To show the range of events, Landgraf mentions an academic library (O’Grady Library at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington), a public library (Goffstown Public Library in Goffstown, New Hampshire), and a school library (at Country Day School in Huntsville, Alabama). The article also spotlights the ALA’s own event, a reading of the Qur’an on its front steps on September 11.

As an educator, I really enjoyed learning more about O’Grady Library’s September Project event which explored the controversy surrounding the nearby Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to boycott Israeli products (on a local scale) and the related issues surrounding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict (on a global scale). Professors Irina Gendelman and Nathalie Kuroiwa-Lewis asked their Digital Journalism students to combine library research and on-site reporting to create a digital slide installation in O’Grady Library. In the article, Professor Gendelman notes that the co-op’s boycott caused “a pretty big rift in the community, and people were polarized suddenly. This is an effort to contribute to that conversation.”

Getting folks together for difficult conversations and providing resources for people to learn more about their world is what The September Project is all about. It is also what libraries – like Goffstown Public Library, pictured below – do every day.

Dear Colleagues,

Rather late than never, I would like to tell you about the Library of the University of Pretoria’s September Project.

September is heritage month in South Africa, and a good opportunity to celebrate our freedom, in particular our freedom of expression. We decided to do an exhibition of books that were banned during the Apartheid era, and encourage students to read the once banned books.

Supported by our literature information specialist, Adrienne Warricker, one of our assistants, Niel de Kock, hunted down these previously banned books in our collection. This task was unexpectedly more difficult than we anticipated because these books were now completely integrated into the collection, when they were previously in a separate special collection. We also found many of the previously banned books were not in our collection, exactly because they were banned, and libraries had to have special motivations to acquire them during the Apartheid era. Many more is now out of print.

We also called in the help of our colleague in Special Collections, where the previously banned books were housed before their integration into the open collection. He explained what the process and procedures were around access to these books. We thank Pieter van der Merwe for his contribution.

On the 17th of September we had our exhibition in the main library. I include some photos of the exhibition. Niel de Kock also compiled a presentation which we ran on the plasma screens in the Library on that day and subsequently during September.

One of the forum’s highlights was watching the student film submissions to the YouTube/US Department of State Democracy Video Challenge, a global contest that asked students to create and share short films that focused on “democracy is …” At the forum, legendary Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda spoke briefly about the importance of media and democracy. Gentle and generous, Wajda noted that as he grows older, he sometimes worries that today’s young filmmakers lack an interest in the social and political, in the spaces beyond ourselves where other people and other people’s sufferings exist. Watching the videos, however, gave him pride and hope for the future. He heartily introduced and congratulated the three finalists.

This week I learned from the US Embassy in Warsaw and the US Consulate in Krakow blog that one of the Polish finalists, Lukasz Szozda, has been selected as one of six grand prize winners! According to the blog, “Mr. Szozda will travel to New York, Washington DC, and Hollywood in October 2009, where he and the five other grand prize winners from other regions around the world will meet with democracy activists and members of the film and television industry.” What exciting news! Here is the prize-winning video.

Congratulations Lukasz Szozda! Congratulations Poland! Congratulations democracy!

She wrote:

Me gustaria participar del proyecto. Estoy trabajando en una escuela rural de doble jornada en el paraje Rio Lujan de Campana Prov de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

La Biblioteca escolar pequeña y no actualizada pero hacemos mucho por formar lectores competentes envio fotos de un intercambio con el jardin de infantes 920 del mismo barrio.

You can expect many more blog posts and announcements as the summer progresses but for now we wanted to announce three things:

First, as Sarah blogged about recently, we are thrilled to be working with three exceptionally smart and creative research assistants – Teresa Garcia, Samuel Hernandez, and Laura Plantholt – all students at the University of San Francisco. Teresa, Sam, and Laura will be helping us with all aspects of the project including our blog, our map of participating libraries, and our twitter feed.

Second, as we’ve learned from the past, most libraries sign up during August, once they have decided on their event, its time and date, etc. This year, we are asking all libraries that plan to host September Project events to let us know now (or soon!) so that we can put you on the map. Joining the September Project is easy: 1) email us at septemberproject AT gmail DOT com and 2) say, “PUT US ON THE MAP!”

Finally, we are interested in learning about your experiences during past September Projects. It’s easy: we’ll ask you 3-4 questions via email about your experiences and your library and then we’ll spotlight your library on our blog. If you are willing to participate, please email us ( septemberproject AT gmail DOT com ) – or leave a comment on this blog post – and one of us will be in touch shortly.

We are thrilled to launch The September Project 09 and are hopeful that you and your library will join us this year.

As Samara Vega, Library Operations Assistant at Hargrove Library, noted in an email to the project listserv:

In preparation for this upcoming event, Hargrove Library, in conjunction with the DAR, has set up a patriotic bulletin board display. The purpose of this display and presentation is to emphasize citizens’ responsibilities for protecting and defending the Constitution, and preserving it for posterity. The DAR seeks to encourage all citizens across the country to take some time out this week and reflect on America’s heritage of freedom by reading and studying this great document that safeguards our American liberties.

It’s nice to welcome back, for the fourth or fifth time, the Library of the Athens University of Economics & Business.

The display was organized by Jessica Moskowitz, a Library Technician at Gallagher Law Library, a MILS student in UW’s Information School, and … a former undergraduate student of mine! Rock on Jessica!

As Ameet Doshi, Public Programming Librarian and Lecturer at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, noted in a post to the September Project listserv:

For this year’s September Project, The William Madison Randall Library at UNC Wilmington will be partnering with a local non-profit, Full Belly Project, to demonstrate the transformative power of sustainable and appropriate technologies to alleviate poverty. Full Belly Project is an organization, based in Wilmington, NC, which aims to relieve hunger and create economic opportunities in developing countries through the design and distribution of labor saving, locally replicable agricultural devices.

On Thursday, September 11^th, patrons at the UNC Wilmington Randall Library will have the opportunity to try out the Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) machine which is being developed by The Full Belly Project organization. Research by UNC students has shown that this single piece of “appropriate technology” has dramatically improved the shelling process for many of the half billion people in developing nations who rely on peanuts as their primary source of protein.

Librarians will also be on hand to discuss library resources related to sustainable and appropriate technologies to alleviate hunger and poverty throughout the developing world. We at UNCW Randall Library, in partnering with Full Belly Project, look forward to bringing people together this September to help celebrate sustainable and appropriate technology for those who need it most.

Last April, Waycross and surrounding cities experienced one of the worst wildfires in Georgia since the 1950s.   Hundreds of square miles of forest and swampland were affected.   Hundreds of residents had to flee their homes for short periods.   Waycross and surrounding cities including cities in Florida lived with dense clouds of smoke for months.   More than 1000 firefighters from as far away as California fought the fires to keep us safe.  Our September project, designed and coordinated by our Circulation Supervisor, Tricia Hope, aims to honor our local heroes: firefighters, police officers, hospital workers.