The Sampler
A Newsletter from Vermilion Public Library
February is Library Lover’s Month
Of Special Interest
th
Knit Wit (Feb. 4 , 11
18th at 2:00 pm
Feb., 2009
th
and
“Looking Back”
Juvenile History Book Display
(All Month)
Children’s Valentine’s Party
(Feb 13th at 10:30 am)
Computers for Novices
(New Session begins Thursday,
March 5th at 2:00 pm)
Kids Connection
(Feb. 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th)
Genealogy Interest Group
(Feb. 12th @ 6:30 pm)
Library Board Meeting
(Feb. 25th @ 7:30 pm)
Coming in March
“The Greying Nation”
Photography Exhibit from the
Alberta Foundation for the Arts
It’s a Party!
Deseri Adrian specializes in
ventriloquism, puppetry and
balloon animals. This special guest
will be the host of our Children’s
Valentine’s Party on Friday,
February 13th at 10:30 am.
Children 0-10 are welcome, with
those under 3 requiring adult
accompaniment. Cost $2 per child.
Pre-registration is preferred. Hope
to see you there!
Here’s a fun quiz to see if you’re heart is
in the right place ☺:
Do you love to:
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Read all the best sellers?
Listen to all sorts of music?
Find new ideas for the home?
Lose yourself in literature or a video?
Plan your next home improvement or
business move?
Surf the web, or send and receive
emails?
Borrow books from libraries throughout
Alberta?
Renew your books online?
Bring your family to the library?
How Do I Love Thee?
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Your score:
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
0-3: Your relationship is waiting to
blossom
4-7: You are strongly attracted to the
library.
8-10: You do love the library!
New Large Print and Magazines
Fans of Louis L’amour, Zane Grey and Max Brand (among others) will be glad to know
that we have just received a new temporary collection of large print western novels. Or,
if you prefer love over war, we have a complementary set of romance novels as well.
Thanks to the J.R. Robson magazine subscription drive last fall, our magazine racks
have taken on a slightly new look as well. Wired, The Pacific and Prairie Horse Journal,
and Cardmaker are all new subscriptions. Keep browsing our racks for these and more!
Banned Books and the Freedom to Read
In 410 B.C., The Greek poet
Euripides wrote "This is slavery,
not to speak one's thoughts".
When one then thinks of all the
peasants, slaves and serfs who
have served totalitarian leaders
or "owners" in the centuries
since, it is not hard to imagine
them being told what they could
or could not read as well.
Whether motivated by political,
moral or religious reasons,
censorship has existed for
centuries to 'protect' from
influence.
John F. Kennedy, perhaps to
stress his belief in "life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness",
told the American people, "We
are not afraid to entrust the
American people with unpleasant
facts, foreign ideas, alien
philosophies, and competitive
values. For a nation that is afraid
to let its people judge the truth
and falsehood in an open market is
a nation that is afraid of its people."
This is in stark contrast to Adolf
Hitler, who, in 1933 as part of his
plan to "purify" German language
and literature, ordered the mass
burning 25, 000 books determined
to be "un-German", including works
by Alberta Einstein and Sigmund
Freud.
Other interesting examples of
banned books are not hard to find.
1525, 6000 copies of William
Tyndale's English translation of the
New Testament was burned by
Church officials because it was not
in Latin. Mark Twain's Huckleberry
Finn was excluded from the
collection of the library of Concord,
Massachusetts in 1885 after it was
decided that the book was “rough,
coarse and inelegant, dealing with a
series of experiences not elevating,
the whole book being more suited
to the slums than to intelligent,
New Class Added…
A new session of Computers for Novices
has been added to our repertoire of
winter/spring programming. The eightweek class will begin on Thursday, March
5 at 2:00 pm. Please phone to preregister as spots are limited.
respectable people.” Shakespeare's
King Lear was banned for a period in
its original state out of respect for
the reigning monarch's alleged
insanity. The evolutionary nature of
Darwin's The Origin of Species
caused controversy, as did Homer's
The Odyssey (the Roman Emperor
disliked the Greek ideas of freedom),
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (the
Soviet Union's Communist
government suggested it lead to
"occultism"), and Beatrix Potter's The
Tale of Peter Rabbit (the London
County Council did not want it in
schools because the stories only
portrayed "middle class rabbits").
Freedom to Read Week runs from
February 22-29th (see
www.freedomtoread.ca for more).
What a good time to be thankful for
the choices available to us through
The Alberta Library!
If You (or Someone You Know)
Liked Twilight…
For those teenagers who can't get enough vampires, demons and dark
secrets, the Santa Clara County Library has put together a nice list of
read-alikes. With the exception of The Silver Kiss, all are available on
TRACpac!
(see santaclaracountylib.org/teen/lists/twilight_read_a_likes/index.html)
Vermilion Public Library
“Loving the Library for Leisure and Learning”
Phone: 853-4288
Web: vermilionpubliclibrary.ca