UNM celebrates Open Access Week with film on copyright and creativity; UNM Newsroom, University of New Mexico, October 7, 2025

 UNM Newsroom, University of New Mexico; UNM celebrates Open Access Week with film on copyright and creativity

"As part of International Open Access Week, the greater Lobo community is invited to Opening the Canon: Copyright, Access and Creativity, an evening of film, conversation and discovery Oct. 22 and 23, at 7 p.m. both nights at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque. This event is free and open to the public.

This event will explore how works move from private ownership into the public domain, and what that means for creators, educators and the public. On Wednesday, Oct. 22, Bryan Konefsky of Basement Films will guide a discussion on copyright, open access, creativity and the art of working within a canon. He will also introduce the three films. The event will conclude with an open Q&A session with Konefsky.

The three films are:

• Steamboat Willie: Mickey Mouse’s first sound cartoon, newly in the public domain.
• Steamboat Bill, Jr. starting Buster Keaton, the film that inspired Disney’s steamboat adventure.
• Citizen Mickey by Salise Hughes: A Basement Films gem reimagining the mouse we all know.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, the event will include only a showing of the three films, no discussion. 

Opening the Canon is created through the support of the New Mexico Open Educational Resources Consortium, University Libraries, New Mexico Library Association and Basement Films, which has been around for 35 years supporting underrepresented forms of media.

International Open Access Week is an opportunity for the academic and research community to learn about the benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned, and to inspire wider participation in making open access publishing a new norm in scholarship and research. 

Open access literature is online, free of charge and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Open Access Week is held every October  and offers a chance to connect with the global momentum of openly sharing knowledge. This year, University Libraries, Health Sciences Library and Informatic Center, and the Law Library have teamed up to create events that shed light on Open Access all month long. Learn more about the events at the Open Access website."

Post to X from Bloomsbury Editor re 10/9/25 library-themed Letter to the Editor

Kip Currier: Post to X from my Bloomsbury editor regarding my 10/9/25 library-themed Letter to the Editor:

Thank you, @BloomsburyLU author Kip Currier, for your reasoned and passionate defense of libraries in 2 PA newspapers. Libraries are the bedrock of healthy, equitable communities, and we couldn't be more proud to support libraries and library workers. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/8750699042164055722/5219361931786295174

Hawaii library system bans displays that refer to ‘Banned Books Week,’ rebrands to ‘Freedom to Read’; AP, October 8, 2025

BRITTANY LYTE AND CHAD BLAIR/HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT, AP; Hawaii library system bans displays that refer to ‘Banned Books Week,’ rebrands to ‘Freedom to Read’

"This week, libraries across the U.S. are observing Banned Books Week. In Hawaii, the national event has been rebranded as a week dedicated to the “freedom to read,” an attempt to cool what has become a hot-button political issue.

New guidelines issued by the Hawaii State Public Library System ahead of the 41st annual event prohibit the use of the words “censorship” and “banned,” as well as the phrase “banned books week,” in displays at 51 public libraries across the state.

Also banned are certain props and imagery, such as caution tape and fake flames, and the use of any slogans or materials from the ALA, the professional organization that has sponsored the yearly Banned Books Week campaign since its 1984 origins.

State Librarian Stacey Aldrich said in a statement Tuesday that the language used in the Freedom to Read campaign aims to be inclusive of all library patrons.

“There are people who misunderstand ‘banned books’ or believe that we are banning books,” she said...

“It’s important to get the facts out and I’m not allowed to put the facts in my display,” Kawahara said. “And this is all happening in the one week dedicated to awareness of censorship.”

Stickers emblazoned with “censorship is so 1984,” the ALA’s 2025 Banned Books Week theme, were also confiscated from the Lihue library...

On Monday, at a press conference in downtown Honolulu, the Hawaii Library Association and ACLU Hawaii launched the Freedom to Read initiative in support of intellectual freedom.

The occasion marked Banned Books Week 2025, which runs through Saturday, is intended to raise awareness of increasing challenges to books in classrooms and libraries. Banned Books Week was launched by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom “in coalition with publishers, booksellers and writers’ organizations,” according to the ACLU."

