BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.7//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:8720@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240513T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240513T190000 DTSTAMP:20240426T151657Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/online-wowfest-the-banned-book-c lub-taking-a-stand-against-book-bans/ SUMMARY:: Online: WowFest: The Banned Book Club: Taking A Stand Against Boo k Bans DESCRIPTION:\n\n\n\nTHE BANNED BOOK CLUB: TAKING A STAND AGAINST BOOK BANS\ n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOnline Event\, Featuring  Dr. Torsten Reimer\, Dean of the University of Chicago Library\, and Laura Sill\, Head of Acquisiti ons\, at the University of Chicago\, Illinois.\nWriting on the Wall are ho noured to welcome Dr. Torsten Reimer\, University Librarian and Dean of th e University Library\, and Laura Sill\, Head of Acquisitions\, at the Univ ersity of Chicago to WoWFEST to share the University of Chicago Library’ s Banned Books Initiative with our audience.  They will discuss the impac t of book bans on their communities and consider the potential future rami fications for the UK.\n\nIn October 2023\, following the American Library Association’s announcement that censorship attempts at libraries were on pace to set a record for the third year in a row\, the University of Chic ago Library joined forces with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA ) to expand access to banned books. This initiative acts on the Universit y’s understanding that learning and creating knowledge require the freed om to explore and to discuss and share views and ideas.  \n\nThe DPLA la unched The Banned Book Club in July 2023 to ensure that every reader in communities where books have been banned can access eBook versions of bann ed titles for free via the Palace app. \n\nIn the UK we have watched with astonishment and dismay the growing movement across the US to ban books. The American Library Association ntoes that ‘pressure groups in 2023 f ocused on public libraries in addition to targeting school libraries. The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year\, accounting for about 46% of all book challeng es in 2023\; school libraries saw an 11% increase over 2022 numbers.’ T he American Library Association report makes the point that ‘Books wri tten by or about people of color or members of the LGBTQIA+ community made up the vast majority of such challenges.’\n\nAlthough the banning of bo oks is not currently happening in the UK\, We chose ‘Fahrenheit 2024’ for our festival theme\, based on the title of Raymond Bradbury’s novel\ , Fahrenheit 451\, where firemen in a near future society start fires and burn books\, to highlight growing moves in the UK towards censorship and a curtailing of rights. We feel this makes Bradbury’s novel even more re levant and precipitous today than it did when it was first published in th e 1950s.\n\nThe climate in America often foreshadows that of the UK. This event will act as both a timely warning\, and a celebration of those comm unities\, spearheaded by campaigns like that of the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Library\, who have chosen to draw awareness to the situation by increasing support for research and inquiry on the to pic of censorship and book banning\, and to increase access to the books b eing denied to citizens across our country. \n\n\n\nDr. Torsten Reimer i s University Librarian and Dean of the University Library at the Universit y of Chicago. With a background in digital scholarship and research infras tructures\, Torsten’s career is focused on making the global knowledge e nvironment more open. Before joining the University of Chicago\, he served on the British Library’s leadership team overseeing collection developm ent\, digital collection management\, and research services. In previous r oles\, he developed open access and research data services at Imperial Col lege London and the research infrastructure program at Jisc (the UK’s di gital service provider for higher education). Torsten’s academic backgro und is in history and digital humanities\, having worked at King’s Colle ge London and the University of Munich (LMU). He holds a PhD in history fr om LMU and is a Fellow of the UK’s Software Sustainability Institute. Hi s current external professional activities include roles as Chair of the I vy Plus Libraries Confederation and the Open Repositories Conference as we ll as board and steering group memberships with organisations like the Big Ten Academic Alliance\, COAR\, DataCite\, and SPARC. \n\nLaura Sill is Head of Acquisitions at the University of Chicago Library. Laura has held operational and administrative roles in technical services and library sys tems over the course of her library career. She is currently leading the B anned Books Working Group at the Regenstein Library. Prior to joining the University of Chicago\, Laura was a library faculty member at the Hesburgh Library of the University of Notre Dame. She holds a Masters of Library a nd Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. \n\nThe University of Chicago Library is committed to building a Banned Books Coll ection\, cultivating partnerships to bring awareness to this issue\, and o ffering support through community engagement and events. It is a goal of the Initiative to advance research\, inquiry\, and debate around this issu e by creating and stewarding a historical record\, providing resources for research\, and expanding access to titles that are banned elsewhere. \n\ nThe University of Chicago Library has partnered with the Digital Public L ibrary of America (DPLA) to expand The Banned Book Club and provides acces s to more than 900 unique titles that have been the target of bans in comm unities nationwide. ‘In the digital era\, it should no longer be possibl e to ban books\, and we are thrilled to have the University of Chicago Lib rary join us to advance this work\,’ said John S. Bracken\, executive di rector of the Digital Public Library of America. ‘Overwhelmingly\, these efforts to ban books are at their base efforts to remove Black\, Brown\, and Queer voices and experiences from our shelves. It is our goal to work together so that these stories remain available\, for free\, to anyone who wants to read them.’ \n\n“UChicago Library expands access to banned books amid national debate over censorship” – https://www.lib.uchicag o.edu/about/news/uchicago-library-expands-access-to-banned-books-amid-nati onal-debate-over-censorship/ \n\nOnline\n\nMonday 13th May\, 7:00pm\n\n£ 3\n\n*These are difficult times. We know some people may struggle to affor d full price tickets. If you would like to attend this event but can’t a fford to\, please contact info@writingonthewall.org.uk. All queries will be treated in confidence.   \n\nIf you would like to purchase a gift ed ticket for someone who can’t afford it\, please buy directly from the event page and we will offer your ticket out.    \n\n\n\n\n\n\nEVE NT DETAILS\nDate: May 13\, 2024\nTime: 7:00 pm\n\n\n\n\n\n BUY TICKETS\ n\n\n\n\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2024/04/WOWFEST-web-asset-Layers.psd.png CATEGORIES:Talks END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20240331T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR