Category: Uncategorized

By Penelope Ann Shaw, PhD.

After I had recovered sufficiently from a rare disease I got an electric wheelchair. I have now been able to go to this library in person and be less isolated – as it is within driving range and accessible.

The library is especially important in winter – when it is cold – and I need an indoor activity.

Library staff there are very helpful. They assist me in many ways. They move the chair in front of the computer I will use so I can put my wheelchair there. I sometimes need the computer moved over a little to align my chair with the screen. Staff assist me in charging my cell phone – as I cannot reach to plug it into the computer. 

At the library I like to use a computer in the adult computer area. These work properly, unlike the resident one in the facility where I live – which additionally is also in a common area with a distracting blaring T.V.

(Photo Credit: JONATHAN WIGGS/BOSTON GLOBE)

I especially like the library because I am a published writer. It is a quiet peaceful environment where I can concentrate. I can do internet research on my current topic and then print out the articles I researched.

I read these articles in bed at night. Then – when I am at the library – I edit and print each piece multiple times over many visits. This work is self-actualizing intellectually – stimulating reflection, learning and personal growth. A satisfying activity for a former academic. 

The computers I use at the library are close to the reference desk – where there is always someone who can help if I have a technical problem while working. 

The library also has a terrific used-book sale area where I can buy books I want for only $1. I read them primarily to get ideas for topics to write about. Gathering these ideas for my writing is something I can do in my facility when I cannot get to the library because of bad weather.

These books are also essential to my well-being and mental health – giving me something interesting to do in bed at night. This is because once I am lift-transferred to bed, being paralyzed I cannot get up again until morning. I can use my time there productively reading.

At the library in the reference area there a long shelf with flyers. Patrons can pick up flyers and can learn about community resources and activities. Subjects include a list of venues for volunteering. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the Gerontology Institute at UMass/Boston courses and activities available at our library. Town of Braintree Elder Affairs newsletters.

Through inter-library loan at my library I was able to get a bound copy of my doctoral dissertation – from the University of Michigan archives – to read. My copy having gotten lost years ago when I ended up in a hospital and became disabled.

There is more than information at my library. Patrons benefit by services as well. As a published writer I can scan my pieces into files to share with others. There’s a copy machine if I want copies of something. Staff assist me with these. I can do neither independently as I am unable to stand or reach to complete these tasks. There are also wonderful tables at wheelchair-height where I can do my “table work” – editing drafts of my writing, for example.

I also personally dislike passive activities – like concerts or movies – where I must sit still for an extended period of time. This is because it is only when I am in my wheelchair that I have a sense of movement, being paralyzed. At the library I feel movement in simple ways like going back and forth between a computer and the printer. 

It is a normalizing experience. I am socially integrated. So I look forward in advance to my next visit where I will be able to do what other library patrons do – be in the community, use the internet, get books. A place where library staff treat me like other patrons. I lead a full rich life when I am there.

Clearly this library makes a difference in my life. Not just educationally. Socially working at my library compensates for my disability. When I am there I am not institutionalized as I have been for almost 22 years. It is a normalizing experience. I am socially integrated. So I look forward in advance to my next visit where I will be able to do what other library patrons do – be in the community, use the internet, get books. A place where library staff treat me like other patrons. I lead a full rich life when I am there.

I leave the library only when I have worked to the point my energy level is dropping. I then know it is time to stop working. But I am not happy with the idea of returning “home” – as there I will be patronized as someone they provide care for, not as someone living a real life.

Dear Massachusetts Library Staff,

We are reaching out from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services to ask for your help in an essential community outreach campaign that is happening this year. The campaign is focused on educating and preparing communities for MassHealth renewals.

• What is MassHealth? – MassHealth is the state Medicaid agency. MassHealth provides health care coverage for 2.4 million people in Massachusetts including children, families, seniors, and people with disabilities. About 1 in 3 children are covered by MassHealth.

• What are MassHealth Renewals? – A renewal is when the state “checks” a member’s eligibility by making sure that the member still meets federal and state requirements for the program. Renewals began on April 1, 2023. MassHealth will renew all 2.4 million MassHealth members over the next 12 months.

• Why is there an outreach campaign this year? – The 2023-2024 eligibility renewal process will generally be the first time that members are at risk of losing their coverage since February 2020, when the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency began. It is essential that members are aware and successfully complete their renewals so that they and their families continue to have health care coverage.

In preparation for this effort, MassHealth has collaborated with health care providers and community-based organizations across the Commonwealth to help educate and prepare members to successfully renew their coverage.

We are asking for Massachusetts Libraries to join our outreach efforts. Please support our effort by sharing the materials in MassHealth’s Redeterminations Outreach Toolkit in your library spaces and social media channels.