Published Letter to the Editor: "Libraries support all of us; we should support them". October 9, 2025

I am sharing a copy of my library-themed 10/9/25 Letter to the Editor that was published in the print versions and the digital versions of the Oil City (PA) paper The Derrick and the Franklin (PA) Times-Union newspapers in Venango County, Pennsylvania. The two newspapers share the same Monday-Saturday content under their own banners for each city. I wrote my letter in response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor written by a Cranberry (Township) resident (not to be confused with the Cranberry in Butler County); I've copied the writer's letter below, after mine. Note: The typo at the start of the newspapers' copy of my letter was the fault of the paper and was not in the letter I emailed to them.

 

I was pleased that the newspapers did not make any changes to the prose. However, they did alter my web links: rather than including the precise websites within, say, Pew Research or ALA, they only provided the homepage; this may be part of their editorial policy. I provided links to evidence/authoritative data to support my points and research and rebut the assertions of the letter writer.

They also omitted my PhD and JD degrees I'd included after my name in the version I sent to them.

Letters to the Editor at these newspapers are limited to no more than 350 words. My submission was 346 words.

The newspapers unfortunately have a digital paywall that precludes free access to even one newspaper item, but this is the digital link to my letter: https://www.thederrick.com/opinion/letter-libraries-support-all-of-us-we-should-support-them/article_8fe1adc8-1dd5-48bf-9ac7-711dfe14d7fe.html 

LETTER: Libraries support all of us; we should support them

October 9, 2025

 

Editor,

This is in response to the Sept. 26 letter to the editor titled “Tax proposal needs to ‘die’ with the library” by Betty M. Hepler.

The author could not be more wrong or misinformed about the state of American libraries and the value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are vital necessities and community anchors in towns and cities throughout this nation. See www.pewresearch.org.

1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities — from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See www.ala.org.

2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries economically benefit businesses that are located nearby. See www.imls.gov.

3. Research data also show that libraries are a good “return on investment” (ROI): for every dollar of support to a library, library users are able to save hundreds of dollars by checking out thousands of books, movies, video games, and more, at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com.

4. Today’s libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services — story time for kids, book discussion groups for teens and seniors, access to free WiFi and computers, and classes and webinars on topics like “where to find jobs,” “starting your own business” and “how to use AI chatbots.” See https://action.everylibrary.org.

5. Libraries have been a foundational part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives; enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays; and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.

Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt and evolve in order to survive and thrive.

Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let’s take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org.

Long live the library!

— Kip Currier,

Emlenton

 

 

LETTER: Tax proposal needs to 'die' with the library

• Sep 26, 2025

 

Editor,

I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory — the library. We have been propping them up for decades.

The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.

Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.

The overburdened taxpayers of this country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.

On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties, for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.

Let it die!

Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.

— Betty M. Hepler,

Cranberry

FCC plans end to school bus internet and library hotspot lending; USA TODAY, September 24, 2025

Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY ; FCC plans end to school bus internet and library hotspot lending

"It could soon be harder for students to access the internet on school buses and for the public to borrow mobile internet hotspots from libraries.

In a Sept. 23 letter, a coalition of school and library advocacy groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to protect the programs that have allowed schools and libraries to lend out hotspot devices.

"One in five households in our country still do not have access to reliable home broadband. Hotspots are not a permanent fix, but they'll make sure students, jobseekers, veterans and seniors don't get left behind," American Library Association President Sam Helmick said in a statement provided to USA TODAY...

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement that the FCC's authority to fund the Wi-Fi initiatives had ended by the time the Biden FCC voted. He said the E-Rate wasn't meant to provide children with unsupervised access to the internet."

Letters to The Derrick (Oil City, PA) - The News-Herald (Franklin, PA), September 26, 2025

Betty M, Hepler, Letters to The Derrick (Oil City, PA) - The News-Herald (Franklin, PA), September 26, 2025; Tax proposal needs to 'die' with the library

[Kip Currier: The following is my response to a 9/26/25 Letter to the Editor (see transcribed letter below) in The Derrick and The News-Herald newspapers that serve the Oil City and Franklin areas in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

"Libraries support all of us -- and need our support too!"

