Originally published at: Nashville Public Library issues "I Read Banned Books" library cards | Boing Boing
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They are going to need them.
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I need one to got with my
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[Martin Luther has entered the chat]
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Bumper sticker please.
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Man i want one
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Librarians are some BAMFs when things get real.
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Where I grew up, lots of my required reading were books that are banned other places in the US: Lord of the Flies in grade 7, Of Mice and Men in grade 8, Animal Farm in grade 9… and those books were just for social studies! Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye, 1984, Brave New World, The Stranger, and many more in high school.
My hope is these attempted bans inspire kids to rebel by reading these dangerous tomes, like they’re doing with Maus.
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I may have to try to get my library to be pre-emptive on this. Being in Illinois we probably won’t have any serious challenges anytime soon, but why wait? (My nesting partner is head of the collection management department. She says they’ve had maybe three actual formal challenges in the 25 years she’s been here, but then again Waukegan is rather famous for being the childhood home of Ray “Fahrenheit 451” Bradbury.
Book challenge, huh? Say, while you’re telling me about that, why don’t we take a walk over here past some of our displays about that …
From the article …
“We are not trying to be a push back — a force pushing back against these decisions — we want to be an alternative to say, if you may not be able to get it there… you can get it here,” said Brown.
I respect the option to simply supply an alternative, but I still say fuck that. I am actively trying to push back against book banners and to push back against those decisions.
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Came here to say this. A library job in high school paid just about 2x minimum wage and within the first week I was dispatched to help clean up the LA Central Library after the fire. I was sneezing black ash for two days. One time a gang banger chased a kid into the Brentwood Library. If you know anything about L.A. it’s that there are no gangs in Brentwood so this was very surreal. The librarian / clerk lady stepped up to the bully and told him to GTFO. There is something in librarians’ blood that is ultra access, ultra free speech and yes, they are nearly all of them ready to die on that hill. For decades before the Streisand Effect took place, the librarian network would instantly mobilize against any attempt to ban books.
This was before that branch remodeled. Being a shelving clerk I absolutely earned every penny - our collection was substantially larger than we had the physical capacity to shelve. The director of the library system likened our branch to “a chicken truck” where the books out in circulation were whatever chickens were flying in the truck. My burden was continually making space for the ones that were roosting. To the library-loving community he said: “Once in awhile, this truck will grind to a halt. You’ll need to get out there and bang the sides of the truck to keep the chickens flying.”
Same. And public school teachers -tend- to have the same souls as librarians.
It is very worthwhile to check in with your public library to see what they have developed online. LAPL has multiple app connections - you can use your library card to subscribe to all the major newspapers, get audio books and stream movies, all for free.
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If I was a librarian at one of the schools where the books are getting banned, I would so want a big poster saying “The following titles are banned from this district and are unavailable for borrowing.”
Make it look like a PSA “it’s just to save time! So the kid don’t ask” but really an announcement “hey kids, the asshole adults don’t want you to read these. You really should.”
I hope this shit never hits my kid’s district. We are fairly liberal. If it does, I will fight it. I will also purchase all the banned books and tell my kid she is entirely free to lend whatever books she wants to whomever
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