Book battles are raging across the nation, but none have carried the kind of stakes as the one here in Dayton, a one-stoplight farming community in the southeastern corner of Washington.
For the county%u2019s only library, the battle has turned, quite literally, existential: Voters will decide in November whether to shut it down.
Texas Revamps Houston Schools, Closing Libraries and Angering Parents
As part of a state takeover plan, libraries in underperforming schools are becoming spaces for disruptive students to watch lessons on computers.
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.
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
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
Simon & Schuster has been sold to the private equity firm KKR, months after a federal judge blocked its purchase by rival publisher Penguin Random House because of concerns that competition would shrink the book market. An executive for KKR is calling the deal a chance to work with %u201Cone of the most effective%u201D book publishers.
Simon & Schuster purchased by private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion
Thanks Robin!
But, in the meantime, the fear over AI is leading to some crazy and sometimes unfortunate outcomes. Benji Smith, who created what appears to be an absolutely amazing tool for writers, Shaxpir, also created what looked like an absolutely fascinating tool called Prosecraft, that had scanned and analyzed a whole bunch of books and would let you call up really useful data on books.
I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)
We desperately need guardrails on this landslide of misattribution and misinformation. Amazon and Goodreads, I beg you to create a way to verify authorship, or for authors to easily block fraudulent books credited to them. Do it now, do it quickly.
%u2018Criminal liability for librarians%u2019: the fight against US rightwing book bansSkye Perryman of Democracy Forward, which helped block a controversial Arkansas law, says attacks will continue
The Michigan Library Association is starting a new campaign to rally against book banning.
MI Right to Read is a six-month campaign designed to build a coalition of people in support of libraries. It comes at a time when people nationwide are calling for the removal of books that deal with themes of sexual orientation and gender identity.
"What we saw in the last couple of years is a more coordinated effort by outside groups to ban certain types of materials," said MLA President Scott Duimstra.
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