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Weekly News Digest
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Some Good News for Libraries

On April 30, KOMO News reported that “Seattle Public Library is the second library to join ‘Books Unbanned,’ an initiative to fight for the rights of teens nationwide to read what they like, discover themselves, and form their own opinions.”

On April 27, Publishers Weekly posted that “Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-03) have once again introduced the Right to Read Act, which would, among its provisions, ensure all U.S. students have access to a school library staffed by a certified school librarian. The bill was first introduced in October 2022, but failed to advance through a lame-duck Congress.” ALA issued a press release about the news.

Also on April 27, the Idaho Capital Sun announced the 2023 winner of ALA’s Lemony Snicket Prize: Denise Neujahr, a district teen librarian at the Community Library Network, “for her work providing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ teens amid community backlash.”

On April 26, The New York Times reported that “Mayor Eric Adams announced … that he would exempt New York City’s public libraries from his latest round of threatened budget cuts, sparing them from closing many of their branches on weekends.”

Also on April 26, Burlington Free Press proclaimed, “The new Vermont State University will not be laying off the library staff across the university’s three schools located on four campuses across the state as was announced earlier this year. … [T]he school will continue its work to streamline its library collections ‘consistent with normal and progressive library best practices.’”

Additionally on April 26, BBC News shared, “Ireland’s oldest university has decided that its library will no longer be called after the philosopher George Berkeley, due to his links to slavery. … The decision comes after [Trinity College Dublin] began a two-year investigation into its links with slavery and the British Empire.”

On April 25, ALA issued a press release stating that the association “praised the Prison Libraries Act, introduced today by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO-5th), along with co-leads Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18th) and Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH-11th), and 25 cosponsors. The bill would establish a grant program within the Department of Justice to provide library services to incarcerated individuals to advance reintegration efforts, reduce recidivism and increase educational opportunities.”