“Don’t Stand By as Books Are Banned; Stand Up For Libraries” (A New Op/Ed by Sara Jones, State Librarian of Washington)
From The Seattle Times:
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, who oversees the Washington State Library, is crafting several legislative proposals for 2024 to strengthen community libraries’ autonomy to provide material from wide-ranging viewpoints without fear of suppression. A local library’s goal is building a collection to broadly represent views and perspectives, in a variety of formats, for a wide range of ages, and with content reviewed for selection by professional sources. The community also recommends purchase of books and materials they need.
[Clip]
As librarians, we provide a collection. Individuals and parents make the decision of what to check out. We may suggest an age recommendation, but we believe the choice belongs with the patron, and that choice should not be made by one community member or a group for everyone in the community.
Personal attacks on librarians have become commonplace as well, including accusations of grooming or sexualizing children; suggestions they should lose their jobs; identification of social media accounts and the publicizing of personal physical addresses; and even threats of physical harm or violence.
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
Archives
ADVERTISEMENT