FIRST EDITION COVER, 1953. Source: Wikipedia

My sister-in-law’s grandparents live in Fonthill, Ontario and well, I had no idea that their library was so on top of things. Fahrenheit 451: Freedom to Read is an extremely interesting and generally well-written blog on the topic of intellectual freedom.

FAHRENHEIT 451

IS THE TEMPERATURE

AT WHICH BOOK PAPER BURNS

The blog’s banner reads: “A discussion on censorship through the Pelham Public Library, Fonthill Ontario. Take the ‘Banned Book Challenge’.” What is a ‘Banned Book Challenge’? The library asks its patrons (or virtual patrons, as the case may be), to set a goal of reading x number of banned books between February 24 (Freedom to Read Week in Canada) and June 30. Stumped as to what to read? The blog has an extensive list of books available at the Pelham Public Library, plus 198 additional resources from LibraryThing.

I really like this site. For such a small community to be so proactive is a joy to see. The links are easy to navigate, the design is clear and clean, and the passion for the topic obvious. Using Bradbury’s novel as the blog name works for me—it conjures up images of the past (Hitler-jugend glee at mass book bonfires) and the possible future (ahh … Julie Christie!).

NAZI BOOK BURNING, BERLIN, 1933-05-10. Source: Wikipedia

The blog is actually better looking than the library’s website. The PPL’s homepage does have a link to the blog, but the blog may be losing customers who haven’t a clue as to what “Fahrenheit 451″ refers to. I like the blog’s PDFs of challenged books, which are great one-page summaries of some of these “controversial” tomes. However, only the 2006 list includes author names; I’d suggest that a better bibliography would facilitate searching and encourage more people to take the “Challenge.”

BOTTOM LINE: Very good. A wonderful use of Library 2.0 technology that is very focused on one area of librarianship. Stimulating stuff. My congratulations to those keeping the blog current and relevant.

POSTER FOR FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966). Source: Films de France

“Since I’m a library person—I’ve never made it to college, you see—I’m self-educated in the library, so anything that touches the library touches me.”

– Ray Bradbury on the inspiration for Fahrenheit 451

SOURCE: “The Novel: A Discussion with Author Ray Bradbury.” Fahrenheit 451. 1966. 112 min. Directed by François Truffaut. Universal. DVD.

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