Michael Zimmer, PhD, is a digital privacy and data ethics scholar at Marquette University
I'm very excited to announce the publication of a special issue of Library Trends dedicated to the 2009 controversy over select Young Adult books at the West Bend Community Memorial Library. The special issue, titled "The West Bend Challenges: Open Access and Intellectual…
Read More The West Bend Challenges: Open Access and Intellectual Freedom in the Twenty-First Century
In the wake of the ongoing controversy over select Young Adult books at the West Bend Community Memorial Library, the Intellectual Freedom Round Table of the Wisconsin Library Association has named Director Michael Tyree and Young Adult Librarian Kristin Pekoll,…
Read More West Bend Public Library Wins Wisconsin ProQuest Intellectual Freedom Award
The West Bend library controversy continues to escalate....with calls for book burning and growing national exposure (and, unfortunately, ridicule). Here's the (abridged) history and escalation: [Updated on 6/19/09 to include ABC News coverage, and 7/22/09 to include CNN] 02/15/2009: Ginny…
Read More West Bend Library Controversy Continues to Escalate
The West Bend Community Memorial Library board held a public meeting this evening to consider the request from the "West Bend Citizens for Safe Libraries" that the library remove books they consider to be "obscene" or "child pornography" from a…
The controversy over the status of various GLBTQ-themed books (and now, apparently, any "sexually explicit" books) in the young adult section at the West Bend Library has taken a turn for the worse. The city's common council voted against reappointing…
In recent weeks, two citizens of West Bend, Wisconsin have petitioned the West Bend Community Memorial Library to remove gay-themed books from a section designated “Young Adults,” arguing the books should be reclassified and placed in a restricted area requiring…
Read More UW-M School of Information Studies Statement of Support for the West Bend Library
MichaelZimmer.org 