McKinney ISD limits library book challenges to parents | McKinney | Community Impact

McKinney ISD residents who do not have a child enrolled in the district will no longer be able to challenge library materials. “Reviewing a challenge requires staff time and district resources,” Akins said. “This change is intended to focus that work on concerns raised by those with a direct connection to our schools.”

Makes perfect sense!

More details at communityimpact.com

Sacred stacks: An interview by Allison Nash-Jordan | The Christian Century

Sam Helmick, who served as 2025–2026 president of the American Library Association, is community and access services coordinator at the Iowa City Public Library. A longtime advocate for intellectual freedom as a basis for healthy relationships between libraries and the communities they serve, Helmick has advocated against censorship and book bans in libraries across the world.

Not you average librarian interview!

Seen on christiancentury.org

Student Loans for Librarians: Now More Difficult! – ACRLog

The new restrictions are disheartening. I don’t have a solution to this systemic problem. But I encourage everyone to talk about it more. If you’ve been in the profession for decades, talk with newer professionals and students about how much the financial picture has changed since you were in school—they should understand this isn’t how things have to be. If you have student loans, talk about them (and not just when you get them forgiven!), so people can get their heads around the idea that it’s not a moral failing to be in debt. Our cultural silence about money issues is damaging: it fuels anxiety, shame, and financial illiteracy. You have the power to change that, one conversation at a time.

Full story at acrlog.org

Dallas ISD pulls books after Dan Patrick library warning

A year after Texas lawmakers passed a bill giving parents and school boards a bigger role in deciding what books are included on library shelves, some policymakers are looking to further limit what they describe as obscene material in schools. Free speech advocates and parents say pressure from officials in Austin is leading districts to pull books from libraries, cutting off students’ access to thousands of literary works.

Full story at dallasnews.com

‘You Chose to Pick a Fight with Librarians?’ – CT Examiner

You chose to pick a fight with Librarians? Seemingly the only humans left fighting to protect all people’s right to read for free, and you’re calling us the biggest censors!? Do you have any idea how outrageous of a statement that is? You’re projecting your politics onto the library, Sir, and they have no place there. Walk into any library and you will find books of all kinds from all sides. Don’t see what you want? Ask your librarian. They may buy it for their collection, or they can get it for you from another library. Books are available to all. Just because a book is there doesn’t mean you need to read it. Do you go to the grocery store and complain to the manager every time you walk past a food you don’t like or are allergic to and call the whole grocery store a garbage heap? There will always be books someone doesn’t like. That doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable to another person who is living that experience, seeing themselves in it. That is why we have all the books.

Full article at ctexaminer.com

Academics have a duty to defend open knowledge systems like Wikipedia – LSE Impact

Academics are not the ones that have harmed Wikipedia, they – as fellow stewards of knowledge – have a duty to help defend it from those that have. And academics are well-equipped to do so; their subject matter expertise can be used to address content gaps, correct errors, and provide context on complicated topics on Wikipedia. Academics’ access to and facility with high-quality sources can help improve Wikipedia’s quality. And as Wikipedia’s citation practices mirror those academic practices, academics may find editing Wikipedia to be less daunting than others do.

Read the story at blogs.lse.ac.uk