The "Letter to the Editor" transcribed below could not be more wrong or misguided about the state of American libraries and the incredible value they contribute to our lives and communities: libraries are a vital necessity and community anchor in towns and cities throughout this entire nation. (See https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/06/21/millennials-are-the-most-likely-generation-of-americans-to-use-public-libraries/) :

1. Libraries provide information and resources that help to educate citizens at all levels of our communities -- from blue collar to white collar workplaces and everything in between. See https://www.ala.org/pla/initiatives/workforce 

2. Research studies demonstrate that libraries are economically beneficial to businesses that are located nearby. See https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/evaluations-research-studies/public-libraries-role-workforce-small-business-development

3. Research studies also show that libraries are a very good "return on investment" (ROI): 

for every dollar of support to a library, users of libraries are able to save hundreds of dollars by being able to check out and use thousands of books, movies, songs, videogames, and more that a library provides to users at no charge. See https://slol.libguides.com/LibraryStatistics/PublicLibraryROI

4. Today's libraries offer all kinds of life-enhancing activities and services -- like storytime for kids; book discussion groups for teens, adults, and seniors; access to free WiFi and computers; and in-person classes and virtual webinars on topics like “where to find jobs”, "starting your own business", and “how to use AI chatbots”. See https://action.everylibrary.org/creative_library_programs_you_don_t_know_about

5. Libraries have been a part of human life and history for thousands of years. They are essential tools and places that can benefit our lives, enable us to think, learn, and grow from our yesterdays, and fuel our hopes and dreams for better todays and tomorrows.

Libraries continue to change and evolve to better suit and meet our needs, just as humans and societies must change, adapt, and evolve in order to survive and thrive. Each of us knows that we need to take good care of ourselves to live the best lives we can. Let's take good care of the libraries that support and serve us too. See https://www.ala.org/future/trends

Long live the library!]

[Letter transcribed (under a copyright law fair use rationale of commentary purpose) because newspaper paywall prevents access without a subscription]

Betty M. Hepler, Cranberry

Editor, I am amazed that we are trying to keep alive a mostly dead memory -- the library. We have been propping them up for decades.

The Encyclopedia salesman has lost his job; books are not being sold at the same rate as before, being available on tape or kindle now; libraries and bookstores have fallen to the side of the road.

Wake up! Most things have a time to shine but lose out to progress. Now we are trying to keep alive something that needs to admit its death.

The overburdened taxpayers of the country are having the blame and responsibility thrown on their shoulders.

On the front side, one may think it is a charge of $12.50. But my understanding is the cost is $12.50 per every $50,000 in assessment. All properties for the most part, have seen a dramatic rise in their assessment; so this is a lot of money for something that is dead.

Let it die!

Turn it into a museum. No more taxes.

AI Influencers: Libraries Guiding AI Use; Library Journal, September 16, 2025

 Matt Enis, Library Journal ; AI Influencers: Libraries Guiding AI Use

"In addition to the field’s collective power, libraries can have a great deal of influence locally, says R. David Lankes, the Virginia and Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the University of Texas at Austin and cohost of LJ’s Libraries Lead podcast.

“Right now, the place where librarians and libraries could have the most impact isn’t on trying to change OpenAI or Microsoft or Google; it’s really in looking at implementation policy,” Lankes says. For example, “on the public library side, many cities and states are adopting AI policies now, as we speak,” Lankes says. “Where I am in Austin, the city has more or less said, ‘go forth and use AI,’ and that has turned into a mandate for all of the city offices, which in this case includes the Austin Public Library” (APL). 

Rather than responding to that mandate by simply deciding how the library would use AI internally, APL created a professional development program to bring its librarians up to speed with the technology so that they can offer other city offices help with ways to use it, and advice on how to use it ethically and appropriately, Lankes explains.

“Cities and counties are wrestling with AI, and this is an absolutely perfect time for libraries to be part of that conversation,” Lankes says."

Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books; 404 Media, September 18, 2025

CLAIRE WOODCOCK , 404 Media; Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books

"Reference librarian Eddie Kristan said lenders at the library where he works have been asking him to find books that don’t exist without realizing they were hallucinated by AI ever since the release of GPT-3.5 in late 2022. But the problem escalated over the summer after fielding patron requests for the same fake book titles from real authors—the consequences of an AI-generated summer reading list circulated in special editions of the Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer earlier this year. At the time, the freelancer told 404 Media he used AI to produce the list without fact checking outputs before syndication. 

