Lone herbal witch
Jedi Master
Not sure if the news media is reliable. Hope it is.
This story is about censoring. First, they are censoring our internet access, our news media, our schools with the curriculum allowing so much woke content, manipulation of every kind with our literature and art, and now this. You can't make this up. So what is next???? Burning all our books as if we are still in 1933? ( yeah, I know Zelensky has done it too!)
It is the first amendment of your trade when you become a librarian or a library tech. " You don't censor". Whether you are searching for political information, history, archeology, genealogy, anarchy, geology, entomology, etc..... every volume and media format has its value.
But of course, with the manipulation of our environment, now everything is an issue when it clearly isn't.
Naturally, "harmful" does not have a solid meaning. That term if far too ambiguous. What is harmful? If the book is about cowboy's in the far west, will the depiction of a gun fight be harmful to children? If the book is about operating rooms, is that considered harmful? What about Polar bears ? One picture depicts a bear eating a seal, does this constitute as harmful? Parents usually come to the library to select books for their children. They know where to find the best books for their kids.
If there are harmful books around, they are usually in a section that children do not visit. Books are normally catalogued either with the Dewey Decimal system or the Library of Congress division. In many libraries, the librarian and her staff have arranged their collection to ensure that children can visit what is of best interest to them.
The librarians know their clientele really well. They exercise good judgement on what is considered harmful to children! No librarian with an ounce of self esteem would permit a child to visit an adult section!
The argument that harmful books could be provided for kids is absolutely ridiculous. Just another form of abuse and censorship on hard working intellectuals who are providing a great service for their patrons and clientele.
Just another day in the park for the lawmakers. They really don't have anything of value to add, do they??
By
The Associated Press
Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), looks at a book in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on May 23, 2023. Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing "harmful" materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday, July 29.
Katie Adkins/AP
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing "harmful" materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, was set to take effect Aug. 1.
A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.
The ACLU of Arkansas, which represents some of the plaintiffs, applauded the court's ruling, saying that the absence of a preliminary injunction would have jeopardized First Amendment rights.
"The question we had to ask was — do Arkansans still legally have access to reading materials? Luckily, the judicial system has once again defended our highly valued liberties," Holly Dickson, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas, said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.
Laws restricting access to certain materials or making it easier to challenge them have been enacted in several other states, including Iowa, Indiana and Texas.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in an email Saturday that his office would be "reviewing the judge's opinion and will continue to vigorously defend the law."
The executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge's 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians.
"As folks in southwest Arkansas say, this order is stout as horseradish!" he said in an email.
"I'm relieved that for now the dark cloud that was hanging over CALS' librarians has lifted," he added.
Cheryl Davis, general counsel for the Authors Guild, said the organization is "thrilled" about the decision. She said enforcing this law "is likely to limit the free speech rights of older minors, who are capable of reading and processing more complex reading materials than young children can."
The Arkansas lawsuit names the state's 28 local prosecutors as defendants, along with Crawford County in west Arkansas. A separate lawsuit is challenging the Crawford County library's decision to move children's books that included LGBTQ+ themes to a separate portion of the library.
The plaintiffs challenging Arkansas' restrictions also include the Fayetteville and Eureka Springs Carnegie public libraries, the American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers.
This story is about censoring. First, they are censoring our internet access, our news media, our schools with the curriculum allowing so much woke content, manipulation of every kind with our literature and art, and now this. You can't make this up. So what is next???? Burning all our books as if we are still in 1933? ( yeah, I know Zelensky has done it too!)
It is the first amendment of your trade when you become a librarian or a library tech. " You don't censor". Whether you are searching for political information, history, archeology, genealogy, anarchy, geology, entomology, etc..... every volume and media format has its value.
But of course, with the manipulation of our environment, now everything is an issue when it clearly isn't.
Naturally, "harmful" does not have a solid meaning. That term if far too ambiguous. What is harmful? If the book is about cowboy's in the far west, will the depiction of a gun fight be harmful to children? If the book is about operating rooms, is that considered harmful? What about Polar bears ? One picture depicts a bear eating a seal, does this constitute as harmful? Parents usually come to the library to select books for their children. They know where to find the best books for their kids.
If there are harmful books around, they are usually in a section that children do not visit. Books are normally catalogued either with the Dewey Decimal system or the Library of Congress division. In many libraries, the librarian and her staff have arranged their collection to ensure that children can visit what is of best interest to them.
The librarians know their clientele really well. They exercise good judgement on what is considered harmful to children! No librarian with an ounce of self esteem would permit a child to visit an adult section!
The argument that harmful books could be provided for kids is absolutely ridiculous. Just another form of abuse and censorship on hard working intellectuals who are providing a great service for their patrons and clientele.
Just another day in the park for the lawmakers. They really don't have anything of value to add, do they??
NATIONAL
An Arkansas judge has blocked a law targeting librarians over 'harmful' books
July 30, 20233:06 AM ETBy
The Associated Press
Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), looks at a book in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock, Ark., on May 23, 2023. Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing "harmful" materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday, July 29.
Katie Adkins/AP
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is temporarily blocked from enforcing a law that would have allowed criminal charges against librarians and booksellers for providing "harmful" materials to minors, a federal judge ruled Saturday.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which also would have created a new process to challenge library materials and request that they be relocated to areas not accessible by kids. The measure, signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, was set to take effect Aug. 1.
A coalition that included the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock had challenged the law, saying fear of prosecution under the measure could prompt libraries and booksellers to no longer carry titles that could be challenged.
NATIONAL
Library funding becomes the 'nuclear option' as the battle over books escalates
The judge also rejected a motion by the defendants, which include prosecuting attorneys for the state, seeking to dismiss the case.The ACLU of Arkansas, which represents some of the plaintiffs, applauded the court's ruling, saying that the absence of a preliminary injunction would have jeopardized First Amendment rights.
"The question we had to ask was — do Arkansans still legally have access to reading materials? Luckily, the judicial system has once again defended our highly valued liberties," Holly Dickson, the executive director of the ACLU in Arkansas, said in a statement.
The lawsuit comes as lawmakers in an increasing number of conservative states are pushing for measures making it easier to ban or restrict access to books. The number of attempts to ban or restrict books across the U.S. last year was the highest in the 20 years the American Library Association has been tracking such efforts.
Laws restricting access to certain materials or making it easier to challenge them have been enacted in several other states, including Iowa, Indiana and Texas.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in an email Saturday that his office would be "reviewing the judge's opinion and will continue to vigorously defend the law."
The executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge's 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians.
"As folks in southwest Arkansas say, this order is stout as horseradish!" he said in an email.
"I'm relieved that for now the dark cloud that was hanging over CALS' librarians has lifted," he added.
Cheryl Davis, general counsel for the Authors Guild, said the organization is "thrilled" about the decision. She said enforcing this law "is likely to limit the free speech rights of older minors, who are capable of reading and processing more complex reading materials than young children can."
The Arkansas lawsuit names the state's 28 local prosecutors as defendants, along with Crawford County in west Arkansas. A separate lawsuit is challenging the Crawford County library's decision to move children's books that included LGBTQ+ themes to a separate portion of the library.
The plaintiffs challenging Arkansas' restrictions also include the Fayetteville and Eureka Springs Carnegie public libraries, the American Booksellers Association and the Association of American Publishers.