Category: Access
Intellectual Freedom Fighters, Part 3: Books to Prison Organizations
In light of recent controversy around bans on prison book donations, prison libraries and books to prison organizations are recognized as fighters for intellectual freedom.
Intellectual Freedom Fighters, Part 1: Reclaim the Records
Reclaim the Records pressures reluctant repositories with personality in order to make public records freely available online.
New Jersey parents upset at reduced access to books
Parents in Mahwah, NJ are expressing distress that the school district has, in their view, reduced student access to books in the school libraries.
The Fine Line: Ethical and Intellectual-Freedom Implications of Charging Our Patrons
Is it unethical to charge library fines? The current landscape in public and other libraries shows that there’s no one way to handle it, but trends are moving in favor of patrons.
The Tor e-book embargo and reluctant readers
With the major success of science fiction and fantasy films based on novels recently including The Hunger Games (not published by Tor) and Ender’s Game (published by Tor), I have long thought that science fiction and fantasy was a great “gate way” genre for reluctant teen readers in particular. Therefore, as a librarian and a buyer of Tor’s books myself I would add my voice to those asking Tor and Macmillan to reconsider this embargo.
Is literacy a right? My internal conflict
A federal district court ruling earlier this month which held that there is no clearly established constitutional right to literacy in the United States has reminded me that the various pieces of my background are sometimes in conflict with one another.
Intellectual Freedom in Situational Contexts
People need information at all points in their lives, something librarians have a keen understanding of. But my professional role as a librarian in facilitating the intellectual freedom in situational circumstances such as domestic violence was not an immediate and obvious connection.
Could Genre-based Classification Limit Intellectual Freedom?
BISAC headings have made their way into public and school libraries as well. A 2013 Knowledge Quest issue on the “Dewey Debate” provides a good intro to the “Dewey or don’t we” debate in school libraries, and many public libraries have made news for their move toward the “bookstore model,” what is often called a more patron-friendly approach than the Dewey Decimal System.
Hitler and Censorship: Is there Value in ‘Mein Kampf’?
I think the recent headlines regarding a lack of knowledge about the Holocaust just serve to reinforce how important it is to continue to allow access to and discussion of Mein Kampf. Only by remembering what happened and by studying Hitler’s mindset and psychology can we understand – as much as is possible – what happened and thereby try to prevent it from happening again. And any consideration of banning Mein Kampf should also consider the fact that book banning (and burning) was an early part of Hitler’s reign, too.
Why Kids Need LGBTQ+ Middle-grade Books
When I read Barbara Dee’s middle-grade novel Star-Crossed—a story about Mattie, an eighth-grade girl who plays Romeo opposite her crush, the talented and beautiful Gemma, and how Mattie comes to terms with this crush and expressing it—I cried.