libraries

Arkansas Libraries and Booksellers Sue over State Book Restrictions

The vagueness of provisions in the new law about "making available" material "harmful" to minors makes librarians and sellers afraid that even with separate children's sections they would face criminal liability for selling books to adults. 

Book Bans and Attacks on Libraries are Energizing Youth Activism

by Emily Drabinski

Right-wing politicians in Texas are teaching students about the realities of democracy, but not in the way they might have hoped. 

Faculty and Librarians Must be Allies in the Fight to Save Higher Ed

by Emily Drabinski

"A robust defense of free expression requires an equally vociferous defense of the institutions where that speech is most widely celebrated. The fight for higher education must be a fight for the library as well."

Librarians Remind Faculty that Academic Freedom is a Labor Issue

by Danya Leebaw

"Librarians’ work is essential to the academic mission and also often comes under scrutiny from administrators, faculty colleagues, and the public."

Putin Also Making War on Ukrainian Memory

by Richard Ovenden

Victory in war involves imposing one's own version of history on the next generation. Russian forces appear to be targeting Ukrainian archives where records of KGB surveillance and Soviet-era repression of Ukrainian civilians are held, part of an effort to delegitimize claims of independence. 

A Ruling that Threatens the Future of Libraries

by Adam Serwer

The Internet Archive is at the center of a case that would effectively require libraries to pay fees to lend electronic scans of books they properly own. 

Libraries Need More Freedom to Distribute E-Books; Publishers' Profit Stands in the Way

by Dan Cohen

A ruling against the Internet Archive will prevent a library from lending a digital scan of a book it owns, making access to them contingent on a publisher's willingness to create a separate digital version. The implications for libraries as holders of knowledge are dire. 

Meet Some Librarians Fighting Back

Librarian Mary Grahame Hunter says libraries are places where children's rights and intellectual autonomy are respected. Some in her Michigan community are working to change that. 

New Resources Help Virginians Fill in Hidden Family Histories Including Enslaved Ancestors

“Researchers and librarians would say things like, 'That history just doesn’t exist.' Or, 'We just don’t have those records,'" Lydia Neuroth with the Library of Virginia explained. "But we are realizing we do. We just haven’t done a good job sharing it.”

Margaret Bingham Stillwell, Women Archivists, and the Problem of Archival Inclusivity

by Amanda E. Strauss and Karin Wulf

Two scholars who are the first women leaders of their institutions reflect on the ongoing lessons of a pioneering woman archivist and rare books librarian for understanding how archival practices can be made to include or exclude. 

What Happens When NYC Defunds the Libraries?

by Allison Chomet

The proposed cuts to library staffing, on the heels of cuts to public schools, city colleges, and social service agencies reflect the way that culture war panics about book content and drag story hours connect to the politics of austerity and privatization, even in liberal big cities. 

I Helped Thousands of Teens Affected by Book Bans—Listen to Them

by Leigh Hurwitz

Teens are receiving a message loud and clear from new state laws restricting the content of classrooms and libraries: Politicians want people like them to disappear. Defending access to library books is vital. 

Libraries Do Face Attacks, but Not Like the "Freedom Libraries" of 1964

As yet, public attacks on libraries over programming and books dealing with racism and LGBTQ issues have not escalated to the routine firebombing of the libraries founded by activist groups during the "Freedom Summer" to help Black Mississippians access books and political information. 

American Library Association: Book Bans Accelerating

“It represents an escalation, and we’re truly fearful that at some point we will see a librarian arrested for providing constitutionally protected books on disfavored topics,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the office of intellectual freedom at the library association.

Archival Structures and the Preservers and Retrievers of Stories

by Fernando Amador II

"Historians rarely understand the terminology, organizational strategies, or labor required for establishing and maintaining an archive, and I was no exception."

Texas Librarians Face Harassment as they Navigate Book Bans

While some librarians in the state have been fired for refusing to comply with bans, many others have or are contemplating quitting over political interference with their work and social media harassment. 

Union Organizing in the Long Shadow of the Gilded Age

by Daisy Pitkin

On listening to Andrew Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" in Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library as librarians perform the kind of social services Carnegie deplored (and try to organize a union, which he deplored more). 

The Next Front of the Culture War? Your Public Library

"Conservative activists in several states, including Texas, Montana and Louisiana have joined forces with like-minded officials to dissolve libraries’ governing bodies, rewrite or delete censorship protections, and remove books outside of official challenge procedures."

Meet the Socialist Librarian Running to Lead the American Library Association

Libraries are just one example of vital community institutions decimated by austerity politics and culture war battles; Emily Drabinksy says enough is enough. 

Tom Staley, 86, Built UT's Ransom Center into Key Research Destination

"Staley turned the archives into a global powerhouse that rivals the collecting achievements of Harvard University, Yale University and the British Museum."