I love libraries! How could you not? Free books, movies, music, knowledge - it doesn’t get much better.   I was therefore excited to realize that the New York Public Library is posting videos to YouTube.   Here’s a fascinating clip of ROBERT BADINTER in conversation with NEAL KATYAL at the NYPL Lite’s Program.   The discussion called “Abolition: One Man’s Battle Against the Death Penalty,”deals with Badinter and Katyal’s views on the US’s continued use of the death penalty:

Give a watch and takepart with Amnesty to help abolish the death penalty.

Read on:

Banned Books Week: Free Books!

Seattle Central Library

A Democratic National Convention Back In The Day

The Egyptian government has banned several Western secular books from the 40th Cairo International Book Fair, which is the largest in the Arab world and will attract over two million people. Banned authors include Milan Kundera and Mohamed Choukri. Egyptian authorities haven’t explained why the books were confiscated, nor were the publishers informed or the books returned, said Rana Idriss, director of Dar al-Adab, a Lebanese publishing house. Many of the banned works discuss controversial topics such as gender roles, homosexuality, and drug use.

Sadly, book banning happens in the good ol’ US of A too. Stop this assault on intellectual freedom and by learning about the American Library Association Book Banning Week, and also about what you can do to further library advocacy.