Republican candidate for Missouri governor vows to burn books after viral flamethrower video; The Kansas City Star, September 18, 2023

 KACEN BAYLESS , The Kansas City Star; Republican candidate for Missouri governor vows to burn books after viral flamethrower video

"Eigel’s remarkable comment promising to burn books comes as he embarks on a campaign for governor attempting to appeal to the staunch right wing of the Missouri Republican Party. Public book burnings typically illustrate extreme censorship related to political, cultural and religious materials. They often invoke historic atrocities such as burning of Jewish texts in Nazi Germany or racist bonfires by the Ku Klux Klan."

Red states quit nation’s oldest library group amid culture war over books; The Washington Post, September 17, 2023

Hannah Natanson, The Washington Post ; Red states quit nation’s oldest library group amid culture war over books

"The American Library Association is facing a partisan firefight unlike anything in its almost 150-year history."

What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.; Teachers College, Columbia University, September 6, 2023

Morgan Gilbard , Teachers College, Columbia University; What You Need to Know About the Book Bans Sweeping the U.S.

"What Could Happen Next?

American schools stand at a critical inflection point, and amid this heated debate, Rebell sees civil discourse at school board meetings as a paramount starting point for any sort of resolution. “This mounting crisis can serve as a motivator to bring people together to try to deal with our differences in respectful ways and to see how much common ground can be found on the importance of exposing all of our students to a broad range of ideas and experiences,” says Rebell. “Carve-outs can also be found for allowing parents who feel really strongly that certain content is inconsistent with their religious or other values to exempt their children from certain content without limiting the options for other children.”

But students, families and educators also have the opportunity to speak out, explains Douglass, who expressed concern for how her own daughter is affected by book bans. 

“I’d like to see a groundswell movement to reclaim the nation's commitment to education — to recognize that we're experiencing growing pains and changes in terms of what we stand for; and whether or not we want to live up to the democratic ideal of freedom of speech; different ideas in the marketplace, and a commitment to civics education and political participation,” says Douglass. 

As publishers and librarians file lawsuits to push back, students are also mobilizing to protest bans — from Texas to western New York and elsewhere. But as more local battles unfold, bigger issues remain unsolved. 

“We need to have a conversation as a nation about healing; about being able to confront the past; about receiving an apology and beginning that process of reconciliation,” says Douglass. “Until we tackle that head on, we'll continue to have these types of battles.”"

Madison Public Library Invites Community Input for Strategic Planning; City of Madison, August 24, 2023

City of Madison; Madison Public Library Invites Community Input for Strategic Planning

"Madison Public Library leadership seeks community input through September 30 to develop a three-year strategic plan for library services. Community members can participate in one of two ways:

• Complete a short, 11-minute survey through September 30, online or at any Madison Public Library.
• Attend a 90-minute virtual feedback session, September 20, 12-1:30pm

Links to both survey and virtual feedback session are at https://madpl.org/strategicplan 

“Public input is so essential to helping us create a plan that ensures library services, collections and programs meet a variety of diverse community needs, now and in the future,” said Greg Mickells, Library Director. “We encourage everyone – from daily library users to those who’ve never set foot in our libraries – to share what’s important to them through this quick survey or by participating with folks across the city through the virtual feedback session.”

Madison Public Library has partnered with The Care Plan to guide the strategic planning process. Survey and virtual feedback session information will be anonymized and summarized, along with staff feedback, library use data, and larger national trends, to create a strategic plan that will guide library service priorities for the next three years. The final strategic plan will be shared with the public in winter of 2023." 

New Livonia library director hired, will oversee strategic planning process; Hometown Life, September 11, 2023

 Shelby Tankersley, Hometown Life; New Livonia library director hired, will oversee strategic planning process

"Kristen Edson took over as Livonia's library director earlier this month, and she's happy to be back in her home state. The Swartz Creek native was drawn back to Michigan from her former job in Louisiana by family. She's looking forward to getting to know Livonia better in the coming months....

One of her first tasks as director will be to oversee a strategic planning process for Livonia's three libraries, one of which has been closed for years due to mold. The first step is a resident survey, which Edson expects to send out next month. The city hired libraryIQ to lead the effort and expects the process to run through March of next year.

"It’s about what the community wants," Edson said. "I’m interested in going through an in-depth strategic planning process. I’m looking forward to really getting into the weeds and really learning about the community more through that process.""