“We had people coming into the library and asking for those authors,” Kristan told 404 Media. He’s receiving similar requests for other types of media that don’t exist because they’ve been hallucinated by other AI-powered features. “It’s really, really frustrating, and it’s really setting us back as far as the community’s info literacy.” 

AI tools are changing the nature of how patrons treat librarians, both online and IRL. Alison Macrina, executive director of Library Freedom Project, told 404 Media early results from a recent survey of emerging trends in how AI tools are impacting libraries indicate that patrons are growing more trusting of their preferred generative AI tool or product, and the veracity of the outputs they receive. She said librarians report being treated like robots over library reference chat, and patrons getting defensive over the veracity of recommendations they’ve received from an AI-powered chatbot. Essentially, like more people trust their preferred LLM over their human librarian."

Books by Bots: Librarians grapple with AI-generated material in collections; American Libraries, September 2, 2025

Reema Saleh  , American Libraries; Books by Bots: Librarians grapple with AI-generated material in collections

"How to Spot AI-Generated Books

Once an AI-generated book has made it to your library, it will likely give itself away with telltale signs such as jumbled, repetitive, or contradicting sentences; glaring grammatical errors or false statements; or digital art that looks too smooth around the corners.

Of course, if you can get a digital sneak-peek inside a book before ordering, all the better. But if not, how can you head off AI content so it never arrives on your desk? The following tips can help.

• Look into who the author is and how “real” they seem, says Robin Bradford, a collection development librarian at a public library in Washington. An author with no digital footprint is a red flag, especially if they are credited with a slew of titles each year. Also a red flag: a book with no author listed at all.
• Exercise caution regarding self-published books, small presses, or platforms such as Amazon, which filters out less AI-generated content than other vendors do.
• Think about whether the book is capitalizing on the chance that a reader will confuse it with another, more popular book, says Jane Stimpson, a library instruction and educational technology consultant for the Massachusetts Library System. Does it have a cover similar to that of an existing bestseller? Just as animated Disney movies get imitated by low-budget knockoffs, popular titles get imitated by AI-generated books.
• Check if there is mention of AI use in the Library of Congress record associated with the book, says Sarah Manning, a collection development librarian at Boise (Idaho) Public Library (BPL). If the book has been registered with the US Copyright Office, its record may mention AI."

Think you actually own all those movies you’ve been buying digitally? Think again; The Guardian, August 27, 2025

  J Oliver Conroy, The Guardian; Think you actually own all those movies you’ve been buying digitally? Think again

[Kip Currier: This article underscores why the First Sale Doctrine (Section 109a) of the U.S. Copyright Statute is such a boon for consumers and public libraries: when you (or a library) buy a physical book, you actually do own that physical book (though the copyright to that book remains with the copyright holder, which is an important distinction to remember).

The First Sale Doctrine is what enables a library to purchase physical books and then lend them to as many borrowers as it wants. Not so for digital books, which are generally licensed by publishers to users and libraries who pay for licenses to those digital books.

The bottom line: You as a digital content licensee only retain access to the digital items you license, so long as the holder of that license -- the licensor -- says you may have access to its licensed content.

This distinction between physical and digital content has put great pressure on library budgets to provide users with access to electronic resources, while libraries face ever-increasing fees from licensors. This fiscally-fraught environment has been exacerbated by Trump 2.0's dismantling of IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) grants that supported the licensing of ebooks and audiobooks by libraries. Some states have said "enough" and are attempting to rebalance what some see as an unequal power dynamic between publishers and libraries/users. See "Libraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That. Proposed legislation would pressure publishers to adjust borrowing limits and find other ways to widen access." New York Times (July 16, 2025)]

[Excerpt]

"Regardless of whether the lawsuit is ultimately successful, it speaks to a real problem in an age when people access films, television series, music and video games through fickle online platforms: impermanence. The advent of streaming promised a world of digital riches in which we could access libraries of our favorite content whenever we wanted. It hasn’t exactly worked out that way...

