ABFFE UPDATE

March 18, 2008 Previously in ABFFE Update Volume 10, Number 3

ABFFE Leads Booksellers in Urging Veto of Unconstitutional Indiana Bill

On March 13, ABFFE sent a letter to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels urging him to veto a bill that would require bookstores to register with the state if they intend to sell "sexually explicit materials."  Local government officials and zoning boards would be notified of the booksellers’ registration.  There would be a $250 fee to register, and failure to do so would be a misdemeanor.

In the letter, ABFFE declares that the vague definition of will have a chilling effect on mainstream novels and other artistic works with sexual content as well as books that provide information about sexuality and health.  “Some booksellers will be reluctant to identify themselves as sellers of ‘explicit’ books and magazines and will choose not to carry them, depriving adults and older minors of works they have a First Amendment right to purchase,” ABFFE said.

The letter was cosigned by the Great Lakes Booksellers Association (GLBA), 15 independent Indiana booksellers, and Borders.  Click here to read the letter.
 

ABFFE Files Amicus Brief in NSL Case

The fight to restore the safeguards for reader privacy that were eliminated by the USA PATRIOT Act continues in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  The U.S. Attorney General is appealing the decision of a district court in New York, which found that a section of the law that authorizes the FBI to issue National Security Letters (NSLs) to bookstores, libraries and Internet service providers (ISPs) in terrorism investigations violates the First Amendment.  On March 17, ABFFE joined the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers, the American Association of University Professors, the Freedom to Read Foundation, and PEN American Center in filing an amicus brief that supports the fight being waged by an unnamed ISP and the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 2006, following a campaign by booksellers, librarians and others, Congress made a number of changes in the PATRIOT Act.  It authorized recipients of secret demands for documents to contact a lawyer, challenge them in court and demand the removal of the gag that accompanies them.  However, it made it impossible for a judge to lift a gag if the government insists that secrecy is still necessary.  As a result, the government can permanently deny the public any information about the order.  The amicus brief argues that a permanent gag violates the First Amendment.  The brief was written by Theresa Chmara of Jenner and Block, a member of the ABFFE board.  Click here to read the brief.

ABFFE Welcomes New Board Member

The ABFFE board of directors has elected Betsy Burton of The King’s English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, Utah, to fill the unexpired term of Jack Buckley of Ninth Street Book Shop, Wilmington, Delaware.  Buckley resigned because of an increase in his workload as a member of the Wilmington school board.

Burton has been a bookseller for over 30 years.  She is the co-owner and co-founder of The King’s English Bookshop, which opened in 1977. She has long been active in free speech fights and is currently a plaintiff in ABFFE’s challenge to a Utah law that censors the Internet.  Active on numerous boards in the book business and in her community, Burton co-founded and is board chair of Local First Utah, and is on the boards of two national organizations whose member-networks are composed of independent businesses—BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) and AMIBA (American Independent Business Alliance).  She is the author of The King’s English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller, which was published in 2005. 
 

ABFFE Defends Challenged Books

The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) reported success in two of three cases this month.  A collaboration between ABFFE and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), KRRP engages booksellers, librarians, teachers, and others in responding to book censorship incidents in schools and libraries.  In the past year, it has confronted challenges and bans involving 35 books in 22 states.

This month, the project opposed challenges to three books: Looking for Alaska by John Green, And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell; and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.  Parents in Depew, New York, near Buffalo, challenged Looking for Alaska in the local high school because of its sexual content and graphic language.  Joined by Jonathon Welch of Talking Leaves…Books in Buffalo, NY, KRRP sent a letter to the school board opposing the challenges; the board voted unanimously to keep the book in classes. 

One parent in Loudoun County, VA, objected to the storyline in And Tango Makes Three, a book about two male penguins parenting an egg, as an attack on families headed by heterosexuals, and the superintendent placed the book on restricted access in elementary school libraries throughout the district, despite two committees’ recommendations that it be kept widely available. KRRP sent a letter to the school board and superintendent urging them to return the book to general circulation.  Citing a procedural error, the superintendent lifted all restrictions.  Click here to read the letter.

The Kite Runner remains under scrutiny in Burke County, NC, schools following complaints from a community member who objects to sexual violence and graphic language in the book.  In direct violation of district policy, the superintendent suspended the book's use throughout the district pending a committee’s review.  KRRP mobilized a coalition of six free speech groups and sent a letter opposing the challenges.  Click here to read the letter.

This Week Is Sunshine Week

ABFFE is a cosponsor of Sunshine Week (March 16-22), a national initiative to highlight the importance of open government and freedom of information.  Events during Sunshine Week include public forums, panel discussions, and essay contests.  Participants come from the news media, civil liberties and civic groups, libraries, schools, non-profit organizations, and others interested in the public’s right to know.  In this election year, Sunshine Week is offering sample questions to ask candidates about government transparency and reporting on what the candidates have said about open government.

To learn more about Sunshine Week, click here.

 

ABFFE Book of the Month is The Ten Cent Plague

The ABFFE Book of the Month for March is The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu.  Hajdu, a bestselling author, describes how exaggerated fears about the impact of comic books on children crushed the comic book as a creative force in the 1950s. He is the author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn and Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.

To read an interview with the author, click here.

To read about recent ABFFE Book of the Month selections, click here.

Show Your Support for Freadom!

ABFFE's popular, newly-redesigned “freadom” t-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers are available during Banned Books Week and all year round.  To order online, visit the ABFFE store.