Inside Clean Up Alabama’s plan to jail librarians for giving LGBTQ+ books to kids; Alabama Political Reporter, September 7, 2023

  JACOB HOLMES, Alabama Political Reporter; Inside Clean Up Alabama’s plan to jail librarians for giving LGBTQ+ books to kids

"At Tuesday’s council meeting, Prattville residents affiliated with Clean Up Alabama, which began as Clean Up Prattville, pleaded with the council that their solutions were a “common sense” approach to inappropriate materials for minors.

But the local goals are just one part of a three-prong plan that Clean Up Alabama has to push the issue across the state, according to meeting minutes included in an email to subscribers.

The minutes detailed the group’s local goals, as well as its goals with the Alabama Public Library Service, primarily to dissociate from the American Library Association. Gov. Kay Ivey has sent a letter to APLS Director Dr. Nancy Pack expressing concerns that closely follow Clean-Up Alabama’s push over LGBTQ materials in library spaces intended for minors.

But the meeting also included three state legislative goals, which go much further than simply severing any ties with the ALA or asking librarians to move books to an adult section."

13 presidential libraries from Hoover to Obama warn of fragile state of U.S. democracy; Associated Press via PBS, September 7, 2023

  Gary Fields, Associated Press via PBS; 13 presidential libraries from Hoover to Obama warn of fragile state of U.S. democracy

"Concern for U.S. democracy amid deep national polarization has prompted the entities supporting 13 presidential libraries dating back to Herbert Hoover to call for a recommitment to the country’s bedrock principles, including the rule of law and respecting a diversity of beliefs.

The statement released Thursday, the first time the libraries have joined to make such a public declaration, said Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and human rights around the world because “free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity here at home.”

“But that interest,” it said, “is undermined when others see our own house in disarray.”

The joint message from presidential centers, foundations and institutes emphasized the need for compassion, tolerance and pluralism while urging Americans to respect democratic institutions and uphold secure and accessible elections."

Tommy Tuberville Calls U.S. Military Leaders 'Woke' For Opposing Him; Newsweek, September 7, 2023

 JAMES BICKERTON , Newsweek; Tommy Tuberville Calls U.S. Military Leaders 'Woke' For Opposing Him

"The people up here in the Pentagon, I don't know what they do every day but they're more of giving advice.""

Three service secretaries to Tuberville: Stop this dangerous hold on senior officers; The Washington Post, September 4, 2023

Carlos Del Toro

, 

Frank Kendall

 and 

Christine Wormuth

 , The Washington Post; Three service secretaries to Tuberville: Stop this dangerous hold on senior officers

"Carlos Del Toro is secretary of the Navy. Frank Kendall is secretary of the Air Force. Christine Wormuth is secretary of the Army...

Three of our five military branches — the Army, Navy and Marine Corps — have no Senate-confirmed service chief in place. Instead, these jobs — and dozens of others across the force — are being performed by acting officials without the full range of legal authorities necessary to make the decisions that will sustain the United States’ military edge.

Across the services, many generals and admirals are being forced to perform two roles simultaneously. The strain of this double duty places a real and unfair burden on these officers, the organizations they lead and their families.

The blanket hold is also exacting a personal toll on those who least deserve it."

Book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books; Associated Press via ABC News, September 5, 2023

MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press via ABC News ; Book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books

"Kleinman last month launched an alternative to the ALA, the World Library Association, which he said will offer new policy guidelines for libraries.

“We’re going to return things to commonplace, community standards,” Kleinman said.

Butler and Campbell County Library Board Chairwoman Sage Bear, who did not return phone and email messages seeking comment, have joined as “team members” of the World Library Association. Butler said he hoped the new association will eventually offer librarian continuing education that Campbell County can no longer provide through the ALA.

So far, state library associations — private, professional organizations that resemble the American Library Association, but on a state level — are sticking with the American Library Association. Wyoming librarians don’t always see eye-to-eye with the ALA but the Wyoming Library Association has no plans to cut ties, President Conrrado Saldivar said."

Marines’ top general ‘ruthlessly’ rides out Tuberville’s military hold; The Washington Post, September 4, 2023

Dan Lamothe , The Washington Post; Marines’ top general ‘ruthlessly’ rides out Tuberville’s military hold

"“The dirty little secret to being in command is that if you do it right, it’s not very fun,” he said. “It’s very rewarding. But it’s not very fun."

Yosemite has its own library. You're not allowed to borrow books from it.; SFGate, August 31, 2023

 Eric Brooks, SFGate; Yosemite has its own library. You're not allowed to borrow books from it.

