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...
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.
Donna Kniest, of Brentwood, left, and Pam Mahoney, of Webster Groves, pick up the books they had on hold last year from the holds section of the St. Louis County Library Headquarters. “I’ve been anxiously awaiting the reopening,” said Pam. The library reopened on June 18, 2020, after being closed early in the coronavirus pandemic.
A catalog of almost 5 million items — from books to DVDs — will be created next year when the St. Louis city and county integrate their library systems.
The two aren’t combining libraries, but they are making it easier for residents to access materials, they said in a news release Wednesday.
If a person in south St. Louis, for example, wants to check out a book unavailable in the city library, he or she can request it through the new integrated system and it will be delivered to a nearby city library.
Patrons will be able to use the library card they have and will not need to get a new one.
The city and county libraries have shared resources for 28 years through a reciprocal lending agreement. City residents could also get a county library card and vice versa, but borrowers usually had to travel farther to pick up materials.
The new shared catalog will be made available by using Polaris ILS (integrated library system), a product of Innovative Interfaces Inc. A spokeswoman for the county library said sharing a system will save both libraries money.
Editor’s Note: This approach should be applicable to many large libraries, often a city library and county library in big metropolitan areas. For example,
Editor’s Note: This approach should be applicable to many large libraries, often a city library and county library in big metropolitan areas. For example,
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