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>intellectually aware of anything not sanctioned by the board of censors You are aware that this already happens without bans, right? The ultimate board of ce

>intellectually aware of anything not sanctioned by the board of censors You are aware that this already happens without bans, right? The ultimate board of censors is the school and library staff that decides on your behalf what kind of books you and your kids should be exposed to. It's not like the school library is some sort of the Great Library of Alexandria and the censors came to take out the "good stuff". What happens is that the library staff is in position to censor and proselytize their ideologies and weird secular religions. These bans really are aimed at library staff than restricting childrens access to read whatever they want.

chmod775 2y ago
Good point. I'm used to most libraries being part of a national system of libraries, which will get you volumes shipped from another one if they don't have it there. Local curation doesn't mean much since your main interface to those libraries nowadays is a digital one that has pretty much any physical media with an ISBN in it, from where you can request non-locally-available media. Maybe the states operate differently and (school) libraries are more independent. Most schools here don't have their own library at all and instead rely on the nearest public one...
orwin 2y ago
If a book isn't taken out of the shelves for two-three years, I would be very surprised it stays there. Where I worked, it would have been sent to the reserve, and only be out for some events (for our 'burned books' week we had 'all is quiet on the western front' in multiple languages, including German, and other book burned by Fascisti and nazis, and that's how I discovered this masterpiece). I highly doubt school libraries function any differently. Every year you receive a magazine with books who received prizes/recommendations, you move older books that aren't read to the reserve and command new ones. In my country, you especially have the 'highschooler prize' (not sure how to translate it), which is voted upon by students from 50 different highschool accross the country, and the winners are always recommended by the magazine. My advice would be, rather than preventing librarians to do their job, maybe write better books? Prevent new commands rather than remove already existing books? Because putting 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' on the shelves isn't ideology, just good taste. Removing it is. What really grind my gear is that I would bet censors don't read or review books. Book reviewing was a staple of my curriculum from 11 to 16, so I imagine it isn't hard. Censors should have to write at least a book review a year, graded (not to prevent them to censor, just publish the grade so we could see their reading level).
- spwa4 2y ago
  > What really grind my gear is that I would bet censors don't read or review books Changing that would require to put educated people in schools ... and that would require competing with senior-level jobs in private companies which at this point would be a doubling or tripling or even more of teacher pay in quite a few places.
bryanlarsen 2y ago
How you can tell if the library staff is the "ultimate board of censors" is their behaviour after a child requests a book. Most library boards are very happy to order any book that is requested by multiple students. My daughter's high school library contains a lot of manga that would never have been ordered by any "ultimate board of censors".
- Johanx64 2y ago
  But this isn't about books children want to read at all, is it? Do these concerned parents (censors) want to take off Harry Poters and The Hobbit and similar in demand youth literature? Doesn't look like it at all. As far as I can tell, kids aren't interested in most of the weird shit what's getting restricted from the school library. The only people that are concerned about the books in question being restricted in public schools are ideologues that want to peddle their weirdo stuff to kids.
  - ryandrake 2y ago
    Can you explain in some more detail the specific “ideologies” and “weirdo stuff” you think librarians are peddling in schools? You’re alluding to something specific but for some reason won’t say it? Also, I know several parents who would love to see Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings banned because they say they are about the Occult and demons and Anti-Christian and so on. Many are vocal about it at school board meetings. I don’t think librarians should give in to these bullies, either.
    - Johanx64 2y ago
      >Also, I know several parents who would love to see Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I'm sure there are. But was Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings restricted? Or literature kids want to read? No? Then you don't have an argument. If the books that were restricted are of no interest to kids, nor does their parents want their kids exposed to it by ideologically driven librarians or teachers, I don't see any issue in it whatsoever.

chmod775 2y ago

Good point. I'm used to most libraries being part of a national system of libraries, which will get you volumes shipped from another one if they don't have it there. Local curation doesn't mean much since your main interface to those libraries nowadays is a digital one that has pretty much any physical media with an ISBN in it, from where you can request non-locally-available media. Maybe the states operate differently and (school) libraries are more independent. Most schools here don't have their own library at all and instead rely on the nearest public one...

orwin 2y ago

If a book isn't taken out of the shelves for two-three years, I would be very surprised it stays there. Where I worked, it would have been sent to the reserve, and only be out for some events (for our 'burned books' week we had 'all is quiet on the western front' in multiple languages, including German, and other book burned by Fascisti and nazis, and that's how I discovered this masterpiece). I highly doubt school libraries function any differently. Every year you receive a magazine with books who received prizes/recommendations, you move older books that aren't read to the reserve and command new ones. In my country, you especially have the 'highschooler prize' (not sure how to translate it), which is voted upon by students from 50 different highschool accross the country, and the winners are always recommended by the magazine. My advice would be, rather than preventing librarians to do their job, maybe write better books? Prevent new commands rather than remove already existing books? Because putting 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' on the shelves isn't ideology, just good taste. Removing it is. What really grind my gear is that I would bet censors don't read or review books. Book reviewing was a staple of my curriculum from 11 to 16, so I imagine it isn't hard. Censors should have to write at least a book review a year, graded (not to prevent them to censor, just publish the grade so we could see their reading level).

spwa4 2y ago
> What really grind my gear is that I would bet censors don't read or review books Changing that would require to put educated people in schools ... and that would require competing with senior-level jobs in private companies which at this point would be a doubling or tripling or even more of teacher pay in quite a few places.

bryanlarsen 2y ago

How you can tell if the library staff is the "ultimate board of censors" is their behaviour after a child requests a book. Most library boards are very happy to order any book that is requested by multiple students. My daughter's high school library contains a lot of manga that would never have been ordered by any "ultimate board of censors".

Johanx64 2y ago
But this isn't about books children want to read at all, is it? Do these concerned parents (censors) want to take off Harry Poters and The Hobbit and similar in demand youth literature? Doesn't look like it at all. As far as I can tell, kids aren't interested in most of the weird shit what's getting restricted from the school library. The only people that are concerned about the books in question being restricted in public schools are ideologues that want to peddle their weirdo stuff to kids.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  Can you explain in some more detail the specific “ideologies” and “weirdo stuff” you think librarians are peddling in schools? You’re alluding to something specific but for some reason won’t say it? Also, I know several parents who would love to see Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings banned because they say they are about the Occult and demons and Anti-Christian and so on. Many are vocal about it at school board meetings. I don’t think librarians should give in to these bullies, either.
  - Johanx64 2y ago
    >Also, I know several parents who would love to see Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings I'm sure there are. But was Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings restricted? Or literature kids want to read? No? Then you don't have an argument. If the books that were restricted are of no interest to kids, nor does their parents want their kids exposed to it by ideologically driven librarians or teachers, I don't see any issue in it whatsoever.