"Visitors aren't the only ones who have challenges at the library — the seasonal workforce at Yosemite encounters them too. Seasonal workers often don’t have permanent residence established in Mariposa County and technically don’t qualify to check out books from the branch. “It’s just not realistic to require that,” Mariposa County librarian Matt Johnson told SFGATE. “So much of the workforce here (at Yosemite) comes and goes. We have essentially gotten permission … to set up library cards for temporary residents.”

The Yosemite Valley location is actually one of two Mariposa County branch locations in the park. The second is in Wawona, not far from the iconic Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. It’s one of five branches run by the county."

Rural Washington library could be nation’s first to dissolve after book challenges, reshelving requests; OPB, August 26, 2023

OPB, Courtney Flatt; Rural Washington library could be nation’s first to dissolve after book challenges, reshelving requests

"Librarians say this would be the first library in the country to dissolve following a book challenge, although many other libraries and school districts across the country and the Northwest have faced similar challenges."

Naomi Klein on following her ‘doppelganger’ down the conspiracy rabbit hole – and why millions of people have entered an alternative political reality; The Guardian, August 26, 2023

  Naomi Klein, The Guardian; Naomi Klein on following her ‘doppelganger’ down the conspiracy rabbit hole – and why millions of people have entered an alternative political reality

"This is a twist on the disaster capitalism I have tracked in the midst of earlier large-scale societal shocks. In the past, I have written about the private companies that descend to profit off the desperate needs and fears in the aftermath of hurricanes and wars, selling men with guns and reconstruction services at a high premium. That is old-school disaster capitalism picking our pockets, and it is still alive and thriving, taking aim at public schools and national health systems as the pandemic raged. But something new is also afoot: disaster capitalism mining our attention, at a time when attention is arguably our culture’s most valuable commodity. Conspiracies have always swirled in times of crisis – but never before have they been a booming industry in their own right...

Almost everyone I talk to these days seems to be losing people to the Mirror World and its web of conspiracies. It’s as if those people live in a funhouse of distorted reflections and disorienting reversals. People who were familiar have somehow become alien, like a doppelganger of themselves, leaving us with that unsettled, uncanny feeling. The big misinformation players may be chasing clout, but plenty of people believe their terrifying stories. Clearly, conspiracy culture is fueled by deep and unmet needs – for community, for innocence, for inside knowledge, for answers that appear, however deceptively, to explain a world gone wild.

“I can’t talk to my sister any more.” “My mother has gone down the rabbit hole.” “I am trying to figure out how to get my grandmother off Facebook.” “He used to be my hero. Now every conversation ends in a screaming match.”

What happened to them?

When looking at the Mirror World, it can seem obvious that millions of people have given themselves over to fantasy, to make-believe, to playacting. The trickier thing, the uncanny thing, really, is that’s what they see when they look at us. They say we live in a “clown world”, are stuck in “the matrix” of “groupthink”, are suffering from a form of collective hysteria called “mass formation psychosis” (a made-up term). The point is that on either side of the reflective glass, we are not having disagreements about differing interpretations of reality – we are having disagreements about who is in reality and who is in a simulation."

British Museum director resigns over handling of thefts; The Washington Post, August 25, 2023

Karla Adam , The Washington Post; British Museum director resigns over handling of thefts

"Gradel told British media outlets that many individual items hadn’t been registered in the museum’s records, making them difficult to trace and recover.

The British Museum is 270 years old and has more than 8 million items in its collection."

Secretary of State condemns rash of bomb threats at libraries; NPR Illinois 91.9 UIS, August 22, 2023

Sean Crawford , NPR Illinois 91.9 UIS; Secretary of State condemns rash of bomb threats at libraries

"Several Illinois libraries have been the target of bomb threats in recent days, according to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. He issued a statement Tuesday morning.

"As the State’s Librarian, I strongly condemn these threats of violence and intimidation that are unfortunately becoming all too common at libraries in Illinois and across our nation. The bomb threats received by Illinois libraries during the past several days represent a troublesome and disturbing trend that has escalated from banning books, to harassing and criminalizing librarians and now to endangering the lives of innocent people," he said. 

The Secretary of State's Office did not say how many threats have been reported, but indicated the following libraries, all in northern Illinois, were among those to have received them.

• Park Ridge Public Library
• Morton Grove Public Library
• Wilmette Public Library
• Oak Park Public Library
• Warren-Newport Public Library 

No injuries have been reported and, at least so far, police have been able to determine the threats were not credible.  
The Illinois Library Association put out a statement this week."