You can learn more about the upcoming redeterminations process at mass.gov/masshealthrenew.

Thank you for your partnership in supporting our members!

Sincerely,

MassHealth & the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services

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Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) has announced the 2023 Top Honor and Honors student writers in its flagship program for students, Letters About Literature (LAL). This Commonwealth-wide reading and writing initiative invites students from Grades 4 to 12 to write letters to authors about the books that have had special meaning to them.

The fifteen honorees, representing the top 1.5% of this year’s program submissions, were celebrated at a virtual awards celebration on May 17. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Massachusetts author Alexandra Marshall welcomed the students, families, teachers, librarians, judges, staff, and fellow MCB board members.  Marshall commended the students on their work and also told them, as a writer, how important it is for authors to hear from readers, because that’s why authors write: “with the wish to be read.”

Representative Lindsay Sabadosa (First Hampshire) provided the legislative welcome to those in attendance and continued the theme of the communications loop that students have completed. She noted that since the time of the ancients, great thinkers have believed that great writing should teach, move, and delight us. She commended the students for showing in their letters how books taught them lessons and also prompted strong feelings and great pleasure. “In turn, your letters have taught, moved, and delighted us with your articulate thoughts about the importance of books in your lives,” she concluded with appreciation.

The Top Honors and Honors Writers in Massachusetts Letters About Literature 2023

Level 1 (Grades 4-6):

Honors: Saabir Ameer of Northborough (Al-Hamra Academy, Shrewsbury); Sofia Celli of Marblehead (Village School, Marblehead); Ash Quasney-Sandler of West Roxbury (The Rashi School, Dedham); Sofia Wolfe of Reading (A. W. Coolidge Middle School)

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Level 2 (Grades 7 & 8):

Honors: Avery Condon of Canton (Montrose School, Medfield); Caroline Euber of Wilbraham (Wilbraham Middle School); Damilola Graciella Olabisi of Marblehead (Marblehead Veterans Middle School); Luca Rice of Westborough (Sarah W. Gibbons Middle School)

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Level 3 (Grades 9-12):

Honors: Yumna El-Dib of Foxborough (Al-Noor Academy, Mansfield); Maya Johnson of Jamaica Plain (Melrose High School); Jane Lawley of Methuen (Methuen High School); Elyza Tuan of Millis (Montrose School, Medfield)

Commonwealth judges in the 2023 program were Celeste Bruno, Communications Director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners; Trey Jones, Middle and High School English teacher, Northampton public schools; and Daniel Guerrero, audiovisual translator of English, Spanish, French and German.

For additional information and to read some of the letters from the Top Honors & Honors writers, visit www.massbook.org/current-awards

Massachusetts Center for the Book, 17 New South Street, Ste 302, Northampton, 01060.  info@massbook.org  

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners will be hosting a Solar Eclipse for Libraries (SEAL) Workshop on April 13, 2023, from 10am-4pm. The workshop will be held in person at the McAulliffe Branch of the Framingham Public Library. Lunch will be provided.
Registration applications will be open until Tuesday March 14.

This workshop is designed to prepare and empower public library staff to facilitate meaningful solar and space science programs for their patrons that build curiosity, knowledge and inspiration. Attendees will receive hands-on training on operating solar telescopes and other methods for direct and indirect solar viewing, best practices for developing and facilitating STEM programs, and how to engage with community partners and library-specific digital resource networks.

Attendees will also be able to sign up for free solar eclipse glasses to distribute to their communities in advance of both eclipses. Star Net facilitators bring many years of experience building the STEM capacity of public library staff.  

The workshop will use materials from specially designed circulation kits that will be provided to the MBLC. Training will highlight best practices in using these kits but the strategies, activities and resources shared during the workshop will be useful to attendees whether they have access to a circulation kit or not. Two kits will have a focus on programming for youth and two will have a focus on working with a multigenerational audience. Every library will be able to borrow these kits after the conclusion of the SEAL training.

The goals of the solar science workshop are to help library staff:

1. Build on the excitement of the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses and engage their patrons in solar science activities!

2. Safely and effectively facilitate direct (e.g., solar telescope and Sunoculars) and indirect methods of safe solar viewing.

3. Develop and facilitate exciting and interactive STEM programming at their library.

This workshop will include the following elements:

• Advice on engaging with community partners to promote and support solar science programs • Ample opportunities for peer-to-peer networking and group discussions • Direct instruction on setting up and using solar telescopes and sun spotters.
•“Guide on the Side” facilitation strategies for STEM learning • Help navigating STAR Net’s online community, where public library staff can share eclipse-related programming ideas, strategies, and resources.
• Hands-on facilitation of interactive solar science programs designed for library settings.
• Advice on leveraging NASA volunteer networks like the Night Sky Network and Solar System Ambassadors.

