Librarians in at least three states are asking the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to intervene after they were fired for refusing to ban books.
When the MAGA right planned to protest a drag event at a local library, North Shore Labor Council members showed up to fight back.
Increasingly, libraries offer more than just a place to take a break between using fast and free internet and researching ancient Martian glaciers. They’re stocked with cafés and wine bars (yes, really!) that encourage lingering with a culinary experience all their own.
After surviving the worst of the pandemic, the city now faces budget cuts that seem to promise even more disruption. The average rent of a Manhattan apartment is now reaching $5,249 a month, an increase of nearly 20 percent over the previous year.
Caustic fights over which books belong on the shelves have put librarians at the center of a bitter and widening culture war. Some of the conflicts have gotten so heated that community members have tried to seek criminal charges against librarians.
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“The library is just as important as the highway,” he said in a recent interview from his home in New York. And using the term social infrastructure “identifies the crucial role libraries and parks play in our society.
Reader Comments, Julia Salazar victory; Hurricane Maria one year later; International Movement against New Right-Wing Axis; Second Amendment; Public Libraries in Civil Society; Resources; Announcements-Chicago, Boston; Bay Area, New York; and more..
Is the public library obsolete? A lot of powerful forces in society seem to think so. Libraries are being disparaged and neglected at precisely the moment when they are most valued and necessary. Libraries are an example of “social infrastructure.”
Forbes published piece Saturday showing how far privatization is being pushed - nationalize public libraries, along with public schools and the post office. After public backlash, two days later, Forbes took the story down.
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