Harvard's Drew Gilpin Faust says history should make us uncomfortable; Fresh Air, NPR, August 22, 2023

  Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR; Harvard's Drew Gilpin Faust says history should make us uncomfortable

"Drew Gilpin Faust is known as a historian, a civil rights activist and the first woman president of Harvard — but she was groomed to become a proper Southern lady...

Faust's new memoir, Necessary Trouble, takes its name from a quote by the late Rep. John Lewis, who Faust knew and approved of using his words. The book is about growing up in Virginia and coming of age during a period of rapid social transformation...

On the mischaracterization of slavery included in Florida's new standards of Black history education, proposed under Gov. Ron DeSantis

It's preposterous and it's extremely distressing. It's a complete distortion of the past, which is undertaken in service of the present, of minimizing racial issues in the present by saying everything's been "just great" for four centuries. Slavery was not "just great." It was oppressive. It was cruel. It involved exploitation of every sort, physical violence, sexual exploitation. We know that we have pieces of paper where slave owners wrote it down. I did a biography of a South Carolina planter who recorded in detail what his mastery of slaves entailed. And there are dozens and dozens and dozens of studies that show this...

On the notion that students shouldn't be made to feel uncomfortable about history

It's a betrayal of the commitment to truth and to fact. And it so undermines the ability of people in the present to understand who they are. How do we have history that's not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn't make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to change. The headmistress of my girls school many years ago said to us, "Have the courage to be disturbed, to learn about the Holocaust and see what evil can mean, to learn about slavery and think about exploitation that is empowered by an ideology of race that we haven't entirely dismantled. Understand what people did in the past so that you can, in the present, better critique your own assumptions, your own blindnesses, and make a world that's a better world." If we don't acknowledge those realities, we are disempowered as human beings."

Library provides essential support to incarcerated students earning college degrees; Yale Library, August 21, 2023

 Yale Library; Library provides essential support to incarcerated students earning college degrees

"In June, the Yale Prison Education Initiative (YPEI) held its first commencement ceremony, which took place at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, a state correctional facility in Suffield, Connecticut. MacDougall-Walker is one of two sites where the YPEI program operates; the other site is the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury.

The YPEI—Yale’s joint program with the University of New Haven (UNH)—was founded in 2016 as a program of Dwight Hall, Yale’s Center for Public Service and Social Justice, by Zelda Roland ’08, ’16 PhD. This year, the program awarded the first college degrees. “This year was a significant milestone,” said Emily Horning, the library’s director of Undergraduate Teaching and Outreach, who is also director of library support for the YPEI."

‘It’s a small number of people who are very loud’: Local libraries grapple with book challenges, bans; TribLive, August 22, 2023

 QUINCEY REESE , TribLive; ‘It’s a small number of people who are very loud’: Local libraries grapple with book challenges, bans

"“It’s a small number of people who are very loud,” Coronado said.

In accordance with the library’s reconsideration policy, Coronado and other library staff members review all challenges that are brought to them and determine the best course of action, which could be moving a book to a new section, removing a book entirely or keeping it at its spot on the shelves.

“My role is to listen, no matter what the (patron) is saying,” Coronado said...

“We’re caught in the crossfire here, but we stick to our tenets,” Riegner said. “We live in a democratic society. We try to provide materials for all walks of life.”

Riegner acknowledged that patrons will inevitably disapprove of some content in the library.

“Some people may like (our book selections). Some people may not like them,” Riegner said. “We’re a public institution, so we will expect complaints from time to time.”

For Beth Mellor, listening to these complaints is essential.

“Our libraries are community-­facing,” said Mellor, director of Oakmont Carnegie Library. “When you are dealing with children, it is so important that you know what’s going on and that you listen.”"

Saline County Quorum Court vote to pass ordinance, allows county judge to oversee county library board; KATV ABC7, August 22, 2023

KATV ABC7 ; Saline County Quorum Court vote to pass ordinance, allows county judge to oversee county library board

"The Saline County Quorum Court voted to pass an ordinance in an 11 to 2 vote on Monday that gave county judge Matt Brumley authority over the county library board.

Before that court made its final vote after a third reading, the public provided their final comments in hopes of steering the decision one way or the other...

According to the ordinance, prior to the adoption of any rules, policies, procedures, or regulations under article seven, the board shall submit the proposals to the Saline County judge for viewing.

It also states that the board shall have the final authority to adopt or amend any rules, policies, procedures, or regulations subject to all applicable state and local laws."

