Welcome to Check Your Shelf. This newsletter has taken about three times as long to put together because I decided to put on RuPaul’s Drag Race as background noise, and…let’s just say it’s not helpful if you need to focus.
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Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
Library Journal is pausing the LJ Index of Public Library Service and Star Library rating.
(Paywalled): In Philadelphia, Mayor Parker’s social media crackdown ruffles feathers with librarians.
Southern New Mexico rural library funding is in limbo.
Book Adaptations in the News
Amy Adams is in talks to star opposite Jenna Ortega in Klara and the Sun.
In more Amy Adams news, Nightbitch gets a director and a potential fall 2024 release date.
FX orders a limited series adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing.
Sara Bareilles and Sarah Ruhl are teaming up on a musical adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings.
Casting update for Hamnet.
Censorship News
American intolerance and book bans.
EveryLibrary has launched a Libraries2024 Initiative to engage voters about the big issues affecting libraries.
Cast as criminals, America’s librarians rally to their own defense.
A look at how Penguin Random House is fighting back against book bans.
How African American museums are navigating book bans.
Your rights as a student in US public schools.
“How one Katy ISD [TX] parent has essentially taken over the “internal review” process.”
“Florida’s war on books enters ‘goblin butts are sexual‘ territory, and of course Moms for Liberty is behind the whole thing.”
A Miami-Dade (FL) school is asking parents to consent for students to participate in Black History Month activities.
Nassau County (FL) schools removed 34 books after the ironically named Citizens Defending Freedom complained to the board.
88,000 books are being reviewed in Lee County (FL) schools. No, that’s not a typo. The district requires media specialists to review, catalog, and approve all books in all teacher’s classrooms before they are accessible to students.
Book challenges may cost Polk County (FL) schools $25,000 this year. This is also not a typo.
“Wealthy, liberal-leaning Blue Hill [ME] prided itself on staying above the fray — until the library stocked a book that drew anger from the left.” The book was Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.
A parent in Regional School Unit 73 (ME) suggested that the school board implement “Universal Book Ratings,” created by Moms for Liberty.
“Four months after a library director’s high-profile departure, the town of Suffield [CT] has yet to hire a new director, half of its library commission has been replaced, and the library’s associate director announced that she too will resign.” There are allegations of an anti-LGBTQ agenda.
This Philadelphia nonprofit is bringing attention to banned books by Black authors with Little Free(dom) Library.
A school-board-appointed committee in Hanover County (VA) voted to remove Valiant Ladies.
A bill in Virginia would ban book bans by school boards.
“One community member has sent a complaint to Dorchester School District 2 [SC] staff to take a second look at the material they consider obscene in 673 books, despite knowing only 170 are actually in the district.” What’s the endgame here, challenging hundreds of books that they know aren’t in the district?
Georgia is considering two recently proposed bills, one of which would “loosen restrictions on librarian certification and cut funding to any programs tied to the American Library Association,” and the other would “require the state board of education to establish standards for school books, as well as define what material might be construed as ‘harmful to minors, restricted materials, and sexually explicit.’” ALA issued a statement opposing the proposed legislation.
“Alabama Legislative Services Agency proposed rule changes to the Alabama Public Library Service that would force libraries to move books deemed ‘inappropriate’ for children in order to receive state funding.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Library Association has released a counterproposal to Gov. Kay Ivey’s recent proposed changes by saying that libraries cannot act in loco parentis, meaning that libraries cannot determine what is appropriate or inappropriate for minors.
“Parents representing Moms for Liberty asked the library board to move any books they deem as sexual content from the children’s section, to the adult section.” So, Moms for Liberty is calling the shots at the Huntsville Public Library (AL) now?
A Petal (MS) alderman wants to ban all books about gender, “transgenderism,” and sexuality from children under 12.
“Librarians urged Missouri lawmakers Wednesday to close the book on a plan to make public library boards throughout Missouri elected positions instead of appointed.”
Valetina Gomez, a candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, posted a video on Twitter of her holding a flamethrower, saying, “I will BURN all books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children.”
Cape Girardeau Public Library [MO] had a board meeting adjourn early because a member of the public couldn’t behave.
“Book bans are expanding from schools into public libraries in Sumner County [TN]. The group behind the shift is contributing to a culture of fear.”
A newly introduced bill in Tennessee would restrict access to materials in public libraries through public petitions, although a legal expert says that the bill “could jeopardize adults’ constitutional rights to access some kinds of information.”
A new Iowa law would allow cities and counties to opt out of funding public libraries. Taking the “public” out of “public libraries,” I see.
Academy School District 20 in Colorado Springs is creating a library review board because they value “parent choice.”
“On Dec. 5, the Laramie County School District [WY] 1 Board of Trustees passed a controversial amendment to its Library Media Services policy, which allows parents and faculty members to nominate library titles they believe are inappropriate. To date, 18 titles at Cheyenne high schools have been added to the list.”
The Oklahoma State Board of Education will decide in March whether to revoke the license of the Norman School teacher who gave her students access to banned books via QR code.
“The Utah House has approved legislation that would potentially make it quicker to pull books with sexual content from school library shelves.”
Idaho legislators have modified a proposed “library porn” bill that a) does not redefine obscenity and b) doesn’t inherently classify “homosexual activity” as obscene. Private schools are also exempt from this legislation.
Meanwhile, Idaho librarians are contemplating leaving the profession and the state.
“A Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council member wants to reorganize the Half Moon Bay Library System’s [CA] children’s sections to move ‘inappropriate’ material to the adult’s section.”
(Paywalled): The Mat-Su (AK) school board cut a book banning discussion short after it devolved into “a shouting match and name-calling.”
Books & Authors in the News
Broadway legend and memoirist Chita Rivera has died at 91.
Robie Harris, author of the frequently-targeted book It’s Perfectly Normal, has died at 83.
The identity behind the Elly Conway pseudonym has been revealed, and it is officially not Taylor Swift.
Numbers & Trends
The best-selling books of the week.
Award News
More information on the fallout from the recent Hugo Awards controversy.
The longlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award has been announced.
Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous
The toddler book tolerability index.
The glitzy IRL book party is back.
Today’s cat photo is a guest appearance from my parents’ cats Wrigley and Groucho. Groucho apparently thinks Wrigley’s bony butt makes for a lovely pillow.
All right, friends. I’ll be back on Tuesday. Have a good weekend!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.