Please note, per request of the StarNet Facilitation team who are coming from Boulder, Colorado to offer this training we are only be able to accommodate 35 people due to the hands-on nature of the workshop. Potential participants are requested to fill out a short form stating how they will use the workshop training to further STEM engagement activities in their community. Selection of attendees will be based on the strength of each individual application.

Participants will be notified of their successful registration by email after March 18 . Confirmation of your participation with further details regarding arrangements for lunch will be provided at that time.

Please use the following link to submit your registration:
https://forms.gle/H3zz8ZaSmpk5hEeS7

Below are issue-related *articles. The most recent are listed first.

Massachusetts based news stories:

This was an attempt at censorship and it’s dangerous.
(Community Advocate) As regular visitors to the Westborough Library, we were appalled to witness the actions of one resident, at the town meeting where she voted against funding the library, due to her opinions about book content and demands to have it removed from the children’s section. 
Defund the library because we don’t like a book?
Read full article

Can it happen here? Even in Worcester, books are challenged, if not banned
“Constitutionally, that’s not why we have public education in Massachusetts,” said Novick. “The purpose of a public school system is not just so an individual child learns algebra but making sure they are prepared to participate in democracy.”
Read full article

Protest is one thing, but attempts to disrupt library access can be unlawful
February 8, 2023
(Boston Globe-Opinion) The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts decries the rising tide of intolerance exemplified by assaults on our public libraries (“Librarians are targets in culture war,” Page A1, Feb. 6). Last month, together with our partners at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, we addressed parallel efforts by a vocal minority to remove books from school libraries.
Read Full Article

‘It’s now come to our doorstep’: Librarians find themselves at the center of increasingly bitter culture wars
February 6, 2023
(Boston Globe) FALL RIVER — David Mello leads the children’s section of the 19th-century library in the center of the city, a longtime public servant whose ready smile turns rueful when he recalls the ugly protest on its granite steps late last year.
About 20 neo-Nazis shouted at adults and children as they arrived Dec. 10 for Drag Story Hour, a library event in which volunteers who are dressed in drag read books to children. The readers were denounced as pedophiles. Antisemitic slurs were hurled at an adult there wearing a yarmulke. And protesters flashed the Nazi salute.“It’s now come to our doorstep,” Mello said. “In a building where everyone should feel comfortable, it saddens you that people have to be worried violent protesters might be outside.”
Read full article


White supremacists protest Taunton drag queen story time, police say
January 16, 2023
(ABC, News6) Police said over two dozen members of NSC-131, a white nationalist group, gathered outside the library Saturday to protest the event.
The protesters dressed in black masks and khaki pants waved a painted banner that read, “Drag queens are pedophiles.”
This group is also believed to be responsible for the racist flyers that have been dispersed throughout Rhode Island in the recent months.
Full story


Chelmsford Public Library reinstates ‘pastor story hour’ after church claims rights were violated
January 12, 2023
(Boston Globe)The Chelmsford Public Library has reinstated a pastor’s story hour that was planned for Friday morning but abruptly canceled Thursday afternoon after library officials said the church that organized the event misrepresented its plans.
A lawyer for The Shepherd’s Church had claimed the library bowed to public pressure after it became known that the event was planned in response to drag queen story hours.
Read full story


Neo-Nazis disrupted a drag event in Fall River. Organizers said they won’t be discouraged.
December 15, 2022
(The Herald News) FALL RIVER — A group of organized neo-Nazis disrupted a children’s event featuring a drag artist in Fall River this past weekend, with organizers vowing to not be discouraged from putting on future events.
“It was the most unsettling thing I’ve seen with my own eyes in a really long time,” said Sean Connell, President of the Fall River Pride Committee. “I think it’s so imperative to stay out here in the face of hate like this.”
Read full story

Christmas tree dispute at library has pitted ‘neighbor against neighbor,’ Dedham officials say
December 9, 2022
(Boston Globe) “Unfortunately, a recent social media post expressing disagreement with the decision to display a holiday tree at the library has quickly evolved into a polarized environment and has led to the harassment and bullying of town employees,” the town said in a statement Thursday. “We wholeheartedly condemn this behavior as it tears at the fabric of our community and cannot be tolerated.”
Read full article
Book challenges on rise in Mass. amid culture wars
November 27, 2022
(Eagle Tribune)Massachusetts librarians are fielding a dramatic uptick in the number of book “challenges” from parents and outside groups who are upset about what they view as inappropriate content on sexuality and racism for younger readers.
A recent survey conducted by the Massachusetts Library Association found that informal challenges, disruptions and objections “quadrupled” between 2021 and 2022.
More than 100 libraries that responded to the group’s annual survey reported at least 78 book challenges so far this year — up from only 20 last year.
Read more

National news stories:

