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Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

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Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#21

Post by eatonphil »

Adraghast wrote: post #19
funstuff007 wrote: post #4

And maybe in Texas they will offer to loan books to Park Slope children the Park Slope progressives find objectionable.

I just checked the NYPL catalog and found The Turner Diaries , Camp of the Saints and Mein Kampf to be available. Just three examples, but I find it hard to imagine what else they’d refuse to carry if those are fine. Is there a particular book you have in mind that “Park Slope progressives” would find too objectionable for libraries to loan out?

NYPL isn't BPL for what it's worth. :) NYPL only covers Manhattan, Staten Island and The Bronx. Brooklyn has Brooklyn Public Library and Queens has Queens Public Library. All separate systems that existed before NYC was united in 1898 and stayed separate afterwards.

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#22

Post by ajross »

newbamboo wrote: post #6

How silly. As though there are gangs of teenagers throughout the country that can’t get “banned” books, whatever that means, despite having the freaking internet, and books being basically free. As though they’re living in communist China or something! Kids can buy these books, and get all sorts of other vile pornographic material online well before their teenage years. Local school boards are not the CCP and they ha…

The books in question aren't about sexual content (which was never available to schoolkids anyway). It's a bunch of stuff about racial discrimination and alternative gender presentations and orientations that's being censored. The attempt to liken books about "two mommies" or "it's hard to be black in the USA" to porn is exactly the kind of disinformation that led to this travesty.

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#23

Post by myself248 »

eatonphil wrote: post #9

> Anyone across the country between the ages of 13 and 21 to get a free eCard from BPL, which will give them access to 350,000 ebooks and 200,000 audiobooks, as well as access to databases. Making hundreds of thousands of ebooks/audiobooks available around the country is an incredible use of library resources IMO. This feels like a serious development in library missions and I hope they don't stop at teens. Everyone…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that basically what Archive.org has been doing for years?

More resources and attention are always great, but I'm not sure this is exactly novel.

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#25

Post by usrn »

skepticalwaves wrote: post #18
Phithagoras wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> real banned books you almost certainly wouldn't find in a public library Do I dare ask what they are?

Two Hundred Years Together by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

[flagged]

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#26

Post by eatonphil »

myself248 wrote: post #23
eatonphil wrote: post #9

> Anyone across the country between the ages of 13 and 21 to get a free eCard from BPL, which will give them access to 350,000 ebooks and 200,000 audiobooks, as well as access to databases. Making hundreds of thousands of ebooks/audiobooks available around the country is an incredible use of library resources IMO. This feels like a serious development in library missions and I hope they don't stop at teens. Everyone…

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that basically what Archive.org has been doing for years? More resources and attention are always great, but I'm not sure this is exactly novel.

I thought Archive.org only stores public domain stuff. Libraries normally have both historic and modern books.

For example, I see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on BPL's ebook list. But I can't find that book on Archive.org.

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#29

Post by cato_the_elder »

clumpthump wrote: post #24
funstuff007 wrote: post #4

And maybe in Texas they will offer to loan books to Park Slope children the Park Slope progressives find objectionable.

Quoted post unavailable.

> darn progressive

> you're mad

Ok, I think we should all keep cool around here.

There are many examples of people who call themselves progressives "banning" books. In the sense of school boards removing books from the curriculum (which is part of what's happening in Texas), here's a recent example: [1]. Some go as far as literally burning books [2].

[1]: https://www.newsweek.com/schools-drop-kill-mockingbird-requi...

[2]: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/book-burning-at-ontario...

Re: Brooklyn Public Library offers access to banned ebooks to teens across the U.S

#30

Post by ZeroGravitas »

eatonphil wrote: post #26
myself248 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that basically what Archive.org has been doing for years? More resources and attention are always great, but I'm not sure this is exactly novel.

I thought Archive.org only stores public domain stuff. Libraries normally have both historic and modern books. For example, I see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on BPL's ebook list. But I can't find that book on Archive.org.

Archive.org has OpenLibrary.org as a sibling organisation. It's a "proper" library so you can check things out.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, in legal terms, but it's great for obscure books.

It also has Diary of a Wimpy Kid available to borrow digitally:

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8483260W/Diary_of_a_Wimpy_Ki...

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