The problem is that you aren’t downloading the movie, to own and watch forever; you’re just getting access to it on Amazon’s servers – a right that only lasts as long as Amazon also has access to the film, which depends on capricious licensing agreements that vary from title to title. A month or five years from now, that license may expire – and the movie will disappear from your Amazon library. Yet the $14.99 you paid does not reappear in your pocket."

Trump is targeting several Smithsonian artworks. Here they are.; The Washington Post, August 26, 2025

Kelsey Ables

, 

Samantha Chery

 and 

Sophia Nguyen,

 The Washington Post; Trump is targeting several Smithsonian artworks. Here they are.

[Kip Currier: Donald Trump and his administration's efforts to remove, revise, and erase artistic and historical content are the opposite of free speech and intellectual freedom. Art should challenge us to think and feel in new ways. We as individuals are certainly free to like a piece of art, hate it, or everything in between on the spectrum of how we feel about it. But the federal (or state) government should not be controlling access to art and suppressing or falsely presenting history in a free democracy. That's what authoritarians and dictators do in non-democratic nations like Russia, China, and North Korea.

If you don't like a particular painting, book, or movie, you can simply walk away from that painting, not read that book, or not watch that movie. But it isn't your right to stop everyone from seeing art, reading books, and watching films. To paraphrase the late Robert Croneberger, Director of the venerable Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and a prolific proponent of intellectual freedom, a library isn't doing its job if it doesn't have at least one item that offends each person.

Similarly, museums, like libraries in healthy democracies, are not meant to reflect a compulsory unitary state viewpoint. We're not the Star Trek Borg Collective where everyone must think alike and individuality is verboten. The mantra of the Borg is that Resistance is Futile. Fortunately, we know that resistance is not futile: we can continue to resist efforts to sanitize art, literature, culture, and history. Exercise your right to consume what you want and disregard what you don't want. But don't tell everyone what they can and can't choose to view and read. That's undemocratic and un-American.]

[Excerpt]

"When the White House posted an article condemning a long list of Smithsonian content last week, it pointed to several specific artworks, a sampling that underlined the kind of material that could be targeted by a president who is increasingly interested in influencing what Americans see in public museums.

The list also criticized Smithsonian exhibition texts, learning materials, past performances and the institution for previously flying the intersex-inclusive Pride flag. This month, President Donald Trump said White House officials were conducting a review of the Smithsonian Institution — months after he signed an executive order seeking to root out “anti-American ideology” in the museum and research complex, an effort that experts say would amount to censorship.

The pieces are an eclectic bunch, united mainly by the Trump administration’s public criticism of them. Not all the artworks are currently on view at the museums. Taken together, they tell a story of a White House that is sensitive to imagery that appears to contradict its messaging, whether it shows a transgender woman cast as the Statue of Liberty or a boy peering over the Southern border...

Here is a look at the artworks named by the White House as evidence that Trump is “right” about the Smithsonian — and how several of the artists have responded."

From bottles to bricks: A library built with recycled bottles; Peace Corps, August 13, 2025

By Liz S., Peace Corps; From bottles to bricks: A library built with recycled bottles

"Uganda’s rural communities face significant challenges in literacy rates and reading comprehension skills.

As a Peace Corps Education Volunteer, I witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by students in rural communities due to limited access to reading materials. Determined to make a difference, I embarked on a mission to create a library at a primary school in the Central Region of Uganda. With the help of the community, local organizations, and a Peace Corps small grant, we built an eco-brick library that has become a hub for learning and community engagement. The library has not only improved students' reading skills but also fostered a culture of discipline and community involvement.

Envisioning a school library

Once we set the goal of improving students' access to reading materials, a new challenge emerged: physical space. The primary school, a small school with a large student population, didn’t have an extra classroom or storage area for books. But there was the abundance of unused land surrounding the school. There was space—just not enough classrooms. That’s when the idea of creating a library building emerged. After discussing the idea with my supervisor, we decided to pursue a Peace Corps grant to fund the construction. The next step was determining the materials for the library.

The community’s first eco-brick building

I proposed using eco-bricks, plastic bottles filled with soil that act as building blocks. Not only are eco-bricks an environmentally friendly solution to plastic waste, but they also offer an educational opportunity for students to learn about conservation. The Peace Corps grants coordinator connected me with Ichupa Upcycle Project, an organization founded by a former Peace Corps Volunteer that supports eco-brick projects in Uganda.

