Month: June 2018
Intellectual Freedom News 6/29/18
A historic victory for privacy; LIW book award controversy; drag queen storytimes; conservative views on social media; and LGBTQ censorship in Hong Kong
‘Fahrenheit 451’: A Classic Dystopian Tale Throws Sparks — but Fails to Rekindle — on HBO
Novelist Ray Bradbury contended over the years since Fahrenheit 451 was first published that his intent was to show how flashier technology like television could completely eclipse our appreciation for great literature. But now that his 1953 science-fiction classic has been adapted for the 21st century with a booming made-for-HBO film, does that prove he was right?
Intellectual Freedom: A Pathway to More Diversity!
The School Library Journal hosted its annual Day of Dialogue on Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at NYU’s Kimmel Center. The event attracted hundreds of librarians and book enthusiasts from across the country.
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.
Ideas for the College Library: Banned Books Week 2018
Some of my more memorable interactions with the campus, especially students and faculty, have revolved around the themes BBW brings to the surface and highlights in real life situations for discourse.
When a Protester Interrupts Drag Queen Storytime
By Elizabeth Moreau Nicolai. For us, Drag Queen Storytime is a celebration of creativity, expression, and inclusiveness in our community. It is one of our most successful programs. It isn’t an easy thing to do, but things that are worth doing are rarely easy to do.
The Miraculous Existence of Libraries
“If libraries didn’t exist today, you couldn’t bring them into existence. You couldn’t go to Congress and say, ‘Listen, publishers of America, we have a bill to publicly fund a place where people just loan out your product and then [patrons] get it and they bring it back… Are you cool with that?’
Wedding cake warning: policies & decisions must be content neutral
Many libraries have meeting rooms or public spaces that can be used for speakers and events, and this case reinforces the importance of making content neutral decisions regarding who can use these spaces and what they can use them for. Decisions that are not content (or viewpoint) neutral risk legal problems for the library. This also highlights the importance of a clearly defined meeting room and events policy, both to guide internal decision making and to allow staff to have clear and specific viewpoint neutral policy-based reasons if they choose to deny a request to use library space.
Intellectual Freedom News 6/15/2018
Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Library, and The New York Public Library Join Forces for New Digital Privacy Initiative; Wando High School summer reading list causing controversy; Laurie Halse Anderson shocked readers with a book about rape. She’s at it again.
Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Library, and The New York Public Library Join Forces for New Digital Privacy Initiative
New York City’s three library systems and the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) are hard at work on a new initiative to bring resources covering digital privacy and data security to the City’s frontline public library staff.