Tag Archives: Books

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History, Politics, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing, Web & Technology

Republicans are trying to defund public libraries in addition to book bans – Vox

By Fabiola Cineas, May 5, 2023, 5:05pm EDT

A library in Missouri, where state lawmakers in 2022 made it illegal to provide students with “sexually explicit” material and later tried to eliminate state funding for public libraries.
Shane Keyser/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Fabiola Cineas covers race and policy as a reporter for Vox. Before that, she was an editor and writer at Philadelphia magazine, where she covered business, tech, and the local economy.

When Missouri’s House voted in late March to approve a state budget that would eliminate $4.5 million in funding for public libraries, local and national free speech advocates went into panic mode.

The Missouri Senate later restored the funding to the budget proposal in April. But full funding for the state’s libraries is still not guaranteed, and librarians and patrons are concerned that libraries across the state are still under attack and subject to the whims of Republican lawmakers.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: Republicans are trying to defund public libraries in addition to book bans – Vox

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History, Politics, Science & Health, Web & Technology

The book battle is escalating, with library funds on the line : NPR

May 4, 20235:02 AM ET, Heard on All Things Considered By Tovia Smith

Otter Bowman is one of many library staffers around Missouri scrambling to enact new policies around books selected for young readers. Libraries that don’t comply risk losing state funding.
Anna Huffman/Anna Huffman

The decibel level is climbing as some 20 preschoolers sprawl out on an alphabet-pattern carpet for story hour.

One toddler, who’s new to the group, is having a bit of a meltdown, so Otter Bowman, a library associate at the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia, Mo., goes for the surest trick she has and starts talking about “Junior,” the library’s bookmobile.

As usual, it gets the kids’ attention and the gaggle settles down so Bowman can begin story hour. “Hello! I’m Ducky Duckling,” she reads. “When I feel happy, I say, ‘Quack! Quack!’ ” The kids cackle and quack back.

Source: The book battle is escalating, with library funds on the line : NPR

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Memories & History, Politics

War of words: The fight over banning books – CBS News

By Martha Teichner, April 23, 2023 / 9:32 AM / CBS News

ARVE

Sunday Morning
War of words: The fight over banning books

“Catch-22,” Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” “The Great Gatsby,” Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” “Lord of the Flies,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” … classics, and every one of them banned in some places. Said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom, “There was somebody who objected to the profanity, or the challenge to the status quo.”

The Chicago Public Library put them on display, in defiance of efforts nationwide to ban books.

Source: War of words: The fight over banning books – CBS News

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Love & Relationships, Memories & History

Five Speculative Novels Set In Worlds Full of Books ‹ CrimeReads

By Hester Fox, April 12, 2023

From article…

The only thing better than getting lost in a library?

Reading a book about one, of course. Whether it’s the Library of Alexandria, the British Library, or your favorite local branch, libraries hold a special place in our hearts and imaginations as portals to all sorts of knowledge and different worlds. If books are a “uniquely portable magic,” as Stephen King says, then libraries are a wellspring of enchantment, places where our imaginations are given license to run free.

My upcoming book The Last Heir to Blackwood Library features a sprawling abbey on the windswept Yorkshire moors. When Ivy Radcliffe inherits the abbey in 1927, she arrives to find that there is a magnificent library kept under lock and key by the servants. It soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary library; the contents of the books seem to spill out into real life, and Ivy’s memory begins to fade with each passing day. Ivy will have to unravel the mystery that lurks at the center of the library if she is to have any chance of saving herself, as well as her beloved abbey.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, then here some other books you might enjoy that feature fantastical libraries, cozy bookstores, and stories that pay homage to the magic of the written word.

Source: Five Speculative Novels Set In Worlds Full of Books ‹ CrimeReads

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Love & Relationships, Memories & History, Politics, Times They Are A-Changing, Web & Technology

Book Bans Aren’t The Only Legal Hurdle To Book Access These Days | Above the Law

By Chris Williams, March 28, 2023 at 1:18 PM

From article…

Reading is fundamental. And so is copyright. No, really — check Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.

As is usually the case, things get interesting when fundamental goods bash heads in the courtroom. This time, you’ll likely see a familiar name in the complaint if you’ve enrolled in college and been a little short on cash any time within the last 20 years or so.

A federal judge in Manhattan, New York City, has granted summary judgment to four publishers that sued the nonprofit Internet Archive for scanning copyrighted books and lending them out in digital form.

U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York ruled March 24 that the archive’s program constituted copyright infringement, and its digital lending “remains squarely beyond fair use.”

Source: Book Bans Aren’t The Only Legal Hurdle To Book Access These Days – Above the Law

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing

Hidden Systems is a book that could teach your kids how the Internet works – The Verge

Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge

Growing up, I learned The Way Things Work from author David Macaulay’s incredible illustrated books.

This week, I was surprised to see Macaulay’s endorsement in my inbox for a new illustrated explainer by a different author — but the surprise didn’t last long.

Fifteen minutes after I began skimming through an advance copy of Hidden Systems, which just came out this week, I immediately ordered the book for my kids. It looks like a fantastic way to help them conceptualize the internet, the world’s water supply, and our power grid — and get them thinking about the infrastructure of the world they’ll someday inherit.

In 262 pages, author and cartoonist Dan Nott tackles each of these systems in comic panel form, piecing together the building blocks of how they work and the basics of how they were conceived, all without ignoring the societal challenges facing each one. “I began drawing about hidden systems because comics seem to have this superpower-like ability to compare how we think about something with how it works concretely,” writes Nott in the book.

Source: Hidden Systems is a book that could teach your kids how the internet works – The Verge