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KENT: The Kent Free Library is celebrating Banned Books Week, which runs from Sept. 30 through Saturday. Banned Books Week is an annual national event sponsored by the American Library Association with the dual purpose of promoting reading and generating attention to the issues surrounding censorship.

"We've been participating for over 5 years now, each year we try to create an interesting display of challenged and banned titles," said Melissa Ziminsky, Adult Services Manager at the library.

The ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom receives reports from communities around the country where certain books are being challenged or are in danger of being banned and compiles lists, including "Banned/Challenged Classics," "Frequently Challenged Books of the 21st Century," "100 Most Frequently Challenged Books by Decade" and "Most Frequently Challenged Authors pages of the 21st Century."

The ALA's official position is condemning censorship and advocating for free access to information.

According to the association's website, for every book that is reported as challenged by libraries, schools or community groups nationwide, an estimated four books that are challenged go unreported. The ALA's compiles its lists using two sources: newspapers and reports submitted by individuals.

Decisions on banned books are specific to the organization or entity banning them, such as a school district or local library. When a book is banned, it is then unavailable in the library that banned it or not taught in the school district that made the decision.

To generate awareness for the cause of freedom of information, the ALA hosts Banned Books Week each fall, typically during the last week of September. As part of the event, the association encourages book retailers, librarians, publishers, teachers and readers to get involved in the effort to advocate for freedom of information.

Also, for the second straight year, the ALA is co-sponsoring the Banned Books Virtual Read-Out, which invites readers to upload videos of themselves reading from their favorite banned or challenged books.

Books are banned for any number of reasons, as illustrated by the ALA's list of the most-banned books for 2011. The No. 1 book on the list, "ttyl" by author Lauren Myracle, has been banned in some communities for offensive language, religious viewpoints, sexually explicit content and being deemed inappropriate for its target age group.

Sexually explicit content is a common reason for books being banned, as are religious issues and racism. Not all of the books are recent, as the 1960 Harper Lee classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" was tenth on the list. The list is heavy on fiction, but there are non-fiction entries as well.

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Kent Free Library brings attention to censorship with participation in Banned Books Week

With increasingly complicated issues of censorship and freedom of expression reverberating around the globe - from the suppression of artist Ai Weiwei to the protests against "Innocence of Muslims" in the Arab world - a glance back toward "Degenerate Art," the notorious 1937 Munich exhibition presented by the Nazis, seems as on point as ever.

"A War on Modern Art: The 75th Anniversary of the Degenerate Art Exhibition" at Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University may not include any of the exact pieces displayed at the original show, artworks that were attacked as "un-German," immoral and undesirable by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Instead, it presents a small, focused selection of 19 prints, watercolors and books by modernists included in the 1937 exhibition of 650 works, drawing mainly on the Cantor Center's permanent collection.

"It's kind of strange, I think, to quote, unquote commemorate something as horrible as this exhibition," says curator Hilarie Faberman by phone from Stanford. "But on the other hand, there were very much issues of censorship and degeneracy in art, continuing through the '80s and '90s."

The sensation created by the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe came quickly to mind. "In other words, censorship is very much an issue that's alive in our society."

"A War on Modern Art" includes watercolors by Wassily Kandinsky and Conrad Felixmuller, as well as a 1921 self-portrait by Oskar Kokoschka, two lithographs depicting the poor from Otto Dix's 1924 "Hunger!" portfolio, a linoleum cut of a young woman by Christian Rohlfs and two inward-looking prints by Lovis Corinth. The visually dense "Madhouse," "The Yawners" and "Lovers II" by Max Beckmann are part of the same portfolio of prints, some of which were shown in the 1937 exhibition.

"The ideas the artists are working with here are similar," Faberman says. "I think what offended the Nazis about those were the style of the prints and the way space is condensed. You've got all the mentally ill people in the print, which were considered disgusting and dissolute, like anyone who wasn't a part of this pure Aryan ideal - Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the physically challenged. Hitler used the show as a tool to show what they thought was sickness in society and how the culture needed to be purified."

Abstract art was considered the offensive purview of the elite, while some more-realistic artists, such as Dix and George Grosz, were attacked by the Nazis for their leftist leanings and unidealized, ugly imagery.

Working off the idea for "A War on Modern Art" from one of her assistants, Mariko Chang, and looking into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's noted 1991 restaging of the original exhibition, Faberman never before had a chance to sit down and read about the 1937 show.

"It is astounding to see what was in the original exhibit," she says now. "Almost everything we consider important to understanding modern art was labeled as degenerate."

Through Feb. 24. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday; until 8 p.m. Thursday. Free. Marie Stauffer Sigall Gallery, Lomita Drive at Museum Way, Stanford. museum.stanford.edu.