Building the library: A community effort

Over the course of the next year, school staff and I worked alongside the Ichupa team to build the library from the ground up. The workers oversaw the construction and educated students on plastic pollution. Meanwhile, I worked with parents and teachers to collect plastic bottles, which we used to create eco-bricks. Every week, school children and community members gathered to fill bottles with soil. The eco-bricking process became a community-wide effort, with everyone contributing in whatever way they could."

Efforts to restrict or protect libraries both grew this year; Iowa Capital Dispatch, July 23, 2025

ROBBIE SEQUEIRA | STATELINE , Iowa Capital Dispatch ; Efforts to restrict or protect libraries both grew this year

"State lawmakers across the country filed more bills to restrict or protect libraries and readers in the first half of this year than last year, a new report found.

The split fell largely along geographic lines, according to the report from EveryLibrary, a group that advocates against book bans and censorship...

The geographic split among these policies is stark.

In Southern and Plains states, new laws increasingly criminalize certain actions of librarians, restrict access to materials about gender and race, and transfer decision-making power to politically appointed boards or parent-led councils.

Texas alone passed a trio of sweeping laws stripping educators of certain legal protections when providing potentially obscene materials; banning public funding for instructional materials containing obscene content; and giving parents more authority over student reading choices and new library additions.

In contrast, several Northeastern states have passed legislation protections for libraries and librarians and anti-censorship laws.

New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut have each enacted “freedom to read” or other laws that codify protections against ideological censorship in libraries."

The Library Dads: Atlanta fathers turning pages and changing lives; 11Alive, July 30, 2025

Alexis Derickson , 11Alive; The Library Dads: Atlanta fathers turning pages and changing lives

"Two years ago, an Atlanta man sat on the floor of a local library, gently cradling his newborn daughter. 

She was just four months old, but already, this dad was searching for something the two could bond over together. Something that was just theirs.

Khari Arnold, founder of The Library Dads, soon found himself returning to the library each week, tucked into a reading routine. Arnold started to notice a difference not just in their relationship, but in his daughter Ariah’s development. Doctors said her vocabulary was over 20 times larger than that of her peers by 18 months old...

Their father-daughter tradition became the foundation for The Library Dads, an Atlanta-based nonprofit redefining early literacy while empowering men through fatherhood. Founded by Arnold, the group draws dozens of dads across metro Atlanta and is grounded in three pillars: bonding, books, and brotherhood."

Stacks of Cash; The New Yorker, August 1, 2025

Jon Allsop; The New Yorker; Stacks of Cash

"The idea of the Presidential library dates to the late nineteen-thirties, when Roosevelt decided to donate his papers to the federal government and move them to a fireproof building near his family home. According to Anthony Clark, a former congressional staffer who has written a book about Presidential libraries, Roosevelt made room to display memorabilia to the public “almost as an afterthought.” Most Presidential libraries would come to house both the paper trail of a Presidency, for researchers to consult, and also a commemorative museum, which is the bit that most tourists actually visit. Over time, these museums grew more ambitious, and sometimes proved to be of questionable historical value. Richard Nixon’s museum initially presented Watergate as a coup, and accused Woodward and Bernstein of bribery.

Roosevelt was under no legal obligation to make his papers publicly available—but since 1978, thanks to Nixon and Watergate, Presidential records have been considered federal property, and are supposed to be handed over to the National Archives and Records Administration. There has never been a governmental requirement to open an associated museum, but typically these have also been managed by nara. (Nixon’s was unusual in that it was run privately for many years; in 2007, nara took it over and ripped out and replaced the Watergate exhibit.) Before the government gets involved on the museum side, however, the structures must be planned and built using outside funds, making them, in practice, fuzzy mixes of the public and the private. When Presidential libraries are donated to the government, they must also hand over endowments to help defray future maintenance costs.

