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.'"
Courtney Gore, the co-host of a right-wing online talk show, won a seat on a Texas school board on the basis that she would undo leftist indoctrination and get rid of educational materials with inappropriate messages about sexuality and race. Then she took office and actually read the curriculum, finding that the subject matter simply taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.” The Texas Tribune talked to her about why she ran for office, what she thinks is behind the push to take over school boards, and the backlash she's faced since speaking out against the ultra-right element of the Republican party.
Posting this 👇 again for Australians, as it goes to council in Sydney this week on Weds. Let's get a many signatures as poss 👍🏻
"Sydney councillor Steve Christou has moved to ban childrens' books in Cumberland council libraries talking about same-sex parenting, despite contravening Australian anti-discrimination laws. Christou claims he has widespread support of parents.
In the most glorious "fuck you" I have seen in a while, you know the book that Cumberland City Council banned because they're homophobic bigots - Holly Duhig's "A focus on Same Sex Parents"? Well, the publisher, BookLife Publishing, have made a PDF version of the book available for free.
Sure be a shame if it was shared far and wide now, wouldn't it?
Every time you ban a book filled with hope and kindness, and care and love, we will resist.
One of this city's most haunting #monuments isn't even particular monumental: An unsuspicious window in the middle of #Berlin’s Bebelplatz (former #Opernplatz) - bookshelves in the ground.
Empty bookshelves.
Commemorating the #BookBurning which took place right here #OnThisDay, May 10th in 1933.
Same sex parenting.
Sydney councillor Steve Christou has moved to ban childrens' books in Cumberland council libraries talking about same-sex parenting, despite contravening Australian anti-discrimination laws. Christou claims he has widespread support of parents.
Fight for your libraries. Don’t let them take away your library by defunding it out of providing vital services. Don’t let them shackle the library with rules meant to prevent the right people from getting the right book to change their life. Don’t let them close the doors, because you know they will never open again. Fight for the freedom to read and explore new ideas. Fight against censorship and denying people the materials their souls need. If a library closes, it will never open again. You couldn’t create libraries today. You want to loan out books? And people will just willingly give them back? Are you mad? Naïve, perhaps? Once a library closes its doors, it’s over. The book banners have won. Do not let them win. Fight for libraries. Fight for library workers. Fight for patrons. Fight for free people reading freely. #libraries#censorship#librarians#LibraryWorkers#LibraryPatrons#BookBans
Proposed bill in Alabama to allow the arrest of librarians.
No one is perfect—not even librarians. But professional #librarians are terrific. They're dedicated public servants, and they know how to library better than politicians do.
In a year that will be remembered for its relentless assault on intellectual freedom, 2023 saw an unprecedented wave of book bans sweeping across the United States.
The numbers are staggering and the targets are clear. In the first half of the 2022-23 school year alone, 30% of banned books focused on racial topics or featured characters of color, while over half of the bans in 2023 took aim at LGBTQ+ content. —via takeitback.org #Censorship#BookBans#Education#Diversity#DEI#Racism#LGBTQ
6 Badass Librarians Who Changed History
They will not be shushed.
by April White April 5, 2024
"Librarians have never been a quiet bunch: Information, after all, is power. To mark National Library Week—typically celebrated the second full week of April—Atlas Obscura, fittingly, went into the archives to find our favorite stories of librarians who have fostered cultural movements, protected national secrets, and fought criminals..."
…The bill in CT, pending before an #education cmte, is 1 of a raft of measures advancing nationwide that seek to do things like prohibit #BookBans or forbid the #harassment of school & public librarians…. Legislators in 22 mostly blue states have proposed 57 such bills so far this year, & 2 have become #law….
But the #library-friendly measures are being outpaced by bills in mostly #RedStates that aim to restrict which #books#libraries can offer & #threaten#librarians w/ #prison or thousands in #fines for handing out “obscene” or “harmful” titles. At least 27 states are considering 100 such bills this year, 3 of which have become #law…. That adds to nearly a dozen similar measures enacted over the last 3 yrs across 10 states.
A few weeks ago, a school board in Millburn school district 24, in Illinois, voted to end their participation in the Rebecca Caudill awards, declaring the award to be "woke" and "have a political agenda". Since the books are selected by middle school readers--students in the district--you can see the right wing bullshit coming.
Thanks to enthusiastic community involvement, the board reversed course.