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Brooklyn Public Library is Offering Free Digital Library Cards To Young Adults i...

 2 years ago
source link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/04/25/2145208/brooklyn-public-library-is-offering-free-digital-library-cards-to-young-adults-in-the-us
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Brooklyn Public Library is Offering Free Digital Library Cards To Young Adults in the US

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The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is counteracting a ban on certain books by letting anyone in the US aged 13 to 21 apply for a digital library card. This gives teens and young adults, regardless of their location in the United States, access to the library's entire ebook collection. From a report: The initiative, called Books Unbanned, is fighting what the BPL describes as an "increasingly coordinated and effective effort to remove books tackling a wide range of topics from library shelves." According to the American Library Association (ALA), a total of 729 books were challenged in 2021, meaning a person or group attempted to ban these titles from public libraries.

  • ›

    Another reason to love a library.

  • While the internet provides a lot of things these days, books are still important.

    Still, I was just reading about Florida's "banning" of a bunch of school textbooks for various ill-explained reasons. Reasons that turned out to include things like "too many racially diverse names in the word problems." But actually also including some real stinkers as well that SHOULD get a textbook removed.

    That said, there's a vast difference between banning textbooks because they aren't "good enough", because primary sch

    • Not buying a few hundred thousand copies of a particular text book isn't 'banning' that text book.

      Florida 'banned' school districts from buying a particular textbook with state money -they didn't go into bookstores and remove them.

  • Librarians have been quiet guardians of freedom and privacy for a long time. Currently your privacy may be questioned when you use some library computers (most will require your library ID to access). Some libraries use private companies to provide their catalog and keep their member data. So one must be careful. But I believe that some libraries even now make a serious effort to protect your privacy, and many libraries offer books that some would like to ban.

    • Re:

      Beware the handicap elevator in the back. Things go down in that elevator.

  • The reading habits of users is a valuable asset...

    • A quick check at https://www.bklynlibrary.org/ [bklynlibrary.org] shows that yes, all 4 of those books are available. Librarians aren't your ideological enemies. I hope your local library does as well with Heather has Two Mommies.

      • I don't care if my library has the two mommies book, the three daddies book, or the gay penguins book.

        Where I might begin to object is if those are the only kinds of books that get promoted to children.

        A little bit of it is about broadening horizons and looking through windows instead of looking at mirrors. A lot of it does start to look like recruiting attempts (the g word is tainted apparently so I won't use it) given that...wait for it...most people aren't gay.

  • "“All I could think about while he was chatting me up over the rim of his cappuccino was his little salamander between my fourth-grade fingers, rapidly engorging with blood.” - page 73 of Lawn Boy. Why is it so important to some people in New York that children all over America are free to read this garbage?

    • Re:

      Fwiw, the law as written in Florida (and it doesn't mention the word 'gay') goes up to 9 year olds i.e. the third grade. That's right. Liberals screaming their collective heads off because kindergarteners don't get sex-ed. Really read the bill people!

    • Re:

      Because it's never too early to start grooming

  • It's normal and important for a functional society. Children have not yet fully developed critical thinking skills and emotional control to react to charged subjects responsibly and can not be held responsible if they hurt themselves and others. And only parents, not teachers, can be held responsible for their well being. Adults are allowed to read anything, even Mein Kampf, but can't blame their own choices for ending up in prison or a mental institution.

    So for library, self service kids section should be

    • Re:

      Back when I was a kid my local library had separate "adult" and "kids" floors.

      Yes, separate FLOORS with the main entry hall having an "up" stairs going to the "adult" floor and the "down" stairs going to the "kids" floor. And the library rules were CLEARLY POSTED when you walked in the front door. So there was no excuse for not knowing the rules.

      If the librarians caught any kids under the age of 18 (I think) going to the "adult" floor they asked where the parents were. If the kids' parents were not close by


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