Congratulations to Louisiana librarian Amanda Jones, whose excellent book That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America, was just published, and is getting lots of attention in the media, including this piece in the New York Times this week.
"Before all this, I was just a school librarian, but they wanted to silence me, so I thought I would do the exact opposite and become an activist," Jones told the paper. "What we’re seeing now is full-scale attacks on people’s characters if they stand up for books. The hate level and the vitriol is unreal to me."
In her debut memoir, Jones which tells the personal story of her fight for the freedom to read, and against the men who targeted her. It's surely a book Jones wishes she never had to write. But it is an essential look into the threat to the freedom to read unfolding across our nation. In June, Publishers Weekly caught up with Jones for an interview.
Also in Publishers Weekly, we report on the Internet Archive's loss this week at the appeals court level over its program to scan and lend library books. With the exception of an en banc hearing before the full Second Circuit, the appeals court decision leaves only the Supreme Court left for the Internet Archive, suggesting the case may finally be winding down after years of contentious legal wrangling. As we report, a consent judgment has already been entered to settle the claims in the case, which includes an undisclosed monetary payment to publishers that is payable once the appeals process has been exhausted. According to the AAP, that payment, should the publishers ultimately prevail, would "substantially" cover the publishers' "significant attorney’s fees and costs in the action."
In a blog post, the Internet Archive said they were disappointed in the decision. "We are reviewing the court’s opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books," the statement reads.
AAP president and CEO Maria Pallante hailed the decision, in a statement. “Today’s appellate decision upholds the rights of authors and publishers to license and be compensated for their books and other creative works and reminds us in no uncertain terms that infringement is both costly and antithetical to the public interest."
At Techdirt, Mike Masnick offers a scathing take on the Internet Archive decision.
At Book Riot, Kelly Jensen leads off her weekly censorship news update with a look at some major authors are doing or, really, not doing, in response to this four year surge in book bans. Stephen King, she's looking in your direction. "Stephen King has apparently changed his stance from telling kids to haul ass to get the books that are being banned in 2022 to being angry that his books are among those being banned. No action or information about book banning was included. He simply asked “what the fuck” about his books being banned in Florida," Jensen observes. "Has he really been living in such a removed part of American reality that he hasn’t seen a single headline about books being banned by the hundreds or thousands? Has he not seen the lawsuits being filed over book bans in several states? Has he not seen a single headline about legislation meant to fight book bans?"
The Associated Press reports that Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has appointed a new member to the Nebraska Library Commission—a former local school board member removed from office after trying to ban more than 50 books. "Cunningham-Swanson was elected to the Plattsmouth Community Board of Education in 2023 and immediately sought to ban 52 books from the school library," the report states. "The listed included novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Where the Crawdads Sing, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and books by Colleen Hoover and Ellen Hopkins. Many of the books on the list involved themes of addiction, race, sexuality and other topics that have recently created debates over book bans."
The Arkansas Advocate reports that Garland County officials will decide whether to place a proposal to reduce the property tax funding the local library on November’s countywide ballot. "If the proposed millage cut makes it onto the ballot and voters approve it, Garland County would be the second Arkansas county in two years, after Craighead County, to vote to reduce its library system’s tax revenue," the report notes. "Conservatives in Craighead and Saline counties have publicly opposed the availability of library books with LGBTQ+ content. Supporters of the Craighead County library defunding campaign previously decried a transgender author’s visit to the Jonesboro library in 2019 and a Pride month book display in 2021."
The Guardian this week reports on the dire state of U.K. libraries. "More than 180 U.K. council-run libraries have closed or been handed over to volunteer groups since 2016, new data shows," the article states. "Freedom of information requests sent by the BBC to every UK library authority, along with Arts Council England data, found that around 950 libraries, a third of those remaining, reduced their hours in the past eight years. Two thousand jobs have been lost, and dozens more possible closures over the next year were identified. The most deprived communities, identified using the government’s indices of multiple deprivation, were around four times more likely to lose a library than the richest."
The Guardian also reports that author Lee Child’s character Jack Reacher would not exist without libraries. Child said Reacher was created in a library in Birmingham, England, and lamented that libraries in the city now operate under the cloud of closure. “You speak to any writer and they’ll tell you the same thing, that those early years of reading, reading, reading for decades, that’s what turns you into a writer,” he said.
It's nice when we can close with some encouraging news: WAGM-TV in the small town of Presque Isle, Maine, is reporting a surge in summer reading. “Usually we get about 50 a day. People come through at least the teen lounge. They check out books and a lot of times they just come to hang out,” said youth services librarian Melissa St. Pierre. The increase of teen traffic at the Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library inspired community members to raise funding for a teen room redesign.
And NBC affiliate 9 News in Denver reports that the city’s Central Library, which has been under construction since 2020, will have its grand opening November 3. "The four-year renovation of the Denver Central Library is part of measure 2E, approved by Denver voters in 2017, which provided $69.3 million to renovate the Central Library and 10 branch libraries as part of the Elevate Denver Bond program," the report states. "After years of planning and construction, we are thrilled to once again fully open our doors to the public in November," said Michelle Jeske, librarian and executive director. "Central Library is a community hub in the heart of the city and we cannot wait for the public to explore and discover the library once again."
Finally, the Fort Bend Star in Texas reports that the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court have appointed Roosevelt Weeks director of the county’s library system. Weeks has garnered extensive recognition, including being named Texas Librarian of the Year by the Texas Library Association in 2023, receiving the University of North Texas Outstanding Alumni Award in 2023, and earning the "I Love My Librarian" national award from the American Library Association in 2016. According to a news release, Weeks's goal is "to empower individuals with the tools they need to ensure a future workforce capable of the complex critical-thinking skills necessary to succeed in an ever-changing competitive environment."
The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email. Previous columns can be viewed here.
