In St. Joseph, local GOP pressured lawmakers to block approval of gay library board member

The Buchanan County party leader threatened not to allow city council members to run as Republicans if they approved the appointment of a gay pastor to the city’s library board. The controversy has created a push for broader change in St. Joseph.

In St. Joseph, local GOP pressured lawmakers to block approval of gay library board member

“This transgender and homosexual propaganda is pure evil, It is designed to destroy the family, to undercut traditional American values and our way of life, and ultimately institute governmental control that will undermine our city, county, state, and nation.”

Why the smell of vinegar shut down a Toronto library’s historical newspaper archive

Why the smell of vinegar shut down a Toronto library’s historical newspaper archive

But in the years since, libraries, archives and collectors have discovered “safety film” actually poses a huge threat to film-based archives and collections because it eventually breaks down. An early indication is the smell of vinegar, which comes from acetic acid that the film gives off as it degrades. Eventually, the film shrinks and cracks until the image is lost.

The destructive and contagious chemical decay is aptly called “vinegar syndrome” — and it means the clock is ticking for those trying to preserve history from this era in Toronto, across the country and around the world.

A Warning From the Unpublished Preface to Orwell’s Animal Farm

His Preface, “The Freedom of the Press” was omitted from the first edition of the book, then disappeared, and was not rediscovered until 1971. From it, we learn that Orwell had considerable difficulty getting his fable published. That wasn’t principally because of wartime issues. There was a shortage of books and his was highly readable. Rather, British intellectuals of the day did not wish to hear any criticism of Stalin or allusions to his atrocities…

A Warning From the Unpublished Preface to Orwell’s Animal Farm

And he ends his Preface on a high note,

I know that the English intelligentsia have plenty of reason for their timidity and dishonesty, indeed I know by heart the arguments by which they justify themselves. But at least let us have no more nonsense about defending liberty against Fascism. If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

How librarians, kids and the country are paying for the ongoing rancor : NPR

It’s been a year since the start of what one librarian here calls "The Troubles." That's when once-boring meetings of the Livingston Parish Library Board of Control started devolving into bitter brawls over books that some consider to be too sexual and harmful to kids. Meetings have been laced with insults, interruptions and the kind of profanity that would probably get you kicked out of the library.

The plot thickens: The battle over books comes at a cost

White House holds first-ever summit on the ransomware crisis plaguing the nation’s public schools and libraries

A pilot proposed by Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel %u2014 yet to be voted on by the agency %u2014 would make $200 million available over three years to strengthen cyber defense in schools and libraries.

%u201CThat%u2019s a drop in the bucket,%u201D said Keith Krueger, CEO of the nonprofit Consortium for School Networking. School districts wrote the FCC last fall asking that it commit much more %u2014 Krueger urged that several hundred million be made available annually from its E-Rate program, which has helped expand broadband internet to schools and libraries across the country since 1997.

White House holds first-ever summit on the ransomware crisis plaguing the nation’s public schools

John Green book pulled from young adult shelf at Hamilton East library

Author John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" has joined hundreds of books that are no longer on Hamilton East Public Library's teen shelves thanks to a new policy that targets books deemed not "age appropriate."

Green, who lives nearby in Indianapolis, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond to HEPL's policy and decision, saying moving the book is an embarrassment for the city of Fishers.

John Green book pulled from young adult shelf at Hamilton East library