimes, she just needs “reading time.” She can also never say no to cute cat videos, or any animal in real life.