Welcome to Check Your Shelf. We had a large supply of Moon Pies left over at work after Monday’s eclipse celebration, and I have been doing my part to ensure there are no leftovers by the time the weekend rolls around. It’s been a very successful effort so far.
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Libraries & Librarians
News Updates
ALA has released their 2024 State of America’s Libraries Report.
OCLC has acquired CloudLibrary from Bibliotheca.
San Francisco Public Library workers rally for more workplace security.
(Paywalled): Multnomah County (OR) libraries increase staff as service disruptions continue.
The Calgary Public Library is extending the availability of their wellness desks, which provided much needed mental health services to the public.
Rural Nova Scotia libraries narrowly avoid service cuts.
Book Adaptations in the News
Ethan Hawke is executive producing a series adaptation of Angie Kim’s Happiness Falls.
Austin Butler is playing a crime boss in the adaptation of Don Winslow’s City on Fire.
Renee Zellweger is reprising her role as Bridget Jones in a new sequel.
Hello Sunshine is producing an adaptation of Clare Leslie Hall’s Broken Country.
There’s a Lord of the Rings musical coming to the U.S. — first stop, Chicago!
Censorship News
Sexual Assault Awareness Month and book banning.
ALA releases their Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023.
An interview with ALA President Emily Drabinski on fighting the GOP’s book bans: “It’s been devastating.”
Librarians fear new penalties and possible prison time in multiple states, as book bans continue.
Poll results: Conservatives reject book banning but still hate critical race theory.
Alachua County School Board (FL) banned The Sun and Her Flowers and Haunted.
New Hampshire’s book banning bill passes the Senate. The new bill “would prohibit minors from accessing materials that are ‘obscene or harmful’ in schools and would create a procedure for removal and cause of action. It passed 14-10 in a party-line vote with all 14 Republicans voting in support of the bill.” Jodi Picoult is in strong opposition to the bill.
Several LGBTQ books have been pulled from shelves for review at Boiling Springs High School (PA).
Nazareth Area School Board (PA) votes 5-4 to keep Push in the libraries.
The Pine-Richland (PA) school board director launched a new statewide coalition, which bills itself “as a resource for all school board members, ‘regardless of political viewpoint or ideology.’ But its website doesn’t detail its leaders’ history with the state’s conservative education movements.”
“The Howard County [MD] Chapter of Moms for Liberty is targeting 46 books that they say contain sexually explicit images for removal from Howard County Public School System media centers.”
Carroll (MD) public schools have banned a total of 11 books from the libraries. The latest two are Empire of Storms and The DUFF.
A Dorchester County (SC) parent has reported dozens of books to the county sheriff because they apparently contain inappropriate content.
Alabama Republicans are trying to criminalize librarians for simply doing their jobs. As EveryLibrary says, “Not smart enough to tell the difference between sexual orientation or gender identity and hardcore pornography? No problem. Just arrest the librarians.”
“A second bill has been filed that would allow librarians to be held criminally liable for breaking Alabama obscenity law, but the newer bill focuses primarily on keeping ‘sexual content’ away from minors.”
The Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (AL) updated its policies to “uphold the principles of intellectual freedom,” and Moms for Liberty isn’t happy.
The Autauga-Prattville Public Library (AL) board is meeting to discuss pending litigation against the Library for multiple Open Meetings Act violations. This also comes a week after ousted director Andrew Foster “demanded that the board reinstate him as director, restore his access to the library and conduct a name-clearing hearing, or potentially face litigation.”
(Paywalled): Louisiana’s proposed HB 777 would give librarians longer jail sentences than people convicted of assault.
A new Tennessee bill would “grant legal standing to any student, student’s parent or guardian or school employee to civilly sue their school district if a school ‘fails to implement the requirements’ of the Tennessee Age Appropriate Materials Act of 2022.”
A look at the political upheaval happening at the Metropolis Public Library (IL).
A member of the Faribault School Board (MN) claims that there’s “a lot of porn” in the schools. (There isn’t.)
Campbell County (WY) library director applies “community standards” to challenged books. “Community standards” dictated by a small group of right-wing book banners, in other words…
Utah officials are unsure about how to retroactively enforce the new statewide book ban legislation (the one that requires all schools in the state to remove a book if three or more districts have already banned it). QUELLE SURPRISE.
Idaho governor Brad Little “signed that stinkin’ library bill.”
Huntington Beach (CA) formally adopts a parent/guardian children’s book review board, despite significant public pushback against the proposal.
“U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason heard oral arguments for the preliminary injunction request in Adams et al. v. Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.” This is in Alaska.
Books & Authors in the News
British author Lynne Reid Banks has died at 94.
James Patterson is hosting a new three-part true crime series called Unsolved with James Patterson.
Here are the big book club picks for April.
Numbers & Trends
Horror novel sales boomed during a year of real-world anxieties.
5 trending books on Amazon this week…and why.
The bestselling books of the week.
Award News
The International Booker Prize shortlist has been released.
The PEN America Literary Awards longlists have been released.
Dini has been keeping to himself a little more recently (probably to get a break from Jonesy), but Blaine managed to get this adorable photo this week! You can’t see it in the small version of the photo, but his little toofs are sticking out!
All right, friends. Hopefully warmer weather is making its way to your area. Have a good weekend!
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.