WHAT ELSE DO PARENTS WHO BELIEVE LIBRARIANS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS THINK?; Book Riot, October 13, 2023

Kelly Jensen , Book Riot; WHAT ELSE DO PARENTS WHO BELIEVE LIBRARIANS SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR LIBRARY MATERIALS THINK?

"Book Riot and EveryLibrary have teamed up to execute a series of surveys exploring parental perceptions of libraries, and our first data sets were released at the end of September. These specifically explore the ways parents perceive public libraries...

While most parents have no idea how librarians choose the books in the collection (53%), and most also believe librarians should be responsible for collection development and maintenance (58%), one of the most surprising findings was that fully one-quarter of respondents believed librarians should be prosecuted for giving children access to materials...

People who do not know how librarians select material are much more likely to also believe librarians should be prosecuted for that material. This is chilling, to say the least. It’s also an important point to emphasize for library workers. Where and how do you educate your patrons about the process behind the acquisition of books, movies, and other collection items? If this demographic who somewhat or wholly believes librarians should be prosecuted for materials is your average or above average user, there is a lot of opportunity — maybe even necessity — for education."

Holocaust Denial Materials and Other Fascist Content Removed from Library Ebook Platforms; Library Journal, March 7, 2022

 Matt Enis , Library Journal; Holocaust Denial Materials and Other Fascist Content Removed from Library Ebook Platforms

"In February, collection development librarians from U.S. public libraries pointed out on listservs and social media that several fascist ebooks—including ebooks that deny the Holocaust, a sympathetic biography of Hitler, and a new English translation of a title written by Nazi officer—were available for patrons to download on hoopla and were surfacing in searches alongside other nonfiction content. One of the titles was also available for libraries to license via OverDrive Marketplace. On February 22, the Library Freedom Project (LFP) and Library Futures (LF) released a joint statement demanding “full accountability for how these materials were selected for inclusion on the platforms and more transparency in the companies’ material selection processes going forward” along with a form letter template for concerned librarians to email the leaders of both companies...

Citing the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s collection of antisemitic content as an example, Potash argued that there are legitimate uses for this content, such as the study of propaganda or the history of the Holocaust. He emphasized that context-free antisemitic or Holocaust denial ebooks surfacing in a library’s popular history collection was highly unlikely to happen on OverDrive’s patron-facing platform.

“We are strong advocates of freedom of speech and First Amendment rights, and we also believe in trusting librarians,” Potash said. “So, every aspect of what gets added or discovered in a patron-facing site is because a librarian made that judgement call or selected the title.”...

Macrina contends that the current climate makes the removal of fascist propaganda even more important. “My view of free speech has an analysis of power in it,” she said. “Who is really at risk of being silenced? Who is really under threat for their speech? [Currently] it’s queer people, it’s Black people, it’s people of color in general…. Trans children right now have just become criminalized in Texas. So, the context of the book bannings that we’re seeing are part of a bigger issue that we are facing as a society that is challenging the very humanity of some of the most marginalized people…. Nazis went after those people. Nazis burned books.”"

Libraries oppose censorship. So they're getting creative when it comes to offensive kids' books; CNN, March 3, 2021

Scottie Andrew, CNN; Libraries oppose censorship. So they're getting creative when it comes to offensive kids' books

"Books with offensive content remain available to check out, she said, but they better serve readers as a "springboard for conversations and healing." The library's attention remains on widening its selections that center members of historically marginalized groups.

If a classic is still popular, librarian Kaitlin Frick wrote in a blog post for the Association for Library Service to Children, library staff should attach to it a guide for discussing racism for parents and young readers. She also suggests librarians encourage parents to check out anti-racist books or more inclusive titles along with a classic book. 

Spotlighting books that feature diverse characters while sidelining, but still offering, books that reduce diverse characters to stereotypes is an option that sticks to librarians' anti-censorship stance and, hopefully, carves out a place for more books to join the wider canon of notable children's literature, Caldwell Stone said.

"It's always been the role of libraries to foster cultural understanding," she said. And with a larger emphasis on books that don't rely on stereotypes and prejudice to entertain, librarians hope, libraries can be havens for readers from all backgrounds."

Whodunit in the Library: Someone Keeps Hiding the Anti-Trump Books; The New York Times, November 10, 2019

Mike Baker, The New York Times;Whodunit in the Library: Someone Keeps Hiding the Anti-Trump Books

"Ms. Ammon said she asked the caller to provide a list of books that should be in the stacks, and while the person failed to provide one, she suspects the library already has whatever might be on it.

“We serve the entire community,” Ms. Ammon said...

Through it all, Ms. Ammon said, the library has managed to maintain the diversity of its shelves. In the nonfiction stacks, a book by Al Franken, the former Democratic senator, sits right next to one by Newt Gingrich, the former Republican congressman.

“The Dewey decimal system is a great equalizer,” Ms. Ammon said."

With Vaccine Misinformation, Libraries Walk a Fine Line; Undark, March 22, 2019

Jane Roberts, Undark; 

With Vaccine Misinformation, Libraries Walk a Fine Line

As vanguards of intellectual freedom, public libraries face difficult questions regarding what vaccine materials to make available. How to decide?

"The decision on what to make available to library patrons — and what not to — would seem perilous territory for America’s foundational repositories of ideas, though debates over library collections are not new. Still, in an era beset by “fake news” and other artifacts of the disinformation age, libraries (and librarians) may once again find themselves facing difficult choices. One of the core values of librarianship, said Andrea Jamison, a lecturer in library science at Valparaiso University in Indiana, is upholding the principles of intellectual freedom — which include challenging censorship. “We do want to make sure we are presenting information that is accurate,” Jamison said. “But then the question becomes, who becomes the determining factor?”"