Tag Archives: book banning

The only thing that can stop a “bad” library with a book is a “good” library with a book

13 Tuesday Sep 2022

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Well, at least he didn’t make it through the right wingnut republican 4th Congressional District primary in August. Not that there’s any difference.

Rick Brattin (r) [2013 file photo].

Yesterday:

Rick Brattin @RickBrattin
I’m proud to have banned these books in school libraries. It’s sick that people think this is appropriate for school age children.
[….]
8:53 AM · Sep 12, 2022

Some of the responses:

You need to watch Footloose again.

Do the Bible next.

#GFY Fascist

Can you also ban a book full of violence, bigamy, and murder?

Child sacrifice, rape, incest …

We see what you did there.

People who ban books are always on the right side of history… Right? [….]

Meh, Gender Queer is totally fine for high school kids. I’m sorry you are embarrassed by it, but not your place to say what is or is not appropriate for others’ kids.

If parents don’t like it, they can ban it for their own kids.

Stop encroaching on my kids’ liberty and choice

It takes a special kind of lack of intellect to pat on one’s back for trying to dumb the next generation to one’s level. Fortunately, there are plenty of smart parents who hand all kinds of books to their kids & tell them that life is full of variety & diversity & it’s beautiful!

Aren’t you that waste of synapses that wanted to teach young Earth Creationism?

Heh. Yep.

Nazis ban books (P)Rick

From a right wingnut PAC mailer directed at Rick Brattin (r) during the August republican primary:

It fits.

There are barbarians at the gate

27 Saturday Nov 2021

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Because it had to be stated:

MO Library Assoc. @MOlibraries
On behalf of our members, member institutions and professional ethical standards, we at the Missouri Library Association (MLA) stand with librarians, library workers, and other educators in the state of Missouri as they select and provide access to their collections for readers.
1:14 PM · Nov 27, 2021

We further support the processes and procedures our libraries have in place to deal with challenges with concerned parents and community members and are deeply troubled by efforts to circumvent these processes for political gain or as a result of moral panic. (2 of 14)

Libraries as public institutions have existed in the United States for over 250 years. Each year, we promote our foundational ideals, provide access for our patrons, and find better and more equitable avenues to improve our institutions. (3 of 14)

Perhaps our most important guiding principle comes from Ranganathan: “Every reader, their book and every book, its reader.”
The “freedom to read” is more than just a shorthand for encouraging curiosity and inquiry. It is a pillar of our democracy. (4 of 14)

Intellectual freedom means that all of us have the right to explore and engage with the ideas we choose, and to be informed about the world around us. Adults have intellectual freedom, but so do youth. (5 of 14)

We support @MASLOnline’s statement that says, “Students should have choices in what books they read.” We librarians are skilled, credentialed and thoughtful professionals who make it our work to champion inquiry, curiosity, democracy and access to information. (6 of 14)

Librarians support the rights of parents to choose books for their own children, but not the rights of one person to choose what books are right for an entire classroom, school, or public. (7 of 14)

Through our deep immersion in books and materials, librarians and library workers understand the greater context of knowledge and understanding facilitated through our collections. (8 of 14)

We reject the claim that removing, labeling, or relocating a title will somehow shield children from the ideas contained within, especially in the context of our connected digital world. (9 of 14)

We further reject the notion that anyone can perform the work we do without significant engagement with the professional ethics and expertise of librarianship. Public and school libraries are safe places for children to encounter ideas in an environment that nurtures curiosity.

Occasionally these encounters will include ideas that might be challenging. We support the right of readers to be challenged, to learn, and to grow. Librarians and educators are the critical connection between readers and their books. (11 of 14)

It is our responsibility to champion these rights.
We support the expertise, thoughtfulness, and care exercised by thousands of librarians, library workers, and educators in the state of Missouri to foster the curiosity and inquiry that lives in young people. (12 of 14)

Signed Cindy Thompson, Missouri Library Association President
Members of the Missouri Library Association Board
Members of the Missouri Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee

[….]

To do otherwise would be…uncivilized.

Oi vay, part 4

02 Tuesday Sep 2008

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Did you know that September 27 through October 4, 2008 is Banned Books Week?

Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association affirms that all libraries are forums for information and ideas, and that the following basic policies should guide their services.

I. Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community the library serves. Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation.

II. Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.

III. Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.

IV. Libraries should cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas.

V. A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.

VI. Libraries which make exhibit spaces and meeting rooms available to the public they serve should make such facilities available on an equitable basis, regardless of the beliefs or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use.

Adopted June 18, 1948, by the ALA Council; amended February 2, 1961; amended June 28, 1967; amended January 23, 1980; inclusion of “age” reaffirmed January 24, 1996.

Oi vay:

Time

Mayor Palin: A Rough Record

Tuesday, Sep. 02, 2008

By NATHAN THORNBURGH / WASILLA, ALASKA

…Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor…

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