Having recently done some research on book burnings, this “flaming” blog caught my immediate attention. I was curious about Fonthill, Ontario, where the Pelham Public Library (PPL) is located, so I did a Google Map search and found it somewhere between St. Catherines and Niagara Falls. According to its website, the Town of Pelham, Ontario “is composed of five unique and historic villages: Effingham, Fenwick, Fonthill, North Pelham and Ridgeville. Blending successful farming, growing commercialism and five beautiful villages Pelham is ‘Five Villages One Community’”. That sounds so quaint! But, somehow, it seems odd to find the source of Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books in a quaint village. I got curious, so I went on a trip to Fonthill with Google Maps Streetview, and frankly, I was disappointed. Even though it’s called a village, it looks like any other small town in Canada. I guess when I think of a “village” I get a mental picture of the villages I visited with my parents in Spain in the 70s and 80s – some with stone houses, some without running water, and goats and chickens everywhere. But I digress.
The village of Fonthill is not only connected to water, it also is digitally connected to the information world—at least, its public library is. The Pelham Public Library has the usual links to the catalogue, databases, e-books and the bi-lingual AskOn/OnDemande , an online research service. However, the only Web 2.0 tools/services used by PPL are a blog, Twitter and RSS feeds to allow users to subscribe to the PPL blog, Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books, using JacketFlap’s Children’s Publishing blog reader.
Interestingly, Fahrenheit 451: Banned Books, as the title reveals, is dedicated exclusively to censorship, and one is tempted to ask: Why? While it is described as “a discussion on censorship through the Pelham Public Library, Fonthill, Ontario”, it’s not clear why censorship is of particular and exclusive interest to this library. I thought I would find some clue in the About page, but it was limited to the name/location of the author and her favourite books and blogs. Needless to say, censorship is an important issue to discuss, but it would be helpful to know why the PPL blog is limited to this issue. One clue is provided by a link to a list of “Banned or Challenged Books in Pelham Public Library”— including two children’s books and one teen book—suggesting that all is not well in the village. A click on one of the banned or challenged books takes the user to LibraryThing book club, where users can view book recommendations of the same author or genre.
Fahrenheit 451:Banned Books is a relatively easy to find blog from the home page of the Pelham Public Library—just click on a link listed in the Services and Programs menu on the right side. Visually, the blog’s flames in the background remind me of images I found during much of my research on book burnings, thus invoking an ominous feeling. The blog’s simple structure allows for relatively easy navigation, although it would be helpful if new pages opened in new tabs, so as to make that navigation less cumbersome between pages.
In addition to a link back to the PPL website and annual lists of the Fahrenheit 451: Banned Book Club suggested readings, the blog has an extensive list of links to other sites concerned with censorship, as well as links to other “librarians and other book lovers”.
While the content of the blog is limited to censorship, the scope of the discussions is global. With topics ranging from China’s Google war and Germany’s reprinting of Hitler’s Mein Kampf to information about Freedom to Read Week and the Banned Books Challenge, the blog postings, coupled with links to other websites and blogs, make this blog an excellent resource for users interested in censorship.
The question remains, if blogs are ways to “engage customers and push fresh content to users”, as Michael Casey and Laura Savastinuk argue, how does PPL measure up? A quick look at the posted comments, suggests that not much “engaging” is happening. Many of the blog posts have zero comments, while those that do are limited to one or two comments. Perhaps those willing to challenge book bannings are few and far between in Pelham, although I’m speculating of course.
