@libraryresources / libraryresources.tumblr.com
PBS just set up a youtube channel where you can watch full documentaries!!
https://m.youtube.com/@pbsdocumentaries
^ live link to their channel! looks like it's been live since 2012, and has 213 videos plus tons of playlists
At least hit the shiny repost button if you're going to do nothing else. This should not stand.
Stop the bill dead in its tracks. LGBTQIA people have a right to be represented in books.
“HR 7661 is not only an anti-LGBTQ+ bill, written within the framework of the right’s anti-trans priority, but it’s also a bill angling to push school choice. This would be yet another opportunity to promote and expand a federal voucher scheme that would steal money from public institutions so wealthy people could use taxpayer money for their students’ private or homeschool education. HR 7661 applies only to public institutions, opening the door for legislators to tell people that if they don’t like what’s happening in public schools, they can simply choose something else.”
Direct link to 5calls script (also linked in the article.)
Weird Fantasy (1950) #18 written by Al Feldstein and drawn by Joe Orlando, with editor Bill Gaines
So he said it can't be a Black. So I said, "For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a Black". Bill just called him up and raised the roof, and finally they said, "Well, you gotta take the perspiration off". I had the stars glistening in the perspiration on his Black skin. Bill said, "Fuck you", and he hung up.
Al Feldstein, Tales of Terror: The EC Companion
Just to add context for those not aware of the impact of this story.
The reason it was so important for narrative purposes, was that the plot concerns the visit of the Astronaut, in his completely opaque spacesuit, to a planet populated entirely by self-aware robots (originally from Earth) who have built their own society and are petitioning to be allowed to interact with Earth again as equals.
They have a democratic government and free choice of careers etc. as the orange robot serving as guide tells the Astronaut.
The Astronaut notices that there are two different types of robot on this world; the orange ones, who are in charge, gifted access to all information and facilities. and the blue robots, who are seen as more limited in function, have less access to information and resources, and are not allowed positions of power or as wide a choice of employment opportunities. Even transportation is segregated.
The Astronaut investigates further and discovers that the blue and orange robots are actually structurally identical, there is absolutely no difference between their potential or capabilities, and it is only because the orange robots are instructed by their Educator system to consider themselves superior, that the difference exists.
The Astronaut tells the robots they are not ready for re-alignment with Earth, until they come to terms with their own unfairness, and how Earth had had to deal with this issue themselves. When that time comes, the robots will be able to ally with Earth.
Then he leaves in his spaceship, and it's only in that one final panel that we see the Astronaut is black.
Not subtle, nor should it be, but for 1950 this was a breathtakingly powerful statement, perhaps the first of it's kind in the genre.
The black character was not a caricature, or comedy relief, he was a main character in his own right, a human who "simply" was black.
Ok, but this story is sadly revolutionary even now. That is not just a human who happens to be black, as far as every other character in this story is concerned this is the most important, maybe even the only human they ever see, who happens to be black.
As depressing as that is, but a black person just casually representing the entirety of humanity is a breathtakingly powerfull statement even today, a quarter of a century later.
my advice to anyone getting back into reading as an adult is that it’s 110% okay to start with early readers, middle grade chapter books, and graphic novels. you’re not in school anymore, you don’t need to challenge yourself with 500-page books with vocabulary that people don’t normally use in day-to-day conversation. you’re not “dumbing yourself down” by reading junie b. jones or dog man, you’re reading for fun and turns out when it comes to reading you can do whatever you want forever
also don’t be intimidated by people who boast about how many books they’ve read in a year, in a month, whatever. you can read one book for the entire year and you still got into reading. you can read one chapter of a book for the entire year and you still got into reading! meet yourself where you’re at.
addition from your friendly neighborhood library staff: if you do love encountering uncommon vocabulary but """the classiques""" don't speak to you, graphic novels are a great place to discover rare words!
stop by your local library and let us help you find what speaks to you! just have fun reading!!!
Reading takes stamina! You wouldn't wake up one day and magically be able to run a marathon – you have to build up your strength and endurance gradually until you're able to do it.
The same is true when it comes to the attention and energy for reading books! If you've been reading infrequently or mostly reading short-form text for a while, it's difficult to jump into a "classic" written in another century or an absolute doorstopper of a fantasy novel. Sustained attention takes practice. You gotta ease yourself into it!
Read some of the many excellent graphic novels out there! Read a chapter book intended for tweens, or a nonfiction text for 8-year-olds! Revisit some of your favorites from when you were a kid! Read some novellas! Pick a picture book award list, like the Caldecott Medal or the Coretta Scott King Award, and read through them at your public library! (plus then you get to enjoy all the wonderful picture book artwork) Enjoy a collection of short stories or essays! Read the light novel version of an anime you like because you already know what happens and you won't have to use as much mental energy to follow what's going on!
Just remember that there's lots of different ways to read, and not every book is meant for every person. Despite what you might have experienced in school, reading shouldn't actually feel like a punishment you have to endure. Give yourself the patience and kindness to discover how to make the act of reading feel joyful to you.* And if you aren't sure where to start, we librarians are out here eager to help. 😊
*note that I don't mean "read only joyful things" – the process of reading can be something that brings you pleasure, even if the topic or content is a real downer. I'm having this experience right now reading The Wager by David Grann on my commute because boy it is a huuuuuuuuuge downer, but I'm working on building my own endurance for nonfiction reading specifically and I AM finding basic pleasure in engaging with this text even though the subject is grim.
