As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
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Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#2There's a wide gap between banning a book and using it as curriculum. Find a happy medium.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#3Not going to hold my breath for Archive.org or the ALA's "curated collection" of books banned from Amazon.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#4No. Select books for K-12 curriculum or school libraries is far far away from banning books. Please stop the fear-mongering.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#5Nobody’s calling for banning books. They are calling for not using certain books in curriculum, which is very different and not allowing certain books is necessary for any school system. I wouldn’t want my kid to write “A kid’s version of Algebra” and then have it used in schools. I wouldn’t want a flat-earther to have his Science book in schools. Who wants Trump’s guide to Civics? That’s super different than “banning books” like it’s 1940s Germany or something.
EDIT: Some are saying that this would also apply to the school library. This, in my view, doesn’t negate the schools need to discriminate between content in the least. I would not want a flat earther science book in the curriculum or in the library.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#6Nobody’s calling for banning books. They are calling for not using certain books in curriculum, which is very different and not allowing certain books is necessary for any school system. I wouldn’t want my kid to write “A kid’s version of Algebra” and then have it used in schools. I wouldn’t want a flat-earther to have his Science book in schools. Who wants Trump’s guide to Civics? That’s super different than “bannin…
I guess it depends a little on who is making the choices. If it is politician driven, might be fair to call it banning. If it is the school system and teachers making a choice about what to use to teach effectively that seems like good policy.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#7Nobody’s calling for banning books. They are calling for not using certain books in curriculum, which is very different and not allowing certain books is necessary for any school system. I wouldn’t want my kid to write “A kid’s version of Algebra” and then have it used in schools. I wouldn’t want a flat-earther to have his Science book in schools. Who wants Trump’s guide to Civics? That’s super different than “bannin…
The article says it’s about books being available to kids in libraries, not curriculum per se.
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#8Nobody’s calling for banning books. They are calling for not using certain books in curriculum, which is very different and not allowing certain books is necessary for any school system. I wouldn’t want my kid to write “A kid’s version of Algebra” and then have it used in schools. I wouldn’t want a flat-earther to have his Science book in schools. Who wants Trump’s guide to Civics? That’s super different than “bannin…
No, they are literally calling for banning books from school libraries. Books that are not used as part of the curriculum.
https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/henry-mcmaster/
They are also literally calling for burning books:
> Two board members, Courtland representative Rabih Abuismail and Livingston representative Kirk Twigg, said they would like to see the removed books burned.
> “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” Abuismail said, and Twigg said he wants to “see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
https://fredericksburg.com/news/local/education/spotsylvania...
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#9A lot of the other comments on here are saying that this is banning books from curricula [1]. But I would...like to see the sources for this assertion?
All of the stories I have seen [1][2] say that the books are banned from the school library system. As far as I am aware, school libraries usually contain a wide range of books, not just whatever is required for the curriculum.
So banning a book from a school library does seem to be a fairly strong suppression of ideas. Libraries have usually been the place where you go to find ideas outside the safe circle of whatever is permitted by your (usually insipid) curriculum.
For example, I am not a fan of Ayn Rand's philosophy, but I am still glad I got to read her books from my school library, so I could make that decision for myself. School libraries curated by legislators with an agenda seem like a Really Bad Idea.
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[1] This would be within limits, I guess, but still weird. Wouldn't you just use a different curriculum?
[2] https://www.npr.org/2021/10/28/1050013664/texas-lawmaker-mat...
[3] https://www.kmuw.org/education/2021-11-09/goddard-school-dis...
Re: As calls to ban books intensify, digital librarians offer perspective
#10Not going to hold my breath for Archive.org or the ALA's "curated collection" of books banned from Amazon.
"Books whose authors are no longer able to give a talk on college campuses without multiple threats of physical violence against them". Curated, of course.