got this text from a moderate liberal friend. this is a tough one. his daughter brings home a public school library book illustrated with explicit gay sex scenes.
how is a parent who has warned a child against pornography supposed to respond when the state gives them access to this?
i am against censorship, but this defies all common sense.
My heart aches for the children who will no longer have access to their local library because some arrogant assholes decided to be offended by books with new ideas and different perspectives.
If people are smart, it's time to archive the Archive right now. In other words, fork it and turn it unto a decentralized platform. I hope someone out there is working on that.
Plus you have to think libraries need some decentralization as well as this lawsuit could kill libraries as we know them.
Recently I posted that some libraries in southern Oregon were under attack. Racist, bigoted fascists were trying to infiltrate their Board so they could ban books.
Well, the voters have spoken. Our candidates—kind people with integrity—won the election. They won!
Small elections are huge. They mean so very much. Just wanted to share, because these victories have been few and far between.
A bill in Louisiana, HB 777, would make it a crime for librarians to use public funds to join the American Librarian Association or attend an ALA conference, punishable with prison time and hard labor for up to two years.
Allows you to create a list of #libraries where you have a card (borrowing privileges), and then displays ebook / audiobook availability when you visit certain book pages.
It's very cool and has saved me alot of money (borrowing vs buying).
"The pile beside my bed never shrinks; at the bottom of the stack are books I've been planning to crack open for months. My shelves remain full of lingering aspirations," writes the Walrus's Michelle Cyca. She looks at the problem of unread books, and the difficulty in offloading our libraries. What do you do with your unwanted books?
Public meeting spaces at libraries in almost every major city in #Texas, and many smaller ones, saw 'Brave Books' events this weekend, which promoted this extremist publisher's storybooks under the guise of freedom of speech. The events were supported by Citizens Defending Freedom, aka 'Moms for Liberty in Suits' which is simultaneously seeking to ban 100s of books in #FortWorth.
Buy 50 cent DVDs from the library book sale pile (for stuff I will watch over and over) sure beats the price of Netflix. The free Blu-Ray/DVD rentals are an even better deal (but requires either muscle power or gasoline for transportation there). I love our library system! #libraries#hooray
Judd Legum reports on the testimony given by mysterious Lanah Burkhardt before the Conroe, Texas, school board. Burkhardt wants books censored, especially Scholastic Books. She claims that reading a Scholastic Book with the phrase "a single kiss" turned her into a porn addict when she was 11 years old.
After hearing her, the Conroe board voted to restrict access to the book she claims made her a porn addict.
My public library is so good. I just walked in and borrowed a language program (Pimsleur Cantonese audio CDs) that costs $500 if you buy it (better than any online course); 3 jazz vinyls, 6 DVDs of stuff I know I can’t easily get from streamers.
If I was short on time I could have added all those to my holds list yesterday and they would put them all in one place so I can just check out. Easy.
Folks working in #libraries and #preservation:
I have some small books that have a musty, mold like smell. There is no visible mold.
I'd like to try and get rid of the scent, they scan and shelve them all in sealed plastic containers.
My current idea is baking soda in a sealed container, put the book(s) in for up to 7 days.
Is this viable, or is some sort of other option better? Mini ozone generator? Some other powder to remove scents? Active carbon?
Thanks!
Is this signature written by hand directly onto the book, or is it a printed version of a handwritten signature? I want it to be the former, but my colleague thinks it's the latter.
It's of Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature
The Coming Enshittification of Public Libraries (open.substack.com)
Global investment vampires have positioned themselves to suck our libraries dry