Library celebrates intellectual freedom

IOWA CITY - In 1995, the Iowa City Public Library established the Carol Spaziani Intellectual Freedom Festival to honor Carol for her 26-year career and for her lifelong commitment to the freedom of ideas. As Justice Potter Stewart wrote, 'In order to be responsible citizens who have the ability to self-govern, we must be well-informed.”

The festival coincides with Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating our freedom to read.

For this year's festival the library is collaborating with University of Iowa Obermann Center, the Reading Aloud Group from the Center, the University of Iowa Library and the Departments of English, Cinematic Studies, and Journalism and Mass Communications and the University of Iowa International Writing Program. All events are held at the library. For information, go to Icpl.org/iff.

Festival highlights include:

l Screening of 'Diagram or Delinquents,” 7 p.m., Sept. 22. This documentary captures the zeitgeist of late 1940s and early 1950s America and investigates how comics went on trial.

l The Reading Aloud Group from the Iowa City Johnson County Senior Center, noon to 1 p.m. Sept. 24. Reading the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, some of which were censored until well after his death.

l 'When Comics Almost Died: Readers, Censors and Innovation,” 7 p.m. Sept. 24. A lecture by Carol L. Tilley, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, on her research of Fredric Wertham, who blamed juvenile delinquency on reading comics.

l Screening of 'Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing,” 7 p.m. Sept. 25. The documentary follows the Dixie Chicks over a period of intense public scrutiny, fan backlash, threats and pressure from both corporate and conservative political elements after lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized then President George W. Bush during a live 2003 concert in London.

l Social Media Safety: Protecting Your Online Privacy, 10 a.m. Sept. 26. An adult education class on the advantages and disadvantages of using privacy settings on several social networking sites.

l Censorship, 7 p.m. Sept. 26. Presented by Maureen Freely, a 2014 Ida Beam Visiting Professor at the University of Iowa International Writing Program and president of English PEN, a global literary center that defends and promotes free expression.

l Maeve Clark is the adult services coordinator at the Iowa City Public Library.