The Librarians

I watched a documentary film last night about attempts in Florida, Texas and other American states to censor and remove books from school libraries. "Moms for Liberty", a pressure group which began life as protest against the use of Covid masks in schools, identifies books which it considers to be pornographic and lobbies school boards and politicians to remove them. No specific reason is given for individual proscriptions, and banned lists have expanded to include history books and books by non-white Americans. Teachers and librarians who challenge their arbitrary decisions are routinely threatened and defamed in social media.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Librarians_(2025_film)

If any young American cannot find the book they are looking for in their library, you are welcome to stay in our home and freely read anything from our shelves or those of our excellent local libraries. Learning and free enquiry are your birth right, not privileges.

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MommyLucy · 36-40, F

I AGREE SO MUCH! 📚📚📚 The American far right is nuts! 😡😡😡 Because I'm like a big kid because of my autism I only read children's books but seriously they shouldn't be banning books that others will enjoy! 😭😭😭 The American far right especially in red Republican states want to ban science books which is crazy! 🤦‍♀🤦‍♀🤦‍♀ Luckily I live in a solid blue Democrat area in a pretty blue state! 😌😌😌 My favourite books are my childhood Disney picture books which I read while hanging upside down by my knees from the monkey/gymnastics bars in my garden! 🙃📚💙🙃💙📚🙃💙📚🙃💙📚

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

In these times when almost everyone has a smartphone such censorship efforts must surely fail. Pretty nearly every book that anyone wants can be found on Anna's Archive:

https://annas-archive.org/

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ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@SunshineGirl Absolutely!

But, my three sons never read paper books despite growing up in a house with thousands of them and living only fifty metres from the public library.

However they are digital natives who had modern computers all their lives and they do read quite a lot. Their mode of discovery is different and entirely online a now they read mostly on their mobiles.

I think that librarians and others who wish to preserve what libraries can do for people need to embrace the net. It is the content of the books and them being read that matters, not the paper or the building.

onewithshoes · 26-30, F

@SunshineGirl 'Presented or curated' correctly implies that a selection is being made, which necessarily implies some degree of approval and recommendation, which concepts are perhaps more worthy of concern than simple access.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@onewithshoes This is what professional librarians do. So long as they work within ethical boundaries there should be no concern. Watch the documentary. You might be impressed by the devotion of some of the featured librarians to free speech and good quality education when most of those around them seemed indifferent to those principles at best.

dale74 · M

Dont care what is available in public library but elementary, middle school, jr high, and high school should be limits there should not be books that are not pertaining to the subjects taught, classical works, entertainment books should have the same ratings as movies.

Tumbleweed · F

I saw that, it's disgusting

FoxyQueen · 51-55, F

There is also this site:

https://openlibrary.org/

SpudMuffin · 61-69, M

What kind of "Liberty" are they for?

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@SpudMuffin The liberty to take other people’s liberty away.

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helenS · 36-40, F

@SunshineGirl I spent my youth in a public library; I became what I am in a public library. I even love the smell of books in a library. Libraries are the epitome and the embodiment of freedom. What those horrible people do is an attack on the youth, and an attack on the spirit of freedom.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@helenS I agree completely. The libraries I visited as a girl were my portal to intellectual independence and the adult world.

helenS · 36-40, F

@SunshineGirl In fact reading those "books in opposition" at our library made me start thinking there's something wrong with the adult world. Those books changed the way I saw the world, and my place in the world.

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