Ron DeSantis’ ethics chair either has to give that up or his $400,000 salary as Disney’s administrator, judge rules; Fortune, August 21, 2023

 MIKE SCHNEIDER AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS , Fortune; Ron DeSantis’ ethics chair either has to give that up or his $400,000 salary as Disney’s administrator, judge rules

"The chair of Florida’s ethics commission has an ethics problem, but it’s due to working at The Mouse rather than being a rat.

Glen Gilzean, the new administrator of Walt Disney World’s governing district, can’t continue to work in his new job and chair the Florida Commission on Ethics at the same time since Florida law prohibits public employees from serving as members on the commission, according to a legal opinion issued Thursday...

“Maintaining the public employment is inconsistent with the requirements” of being a commission member, the opinion said."

Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin; The Guardian, August 20, 2023

 Tim Adams, The Guardian ; Paying the price of truth: Nobel peace laureate Dmitry Muratov won’t be silenced by Putin

"Smartphone footage of this event from April 2022 is the opening scene of a documentary film about the life of Muratov, which will be shown on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday night. The film is called The Price of Truth, and if you were ever in doubt about the human cost of publishing factual news in a time of war and repression, then Muratov’s career establishes it in frank detail.

I spoke to Muratov last week, by Zoom in the office of the newspaper he has edited for 30 years, Novaya Gazeta, standard bearer for the glasnost and perestroika of its founding patron, Mikhail Gorbachev. None of those years have been without challenge and trauma. The photographs of six Novaya Gazeta journalists murdered in the course of their work are on the wall above Muratov’s desk. But even so, he suggested to me, this last year has been the worst.

“All non-state media [including his paper] has been closed,” he says. “Hundreds of thousands of web pages have been blocked.” Government propaganda, he suggests, spreads “like radiation” into every home. “There is no one to control power in Russia, and our society hasn’t understood that yet.”"

‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US; The Guardian, August 19, 2023

  Jordan Blumetti , The Guardian; ‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US

"Clay county has become a flashpoint in the state of Florida on the topic of book challenges. According to recent tallies, more than 175 books have been permanently removed from its public school libraries – a number which ranks among the highest of any county in the US – and hundreds more remain unavailable to students due to a policy unique to the county, requiring that books are pulled from shelves as soon as a challenge form is filed with the school district. Conservative activists from two organizations have seized on that policy, often filing multiple challenge forms at a time, which inundates the systems and committees that process the claims.

“The biggest issue facing Clay county right now is the backlog of challenges and the huge political divide that’s driving it. No other county is dealing with a similar problem,” says Jen Cousins, co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) and a mother of four. “They’re creating fake outrage over what’s available in libraries.”"

Why is AMLO worried about an outsider? She’s funny, profane — and inspiring.; The Washington Post, August 20, 2023

  David Ignatius, The Washington Post; Why is AMLO worried about an outsider? She’s funny, profane — and inspiring.

"“Beware of what is happening in Mexico,” Gálvez warns me at the end of our conversation. “Our president is capable of anything. He has no limits.”

A chilling example of what frightens many Mexicans about López Obrador happened last Wednesday morning at the president’s office, a few miles from where I was talking to Gálvez.

At his regular morning news conference that day, reporters asked López Obrador about five young men from Jalisco who had disappeared a few days before. A horrific video had just surfaced that showed the five, friends since childhood, their bodies battered and bloody, with their mouths taped shut and their hands tied behind their backs. One victim was forced to bludgeon another with a brick and then decapitate him, before he was killed himself. Investigators later recovered their badly burned bodies. The governor of Jalisco said the murders were “clearly linked to organized crime.”

And what did the president say when reporters asked him to comment on this appalling crime? “Can’t hear,” said López Obrador, cupping his hand to his ear. He then told a crude joke about a poor Mexican man who pretended he couldn’t hear a question. And then he smiled and walked offstage."

ALA Announces Steps to Support LGBTQIA+ Library Workers; American Libraries, August 9, 2023

 American Libraries; ALA Announces Steps to Support LGBTQIA+ Library Workers

"Recognizing the urgency to address and combat discriminatory practices targeting library workers within the LGBTQIA+ community, ALA is taking proactive steps to support and protect LGBTQIA+ library workers:

1.  Establishing a task force: ALA has created a task force composed of experts and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive strategy for addressing and tracking retaliatory employment cases against LGBTQIA+ library workers.

2.  Developing a supportive communications plan: The task force will work to formulate a communications plan that highlights the resources and support available from ALA, specifically tailored to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ library worker community.

Libraries are essential spaces for all people to safely explore and access information about the world around them. It is crucial to create safe work environments for LGBTQIA+ library workers, where they can continue their invaluable work in facilitating learning, discovery, and understanding for library users."