ᴇᴢʀᴀ ᴊᴀᴄᴋ ᴋᴇᴀᴛs Artwork from his 1962 book The Snowy Day.
$18 for 65 DRM-free books! That's so many books!! There's Robin McKinley, Andre Norton, Nalo Hopkinson, and Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire), among others. Because they're DRM-free you can read them on any device and own them for real!!! And a portion of your purchase goes to a charity called Active Minds which focuses on mental health and suicide prevention for young adults. If you use my affiliate link it also supports me, here's a plaintext version to copy/paste if your adblocker won't let you click: https://humblebundleinc.sjv.io/MAGDQJ
As a former librarian I'm actually required to remind you that many libraries that subscribe to Libby are opted into a program that lets you subscribe and access magazines for free with no wait
And that this is actually a really fun, low cost way to not only access news and larger cultural magazines, but also to get free patterns for many different crafts that you can screenshot if need be and that lower the financial barriers to entry for trying new things
From my experience working in both academic and public libraries, many libraries are use it or lose it funding-- I have to say this because a lot of patrons feel guilty for how much they use the library and how often they're using it funny enough, but the worst thing you can do for libraries is not try out new features and not use what's already given to you as much as possible.
The numbers that come as a result of your patronage are how most libraries justify their continued existence in times of financial hardship, which sucks but, go check out some magazines on Libby!
I am once again begging you to get your hands on physical media and/or save your fave stuff OFFLINE.
I use Kobo, which uses a slightly different method. Some publishers already don't use DRM. Great! You're good to go. Most others will be listed as using Adobe DRM. For that, you'll need Adobe Digital Editions.
Anyway. Not hyperbole. Microsoft closed its ebook platform in 2019 and people lost their entire libraries. Back your books up.
You should still be able to use the PC and mobile apps, and in browser reading, but your device will be entirely reliant on WiFi (which isn't always available or reliable!). Here's 1 article on it.
I've been using Epubor Ultimate to remove DRM from all of my ebooks so I can convert and save them, able to read them either in Kobo or Kindle, or in Calibre. I can save them as Epubs, PDFs, or what have you.
Also keep in mind Bookshop.org, an online store that interacts with independent booksellers, now has an ebook app and options from those indie stores. You can even set it specifically to your own favorite local bookstores if you want.
I get a lot of ebooks due to space issues, being a rental/apartment dweller. So the cracked and converted books are saved to my PC and external backup drives. I bought them. They're mine. I ought to be able to read them, and not worry about them being "updated" or removed on some whim*.
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(*I noticed that Jim Butcher's The Aeronaut's Windlass has a different cover than when I first downloaded it, not sure what else has changed yet. Good Omens also went from the classic black cover to the TV show tie in cover.)
Libgen allows you to download ebooks for free. It moves the site regularly, last time I knew it was https://libgen.rs/ but it is now:
Is that link now dead? Go to your search engine and enter LibGen. You'll find where it resides now. Go there and download books. Save them to a backup. Burn a disk with them on it. Whatever you have to do to keep knowledge accessible to you and others.
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury books were band but people assigned themselves a book and memorized it. Then shared the knowledge. We aren't there nor will we be because in Bradbury's time there wasn't the ability to download and save ebooks.
SO DOWNLOAD AND SAVE EBOOKS PLEASE.
Libgen helps you do that. So does Calibre, which is an ebook creator AND an ebook reverser. You can take an epub and turn it into a PDF or a .docx.
Please do this if you fear knowledge will be lost. Or even if you don't. Just…save save save what you can because Amazon and all the other multi-nationals do not care nor will they care if things go away.
Some top-line statistics from the study:
– 92% of respondents reported feeling somewhat to very “calm / peaceful” after visiting the Library – 74% of respondents reported that their library use positively affects how equipped they feel to cope with the world – 90% of respondents reported that their Library use positively affects how much they love to learn new things – 88% of respondents reported that their Library use has supported their personal growth
I just finished Tress of the Emerald Sea what a ride you guys
Has your name every appeared in the credits of a book, or is it likely to in the near future? Then you should join AUTHORS AGAINST BOOK BANS! Transcript below the cut. A version of this zine formatted for print is available to download on my patreon.
“Why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian!! Ok, sure. We’ve all got our little preconceived notions about who librarians are and what they do. Many people think of librarians as diminutive civil servants, scuttling about “Sssh-ing” people and stamping things. Well, think again buster. Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school for Information Science and become masters of data systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians can catalog anything from an onion to a dog’s ear. They could catalog you. Librarians wield unfathomable power. With a flip of the wrist they can hide your dissertation behind piles of old Field and Stream magazines. They can find data for your term paper that you never knew existed. They may even point you toward new and appropriate subject headings. People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.”
— Anonymous
An excellent quote, and attributable to UX designer and information architect Erica Firment on her no-longer-updating blog Librarian Avengers. The quote is available to use under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.
love the library. there's no risk. you can take out a book and go "wow this sucks" and just give it back. and when you do that you're still making the library's Number Go Up so you'll be able to roll the dice on even more books. all for the low low price of free/you already paid for it with your tax money so you might as well use it
