Ohio Libraries Under Fire for Program Cancellations
March was a month that embroiled two Ohio public libraries in charges
of censorship from local community groups.
In a decision sharply criticized by the American Civil Liberties
Union of Ohio, the Cleveland Heights–University Heights Library
cancelled a March 12 showing of Searching for Peace in the Middle
East, a documentary film screening cosponsored by the library and
Cleveland Peace Action. The screening was scheduled as the first of
three events in a series, the latter two of which are still scheduled
to proceed as planned at the library April 6 and May 15.
Library Director Stephen Wood said in the March 13 Cleveland Plain
Dealer that the first part of the series was cancelled because
library staff found the 30-minute movie, which was produced by the
Foundation for Middle East Peace, to be "controversial and biased." A
day earlier, Jeffrey Gamso, legal director of the ACLU of Ohio, had
characterized the action in a letter to Wood as "blatant and shameful
censorship of particular views," adding, "A library may not withdraw
its sponsorship of a film series because some members of the local
community may be offended by it."
The April 6 event will feature a week's worth of Middle East news
footage shot by a Youngstown network TV affiliate, and the May 15
program is scheduled to be a panel discussion about the regional conflict.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2008/april2008/ohiolibrariesfreespeech.cfm
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Steven Jay Bernstein
Assistant Catalog Librarian
Elihu Burritt Library
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, Connecticut 06050
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PHONE: (860) 832-2079
FAX: (860) 832-2053
E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
WEBSITE: http://www.ccsu.edu/library/bernstein
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