Tag Archives: Editorial

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Memories & History, Politics

Opinion | Book bans raise the question: Have we forgotten what a library is for? – The Washington Post

By Deborah E. Mikula and Loren Khogali, September 30, 2022 at 12:18 p.m. EDT

The Patmos Library on Aug. 11 in Jamestown, Mich. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)

Deborah E. Mikula is executive director of the Michigan Library Association. Loren Khogali is executive director of the ACLU of Michigan.

Imagine a town without a library.

In August, people in Jamestown, Mich., just outside Grand Rapids, signaled with their votes that they would rather defund — and possibly shutter — their only public library than keep books with LGBTQ themes on the shelves.

The impact of such a vote is deeply concerning. And the place from which it stems — a small but vocal minority trying to dictate what others can and cannot read — is even more troubling.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item… see video at link…

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/02/jamestown-patmos-library-defund-book-bans-lgbtq/

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Politics, Web & Technology

Book banning is one step away from book burning | Editorial – Sun Sentinel

By Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Apr 14, 2022 at 3:52 pm

On May 10 in Berlin’s Opera Square, students burned any books deemed “un-German” to align the arts and culture of Germany with Nazi ideals. Over 25,000 books were burned in bonfires throughout Germany, including author Helen Keller’s work on the rights of people with disabilities and Jack London’s “The Call of the Wild.”
(Keystone // Getty Images)

The book-burning began only 100 days after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933.

Torchlight parades in 34 university towns led to bonfires where more than 25,000 volumes went up in flames for being “un-German.”

Among them were the works of Germans Thomas Mann, a Nobel-prize winner and anti-Nazi; Erich Maria Remarque, the anti-war author of All Quiet on the Western Front; and the 19th century Jewish-born poet Heinrich Heine, who had written prophetically, “Wherever they burn books, they will also, in the end, burn people.”

American writers Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway and even Helen Keller were among the verboten.

Source: Book banning is one step away from book burning | Editorial – Sun Sentinel

Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Politics

Opinion | The Battle for the Soul of the Library – The New York Times | Guest Essay

The declaration adds, “Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” This professional stance is known as “neutrality.”

By Stanley Kurtz, Feb. 24, 2022
Dr. Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank.

Javier Jaén

Recent news stories covering clashes over what books students should read in class and have access to in their school libraries have overlooked a major player in our unfolding scholastic drama.

We’ve been reading about traditionalist parents, progressive teachers and politicians of various stripes. Missing, however, has been the figure of the woke librarian.

What in the world is a woke librarian?

After all, through venerable proclamations like the Library Bill of Rights, America’s librarians have long pledged to “provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues.” The declaration adds, “Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” This professional stance is known as “neutrality.”

Source: Opinion | The Battle for the Soul of the Library – The New York Times