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Cantor revisits 1937 degeneracy, censorship

Social media consulting firm Maximize Social Media LLC announced its pest control local business listing optimization service today, providing support to pest control businesses nationwide. The firm will offer Google Plus Local services to optimize the business listing for high value keywords on Google.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 03, 2012

The convergence of social and search has provided a new lead generating opportunity for local business, such as pest control companies. By optimizing their Google Plus Local business listings, pest control businesses can show up on page one of Google where the majority of their customers initiate their search, said Craig Collins, Sr. Vice President of Maximize Social Media LLC.

The firm will optimize the Google Plus Local listing for the high value keywords that consumers are searching most on Google when looking for pest control companies. The strategies utilized by Maximize to gain top search engine rankings for the listing involve more than 100 ongoing operations each month that include citation building, RSS feeds and submissions, and directory listings.

Maximize Social Media provides complete local business listing optimization services for businesses in English speaking countries around the world. The agency will fully integrate all aspects of Google Plus Local for businesses that will find it more affordable to outsource rather than hire additional staff. Additionally, the agency provides complete social media management for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Pest control companies as well as their advertising agencies are invited to contact Maximize Social Media for a no obligation consultation at:

http://Maximizelocalsearch.com

About Maximize Social Media LLC

Maximize Social Media (http://maximizesocialmedia.com) is a leading provider of local business optimization and social media management services for clients in over 50 different verticals. With offices in Florida and Los Angeles, Maximize provides local business consulting and social media management for clients in English speaking countries such as the US, Canada, and Australia. The company also features social media management outsourcing for busy social media mangers looking for additional assistance on a white label basis.

Chris McLaughlin, CEO Maximize Social Media LLC (866) 825-1357 Email Information

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Pest Control Local Business Listing Optimization Service Offered by Social Media Consulting Firm Maximize Social Media ...

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --The emergence of online networking through social media has opened the doors for small businesses to not only connect with their audiences more efficiently and frequently than through traditional offline networking events, but also to promote online visibility and increase their chances to be found by new customers online; making it an invaluable channel for the multi-tasking small business owner.

(Logo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110719/NY37427LOGO) (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110831/NY59180LOGO )

The fifth PR Newswire article in a six-part series from PR Newswire focused on social media for small businesses, "Which social media sites should I use for my strategy? Part Three: Networking," wraps up the discussion about mapping your small business social media strategy to the most suitable channel. The article offers tips for building a professional and impactful presence on LinkedIn so you can network like a pro and highlights the value of Twitter to start a dialogue with your audience and find new followers. Additionally, the article introduces some less familiar online sites that offer unique opportunities for small businesses to interact with like-minded business owners and leading business experts.

To read the complete article, visit http://bit.ly/QXXKmA. Stay tuned for next week's article, "What Should I Be Measuring within My Social Media Strategy," the last installment in our social media series for small businesses.

PR Newswire's PR Toolkit is a comprehensive resource that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the tools to develop an affordable public relations & marketing plan that helps them increase search engine rankings, generate interest from potential customers, engage with key audiences and grow their businesses. The toolkit features relevant content such as informative white papers, interactive webinars and how-to articles and premium access to educational resources, as well as the opportunity to take advantage of special offers designed specifically for small businesses. To request information on how PR Newswire can help your small business, click here. You can receive updates on new PR Toolkit content by following @prnsmallbiz on Twitter.

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com) is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 58 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content from rich media to online video to multimedia and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

Media Contacts: Rachel Meranus Vice President, Marketing and Communications PR Newswire +1.201.360.6776 Rachel.Meranus@prnewswire.com

Meryl Serouya Marketing and Communications Associate PR Newswire +1-201.360.6009 Meryl.Serouya@prnewswire.com

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Social media for small business: tackling online networking

By Eoin English

Thursday, October 04, 2012

The parents of a seriously ill toddler who has defied the odds to survive a killer virus pleaded with a local authority last night to fast-track a housing transfer for his sake.

Deirdre and Vincent Collins from Gurranabraher in Cork said they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the delays as Daniel, two, faces a fresh battle with illness.

"I feel that our case is not being given the attention it deserves," Deirdre said.

"The council needs to stop thinking of Daniel as a file and think of him as an actual person."

Daniel, who was born healthy on June 24, 2010, was struck down a week later with a rare form of the Adeno Virus.

Known as the killer cold virus, it attacked his respiratory system preventing him from breathing on his own.

A medical team from Sweden was flown into Cork on July 11, 2010 to perform a lifesaving heart and lung bypass, and Daniel was put on a special machine to supply him with oxygen.

He was transferred to the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm where he spent 1,224 hours on the machine a new medical record for a baby.

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Parents of seriously ill tot plead for housing move