Barack Obama broke the mold: his Presidential museum, in Chicago, which somehow is still not open, is an entirely private endeavor, run by a foundation; his official records are being digitized and will continue to be supervised by nara. After this effective divorce of library and museum functions was announced, Clark expressed hope about the arrangement. “What were intended to be serious research centers have grown into flashy, partisan temples touting huckster history,” he wrote, in Politico. “Even though they are taxpayer-funded and controlled by a federal agency, the private foundations established by former presidents to build the libraries retain outsize influence.” The Obama model would at least keep the government out of the business of hagiography. Not everyone was supportive, however. Timothy Naftali, who was responsible for overhauling the Nixon facility as its first federal director and who is now a historian at Columbia, has argued that the private nature of Obama’s center is an impediment to nonpartisan public history. “It opens the door,” he said, “to a truly terrible Trump library.”"

ALI VELSHI BANNED BOOK CLUB WITH THE MOST BANNED AUTHOR IN THE COUNTRY; The Philadelphia Citizen, July 28, 2025

 ALI VELSHI, The Philadelphia Citizen; ALI VELSHI BANNED BOOK CLUB WITH THE MOST BANNED AUTHOR IN THE COUNTRY

"While book bans have fallen out of the news cycle, the assault on information and the freedom to read continues to be deployed against our libraries, schools, and the general public. Ali Velshi points out that since January 2025, 133 bills have been introduced in 33 states that would negatively affect libraries, librarians, and access to literature. 

This legislation seeks to cut funding, restrict literary content, and even criminalize school librarians, all with the ultimate goal of censorship.

Fortunately, particularly in red states, citizens are standing up for their rights and successfully fighting these efforts. Coalitions of libraries, publishers, families, nonprofits, and other activists are organizing, protesting, testifying, putting pressure on elected officials, and filing lawsuits.

Velshi Banned Book Club’s very first member, George M. Johnson, author of All Boys Aren’t Blue and Flamboyants, returned to discuss state and school district book bans, legislation, and the lawsuits challenging them. “The lawsuits are helping in a myriad of ways,” says Johnson. “You have to go through the discovery process, that’s when you really start to realize what the true motives are.”"

Long Beach will open up its e-book library so teens from other states can read banned books; Long Beach Post, July 31, 2025

Natalie Canalis, Long Beach Post ; Long Beach will open up its e-book library so teens from other states can read banned books

"Free digital Long Beach Public Library cards will soon be available to teens across the nation in an effort to offset bookbanning in other parts of the country, thanks to a new partnership between Long Beach and the Brooklyn Public Library.

While book-banning attempts are rare in Long Beach, with the most recent challenge at the library failing in 2016, the practice is not uncommon. In 2024, the American Library Association recorded challenges to 2,452 different books across the country. The association said the majority of those challenges came from organized movements, many targeting sexual or LGBTQ+ content.

Books Unbanned, a program started by the Brooklyn Public Library in 2022, provides access to that library’s — as well as the Boston, LA County, San Diego and Seattle Public Libraries’ — online catalog to United States teens and young adults aged 13 to 21."

Michigan Library Association launches petition to protect right to read; WKAR, July 28, 2025

Ed Coury , WKAR; Michigan Library Association launches petition to protect right to read

"The Patmos Library, located in the small western Michigan town, faced backlash over its inclusion of LGBTQ+-related material. Voters chose to withhold public funding for the library in 2022, effectively defunding it. Community members later raised nearly $100,000 to keep the library operational.

The association’s petition drive is supported by a statewide Epic-MRA poll conducted in June. Commissioned by the Michigan Library Association, the poll found that nearly 80% of voters approve of the work being done by libraries in the state, and 75% trust librarians to make decisions about which books should be available.

The Michigan Library Association says it hopes the petition will send a clear message to lawmakers about the value residents place on intellectual freedom and access to information."

"Codifying Censorship or Reclaiming Rights: The State-by-State 2025 Legislative Landscape for Libraries; EveryLibrary, July 15, 2025

EveryLibrary ; Codifying Censorship or Reclaiming Rights: The State-by-State 2025 Legislative Landscape for Libraries

Libraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That.; The New York Times, July 16, 2025

 Erik Ofgang, The New York Times; Libraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That.

Proposed legislation would pressure publishers to adjust borrowing limits and find other ways to widen access. 

"Librarians complain that publishers charge so much to license e-books that it’s busting library budgets and frustrating efforts to provide equitable access to reading materials. Big publishers and many authors say that e-book library access undermines their already struggling business models. Smaller presses are split."