I live in Melbourne, Australia (happy fall!) and we just don’t have this issue here. We are a pretty liberal society generally, and our conservatives have more in common with your democrats than the GOP, although the Christian right keeps trying! As a working class kid growing up, librarians and public libraries made it possible for me to be a reader. As a university academic, libraries and librarians provide the bedrock of our work. There is no research at any level without them. Libraries and librarians contribute immensely to social democracy and social cohesion, not to mention the flights of imagination that enable young people to aspire and dream. We are so blessed to have them. The idea that any individual thinks they’ll just take the right to curate on ideological whims, which books may stay, is the opposite of freedom. I was taught in American history classes, of which I took many, that freedom was the defining value of American society, so visiting the States for grad school was a real shock. This reactionary interference in the curation of expert librarians is really an admission that debates and explorations of ideas is a loss for those who want to suppress them. If kids read the books, they grow and evolve. Literature is a powerful force for humanism, for compassion and empathy, for general knowledge, always, but it is especially powerful in childhood. Who knew? Librarians! Since the dawn of libraries. I am grateful for this blog and for the many hundreds of thousands fighting hard to keep books available to kids, which is one of the most sacred ways to serve. I wish I could help. Many, many thanks to all.
I live in Melbourne, Australia (happy fall!) and we just don’t have this issue here. We are a pretty liberal society generally, and our conservatives have more in common with your democrats than the GOP, although the Christian right keeps trying! As a working class kid growing up, librarians and public libraries made it possible for me to be a reader. As a university academic, libraries and librarians provide the bedrock of our work. There is no research at any level without them. Libraries and librarians contribute immensely to social democracy and social cohesion, not to mention the flights of imagination that enable young people to aspire and dream. We are so blessed to have them. The idea that any individual thinks they’ll just take the right to curate on ideological whims, which books may stay, is the opposite of freedom. I was taught in American history classes, of which I took many, that freedom was the defining value of American society, so visiting the States for grad school was a real shock. This reactionary interference in the curation of expert librarians is really an admission that debates and explorations of ideas is a loss for those who want to suppress them. If kids read the books, they grow and evolve. Literature is a powerful force for humanism, for compassion and empathy, for general knowledge, always, but it is especially powerful in childhood. Who knew? Librarians! Since the dawn of libraries. I am grateful for this blog and for the many hundreds of thousands fighting hard to keep books available to kids, which is one of the most sacred ways to serve. I wish I could help. Many, many thanks to all.
In local news
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2024-03-20/huntington-beach-to-seek-bids-for-privatization-of-library-services#nt=0000016b-d77d-d576-affb-ff7fc4850003-showMedia-liI4promoMedium-7030col1
Wish they'd ban my book. Guaranteed sales generator : )
Good Info Victoria! Thanks for keeping us up to date on this important subject.
Best,
Frank Kearns
Thank you for continuing to write about this!