Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves.
Twitter: @kt_librarylady
Sorting through library news (or any news, really) feels a little like sticking your hand into a pit of hungry alligators. It’s mass firings of federal workers, bad management strategies from someone who isn’t authorized to manage anything at the federal level, book ban legislation…the list goes on. I’ve waded through the chaos and found a few news stories that managed to stand out from the blaring cacophony of WTF-ery. Time to pay attention.
JFK Library Abruptly Closes Due to Executive Order
Trump’s executive order calling for the immediate dismissal of thousands of federal workers has started to affect federal libraries, most notably the JFK Library in Boston. The library had to abruptly close on February 18th after losing five of their probationary employees due to the executive order ruling. The library was able to reopen the next day because senior staff and archivists volunteered to work the public service desks, but everyone agreed that the executive order was “ill-thought-through” and “chaotic.” Or as Joe Kennedy III said in response, “‘Folks, when we start shutting down libraries in the name of government efficiency, we have got a problem.'”
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Library of Congress Attempts to Change Gulf of Mexico Subject Headings
In a shady-ass move, the Library of Congress released a list of proposed subject heading changes on February 18th, which included changing “Mexico, Gulf of” to “America, Gulf of” and changing Denali to Mount McKinley. They also set February 18th as the deadline for public comment submissions, even though the list was only posted earlier that day. When you consider how long it normally takes to make changes to existing subject headings, this rapid turnaround is hella sus.
Hoopla Cuts Back on “AI-Generated Slop”
Hoopla has announced it will do more to prevent the spread of low-quality AI-generated books on its platform. Although the exact details of the plan are unclear, hoopla has already implemented measures like revising its collection development policy, giving librarians a way to contact hoopla directly to better manage the catalog, and removing “summary titles” from all vendors, with the exception of series like CliffNotes. This is all well and good, but considering the sheer number of low-quality and AI-generated titles already in their catalog, hoopla has its work cut out for them.
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Department of Defense Pulls a Broad Range of Books for Gender Ideology Review
A number of Pentagon-operated schools have pulled a large number of books in response to Trump’s executive order cracking down on “gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology” topics. A couple of the books that have been pulled for review are Julianne Moore’s picture book about a redheaded girl who learns to love her freckles, and J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, in an ironic yet wholly predictable twist. But why such a large number of books? Because the schools haven’t been provided with a list of titles or any clear guidance on which books to target. You mean to say this executive order has been issued without any thought as to how it should be implemented or enforced? Color me surprised.
Colorado School District Returns Banned Books, But Only For Lawsuit Plaintiffs
The Elizabeth School District in Colorado has returned 19 books that were removed from library shelves earlier that fall, but the books will only be available to the plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit against the district over the book removals. This includes “two district students, members of the NAACP, and children of members of the NAACP.” All other students still have restricted access. “A legal brief filed by the district did not say how students or members of the NAACP would find the 19 books or prove they are allowed to read them. A district spokesperson said the books are not on the shelves of the school libraries, but declined to say where they are.” WOW. This is very clearly not the point or the goal of the lawsuit, and I expect more legal charges will be leveled at the district soon.
English (US) · 