Bitmoji Bookshelf

Baby Spaces

As a librarian in a large city, I get to visit and work at lots of different library spaces. Today I encountered the cutest baby space!

I would love to create a space like this at my library, including the soft chairs and the baby gate. It would make it so much easier for caregivers with small children to keep an eye on children while on a computer or doing other work.

New York Times and other sources

A library wanted a New York Times subscription. Officials refused, citing Trump and ‘fake news.’

Trump instructs federal agencies to end Washington Post and New York Times subscriptions

THIS is what CENSORSHIP looks like.  

I'm not even surprised. I wish I were. 

The first article states: 

The librarians of Citrus County, Fla., had what seemed like a modest wish: A digital subscription to the New York Times. For about $2,700 annually, they reasoned, they could offer their roughly 70,000 patrons an easy way to research and catch up on the news.
But when their request came before the Citrus County commission last month, local officials literally laughed out loud. One commissioner, Scott Carnahan, declared the paper to be “fake news.”
“I agree with President Trump,” he said. “I will not be voting for this. I don’t want the New York Times in this county.”

The second article states:

The Trump administration plans to end subscriptions to The Washington Post and the New York Times held by federal agencies, the latest sign of presidential displeasure with news coverage he deems unfair. 

I have no idea how many federal agencies hold subscriptions to both or either paper. My concern, of course, is for the population who accesses these papers online thanks to such subscriptions. Many libraries offer electronic access to papers.

For example, the D.C. Public Library has access (with your library card) to the New York Times: https://www.dclibrary.org/node/33993

They also have access to the Washington Post: https://www.dclibrary.org/wapo

Many libraries have access to one or both, which gives patrons free access to these credible sources.

Act of Kindness

Today I witnessed three young Black men (late teens, early 20s) help an elderly white man with his phone. One of these young men offered to help the elderly man home, since the elderly man did seem a little disoriented and he was on crutches.

I am so impressed by these young men. It isn't often that you see someone be that kind to a stranger.

Banned Book Week (a little late)

I was away for a week and I almost missed Banned Book Week at my library! I love banned book week; it's a great way of raising awareness of censorship. In fact, one of my coworkers didn't know about it and our teen leader for after school didn't know about it either.

According to the ALA, a “challenge” is a documented request “to remove materials from schools or libraries.”

Personally, when I was a school librarian, if a parent or guardian came to me and asked me to not allow their child to check out certain books, I was fine with it. It's your kid. However, if someone came to me and said no one should read this book, then we have a problem.

Caution! Read at your own risk! Banned Books!

Fight against CENSORSHIP. Read Banned Books.

My display includes:

DK Horses - challenged, but retained at the Smith Elementary School in Helena (MT) despite a parent's concern that it "promotes evolution."

Walter the Farting Dog - challenged but retained for the use of the words fart and farting repeatedly throughout the text.

The Librarian of Basra - challenged (no follow up found!) by parents who were upset that it depicted praying to a non-Christian god. Side note, Librarian of Basra was part of One Book, One Philadelphia in 2014.

A Light in the Attic -  challenged at one school because it "encourages children to break dishes so they won't have to dry them." Another elementary school banned it in 1986 because some of its poems were said to have "glorified Satan, suicide and cannibalism, and also encouraged children to be disobedient."

The Watsons go to Burmingham -- 1963 - banned from the Webb City, Mo. school library (2002) because the book promotes homosexuality and discusses issues “best left to parents.”

Read a Banned Book today! :) 

Stickers are Fantastic Bribery

We have one kid who comes in after school almost every day. She's very high energy. She runs around a lot and sometimes annoys other kids.

Today I bribed her with a sticker. I asked her to clean up the toys in the children's section. It worked.

Only took her 10 minutes, but it worked.

Storytimes!

Starting in October, I will be hosting STORYTIME!

I'm excited.

On Tuesdays at 11am, I'll have "0-5 Storytime."
On Wednesdays at 6pm, I'll have "PJ Storytime."
And on every other Saturday, I'll have "Saturday Morning Stories with Morris Monster" (my fluffy, blue monster puppet), followed by a movie!