Archives: 2022 June
Intellectual Freedom and Holocaust Denial
Should books promoting Holocaust denial be included in a public library's collection? An article about a panel at the ALA conference in Washington DC from Jewish Insider covered the controversy...
Debbie Reese Interview with MinnPost
And I think about the United States, its actions on a global scale, and they have repeated mistakes. And maybe if they had had more honest histories, earlier, it may have made a difference. Of course, we can’t know that, but we should have those kinds of histories be part of everybody’s education...
The Gift of the Influencers
One thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars. That was all. She had put it aside, one dollar and then another and then another, in her careful posting of selfies and other online activity. Della counted it three times. One thousand eight hundred and seventy dollars. And the next day would be Christmas. There was nothing to do but post an Instagram Story and cry. So Della did it...
Terrorist Suicide Attack Chipmunks
I was getting into my car to go to work when I saw a chipmunk scurry from under the car and into a nearby bush. I thought to myself "we can't be having any of that," tore off my suit coat, dropped my briefcase, and took chase...
Piggly Wiggly
Crap, thought Luke. I'm gonna die in the pet food and party supplies aisle of a Piggly Wiggly. "Grab him," the leader of the mob snarled. Her name was Patty Olaffsonn. Up until an hour ago she had been the cashier in charge of helping people check out at the self-service stations. Now? She was the cult leader in charge of helping people check out...permanently....
Unicorn Cake
AmazingAwesomeness has bequeathed unto me some very tasty unicorn cakes to eat while I read Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson. Aren't I the luckiest librarian in all the land?...
Trial of Ulysses
The U.S. government tried denying James Joyce's Ulysses "admittance into the United States." The government's motion was for a decree of forfeiture and destruction. The judge read the book to determine what was what. Here's some of what he said about it.
Readers' Advisory
Readers’ advisory sucks. Books are such a personal thing. It’s actually one of the hardest parts of my job. Luckily there are many tools available to patrons to help them discover new books...
Groovy Digs III
1617 Elliot Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55404. So, so pretty...and a two-fer. Easy access to downtown. Nifty wood and brick. Too big for two adults and a cat, but somehow we'd make do.
Library Courier
Courier is a very dangerous job in the library world. Shuttling books back and forth ain’t for the faint of heart. As you can see from the picture below, the courier needs protection from the library books. It’s not that the books are evil as such, but they are off the shelf and away from their friends which means they’re scared, confused...
Groovy Digs II
247 10th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55415 is right by The Loft, Open Book, The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, The Guthrie Theater, and, evidently, a Sherwin-Williams lab. It's just off Washington Avenue and by the river paths. Easy access to downtown and easy enough to get out of the downtown area by bike or car...
Library Neutrality
What it comes down to is that library neutrality isn’t a thing. It’s been talked about a lot…a lot a lot a lot a lot, yet it’s not mentioned at all by the American Library Association (who really don’t mind sharing their thoughts on how libraries should be run) or the Oregon Library Association (who are a group of really wonderful and intelligent people who would have mentioned something about it by now)...
James Baldwin, The Art of Fiction No. 78
Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say. If you are going to be a writer there is nothing I can say to stop you; if you’re not going to be a writer nothing I can say will help you. What you really need at the beginning is somebody to let you know that the effort is real...
Nanea Woods
She set up shelves inside her locker, filled them with books, posted a signup sheet and opened the whole thing to her schoolmates. “It got to be so big that I started a newsletter over the summer so girls could keep up with what I was reading,” Woods says, recalling that she used pink paper to distribute her book reviews...
Ronald McNair
As his older brother, Carl, recalls, McNair started dreaming about space in South Carolina, where he grew up. And he wanted to study science. But first, he needed to get his hands on some advanced books. And that was a problem. “When he was 9 years old, Ron, without my parents or myself knowing his whereabouts, decided to take a mile walk from our home down to the library,” Carl tells his friend Vernon Skipper...
Jodi Chromey
I Will Dare has been the internet home for Jodi Chromey, Supergenius, for 22 years. In this time she has, according to her, "grow(n) from hopeful young professional to befuddled thirtysomething to the Spinster Goddess of the Midwest..."
Groovy Digs I
The brickwork, the stonework, the ironwork, the walk-up stairs to sit down on and watch the world go by and the rear staircase to sit down on and hide away from the world with a good book as the sounds of the city wash over you, all near the heart of the metropolis, and with that super nifty alley area in back...
Drive Oregon
Oregon’s roads showcase the state’s grandeur. The ability to access Oregon’s diverse natural beauty, as well as historical and cultural sites, has earned it 29 designated Scenic By-ways and Tour Routes. ...
Curiosity. Tenacity. Empathy. Love.
