Banned Books

This week the American Library Association observes Banned Books Week, an event designed to draw attention to the frighteningly common practice of banning books. Below are three titles in our collection that were some of the most commonly banned books in the past year. Exercise your freedom to read – pick up a banned book today!

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is often banned for homosexuality, sexual explicitness and offensive language.
Find it in the Library at call number PS3573.A425C6 1982

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is frequently banned for being sexually explicit.
Find it in the Library at call number PS3551.N464Z466 1969

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is regularly banned for racism.
Find it in the Library at call number PS1305.A2B531 1988

Lists of frequently banned and challenged books are available on the ALA's Challenged Books page.

Election Education

With less than six weeks before Election Day the Library can help you prepare to make your decisions. Check out our "Election Education" display in conjunction with the many Civic Engagement Project events scheduled between now and November 4. Remember, your vote counts!

 

Audiobooks

We recently added a number of acclaimed audiobooks of classic works to our collection. Titles include the Edgar Allan Poe collection performed by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone; full cast recordings of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and The Crucible; and Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time read by Michael Jackson (but not the Michael Jackson).

Find these audiobooks and more in the Library's Audio Collection.

The Arthur Miller Audio Collection
by Arthur Miller, performed a full-cast
PN 1861 .D43A78 2002

The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection
by Edgar Allan Poe, performed by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone
Find it in our Audio Collection at call number PS509 .P6E5 2000

A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking, performed by Michael Jackson
QB981 .H377 2005

Constitution Day

September 17 is Constitution Day, a day intended to promote good citizenship and reflection on the importance of our Constitution. Print copies of the US Constitution are available for checkout from the Library, while Archives.gov provides online access to many of our nation's historical documents.

The Constitution
Find it in the Library at call number KF4550 .C66C67 2008

David Foster Wallace

Obvious literary genius along with his trademark disjointed style and eclectic taste have garnered him a cult following and widespread acclaim. His masterpiece, Infinite Jest, is consistently mentioned of as a great contemporary novel, while a 2004 article, Consider the Lobster, for Gourmet magazine has some calling it one of the best New England themed articles of all time. Along the way he picked up a MacArthur Fellowship ('genius grant') in 1997.

David Foster Wallace died of an apparent suicide last Friday at age 46.


Infinite Jest
by David Foster Wallace
Find it in the Library at call number PS 3573 .A426I54 2006

Everything and More
by David Foster Wallace
Find it in the Library at call number QA9 .W335 2003

September 11

Today marks the seventh anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Our collection contains such diverse materials on the subject as: Middletown, America, the story of the New Jersey town that lost more people in the attacks than anywhere apart from New York City; September 11, a collection of eleven 11 minute long films made by eleven directors; and the 9/11 Commision's Final Report, which is the government's official findings on the attacks.

Many more 9/11 related items are in the HV6432.7 section of call numbers.

Middletown, America
by Gail Sheehy
Find it in the Library at call number HV6432 .S52 2003

September 11
directed by eleven directors
Find it in our Video Collection at call number HV6432.7 .E44 2002

The 9/11 Commission Report
9/11 Commision
Find it in the Library at call number HV6432.7 .N39 2004

The Collected Prose of Robert Frost

A worthy complement to the great poet's more famous material in verse. Take a look, if for no other reason than sometimes the road less traveled by sometimes makes all the difference.

Prose of Robert Frost
edited by Mark Richardson
PS3511 .R94 A6 2007

C++ Primer Plus

The updated fifth edition of the seminal text for programmers of all types. Includes numerous appendices full of reference sources.

C++ Primer Plus
by Stephen Prata
Find it in the Library at call number QA76.73 .C153 P72 2005

In These Times

An anti-establishment magazine covering today's political, environmental, social and financial stories with their signature populist message.

In These Times
Published monthly

The current issue of In These Times is located in the Library's Reading Area. Back issues are located along the back wall of the Library. Access to the electronic version of In These Times is available through our Full-text Print and Magazines list, on the left side of our homepage.