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.
"Minnesota is poised to prohibit #bookbans in #schools and public #libraries... The law establishes... a 'Library Bill of Rights' and states that libraries cannot restrict access to material 'because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.'"
She Campaigned for a #Texas School Board Seat as a #GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism.
Courtney Gore, a Granbury ISD school board member, has disavowed the far-right platform she campaigned on after finding no evidence that #students were being indoctrinated by the district’s curriculum. Her defiance has brought her backlash.
My local #library didn't have a copy of Jordan Mechner's #book Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family, so I submitted a purchase request. I'm really looking forward to reading it.
I'll admit it, I got the idea from someone else on Mastodon, and I can't remember who. Hopefully someone reading this will be inspired to check out their own library. They are precious resources and should be supported with our patronage.
Here's the thing: the censorship issue doesn't just affect school and public libraries. It affects you too. If they succeed in getting books pulled from libraries and librarians fired or prosecuted, they won't stop at libraries. They're going to move on to book stores and your home book shelves. And then they're going to move on to speech outside of books that they don't like. They're not going to be satisfied at just stopping a few book checkouts and taking a few jobs at the library you don't even use, so it doesn't affect you. When your speech on the internet is monitored and "corrected," and when what you say out loud is criminalized, maybe you'll see that it affects you. It starts with getting an LGBTQ book off a public library shelf. It ends with the death of free speech. Don't let it come to that. #libraries
I'm sure everyone in Library Land has seen this by now, but I figured I'd post it for my non-library followers. John didn't get deep into all of the legislation that is being proposed and passed in places like Florida to criminalize or terminate the employment of librarians for doing their jobs and choosing books for collections. It's bad out there, kids. If you want to stop this, stand up for libraries when they are attacked. Join school and library boards. Talk openly about the dangers of censorship; don't let your pro-censorship friends and acquaintances go unchallenged. If this isn't happening at your library, it's coming. #libraries
I just renewed my library book in a few seconds from my phone while in another country after the library reminded me that it's due back soon. My inner toddler, who borrowed her first books after being lifted up the steps into the mobile library bus, will never not feel that digital library services are actual magic.
“Protecting libraries is a fight, but it’s also winnable. It just means standing up to all these bullshit attacks whenever they occur, and they are occurring a lot.” #libraries#JohnOliver
Just a reminder to subscribe to your local library's newsletter. It's a great way to stay on top of what's going on in your community, learn about the services they offer, and show them that people care.
"As more and more readers turn to ebooks, libraries are forced to keep up with the trend, often having to pay onerous licensing fees just for the "privilege" of keeping the work in stock, and, often unknowingly, exposing their patrons' data." Read the full article about IDAD 2023: https://u.fsf.org/421#LearnLibre#EndDRM#Libraries#ebooks#DayAgainstDRM
"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?