Book Challenges Nearly Doubled From 2021
The American Library Association (ALA) today released new data documenting* 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported in 2021.
Read more

The top library books people tried to ban or censor last year
Battles have erupted at schools, school boards and library meetings across the country as parents, lawmakers and advocacy groups are debating books. The American Library Association documented more than 1,200 demands to censor books and resources last year, the highest since it started collecting data 20 years ago. Jeffrey Brown discussed more with the group’s director, Deborah Caldwell-Stone.
More from PBS NewsHour

Judge orders books removed from Texas public libraries due to LGBTQ and racial content must be returned within 24 hours
 (CNN) A federal judge in Texas ruled that at least 12 books removed from public libraries by Llano County officials, many because of their LGBTQ and racial content, must be placed back onto shelves within 24 hours, according to an order filed Thursday.
Seven residents sued county officials in April 2022, claiming their First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when books deemed inappropriate by some people in the community and Republican lawmakers were removed from public libraries or access was restricted.
Read full article

Why Libraries Are in More Danger Than Ever — And What We’d Lose if Censorship Succeeds
Literary icon Judy Blume weighs in on this spirited debate.
(Katie Couric Media) Here’s the thing: Frustrating though they are, book bans often serve little practical purpose beyond elevating the popularity of titles that are pulled from shelves. But the defunding of libraries is actually an extremely effective strategy for censorship and voter suppression.
Read full article

‘Straight out of a dystopian novel’: Missouri Dem blasts state GOP for defunding libraries
(MSNBC) Missouri State Rep. Peter Merideth and Katie Earnhart, the director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library in Missouri, join MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart to discuss Missouri state house Republicans voting to cut funding for public libraries in retaliation to a lawsuit targeting a law that has led to hundreds of books being banned.
Read/listen to full article

Library director rejects request to remove LGBTQ book
(Fremont Tribune) A request to totally remove the LGBTQ-themed book “This Book is Gay,” by local business owner Sandra Murray has been rejected by Keene Memorial Library Director Laura England-Biggs, who cited the book’s value to youth “questioning their identity” in keeping the tome on library shelves.
Read full article

New Hampshire lawmakers consider bill about obscene materials in schools
February 8, 2023
(WMUR9) CONCORD, N.H. —A bill under consideration in Concord is being touted by supporters as a way to protect children from obscene material, but opponents call it an effort to ban books.The legislation would affect schools in grades K-12, which the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, said are currently exempt from state obscenity laws. Opponents said he’s misreading the law.
Read Full Article

Glen Ridge Library won’t ban LGBTQ books as a thousand people show up in opposition
February 8, 2023
(NorthernJersey.com) GLEN RIDGE − The way the throngs streamed into the Ridgewood Avenue Middle School on Tuesday night, jockeying for position to get to a speaker signup sheet in the lobby, you would have thought Beyoncé herself was signing autographs. The event, a meeting of library trustees, sounds far more quotidian. But to the roughly thousand people who packed the auditorium and the many who spoke passionately against a proposed ban on six books for young adults that touch on issues of gender nonconformity, the event held enormous significance. 
Read Full Article

Louisiana: “AG Releases Report on ‘Sexually-Explicit’ Content in Public Libraries”
February 8, 2023
(Library Journal) Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry unveiled a new report — titled the “Protecting Innocence Report” — on Tuesday, which includes a list of books his office considers to be “sexually explicit” or inappropriate for children.
Read Full Article

America’s culture warriors are going after librarians
December 21, 2022
(.coda) It’s a tale playing out in cities and states across the country, as a book-banning fever courses through the country’s body politic. Nationally, attempts to remove books from school and public libraries are shattering previous records. The effort is being driven by a loose collection of local and national conservative parents’ groups and politicians who have found a rewarding culture war battle in children’s books about gender, diversity and sexuality. The majority of these groups were created during the pandemic as part of a broader “parents’ rights” movement that formed in opposition to Covid-related masking and remote learning policies in schools and that has since widened its focus to include challenging library and classroom books about race and LGBTQ issues.
Read full article

Kirk Cameron is denied story-hour slot by public libraries for his new faith-based kids book
December 7, 2021
(Fox News) With a new children’s book out that celebrates family, faith and biblical wisdom, actor-writer-producer Kirk Cameron cannot reach scores of American children or their families in many U.S. cities via the public library system because over 50 public libraries have either outright rejected him or not responded to requests on his behalf.
Read full story
Kirk Cameron declares a ‘win’ over two public libraries that denied him story hours but now have ‘caved’
December 19, 2022
In comments to Fox News Digital over the weekend, actor and writer Kirk Cameron declared that he has “won” against two public libraries in this country that previously denied him the space and opportunity to hold a children’s book story hour program in their facilities — and that now are offering to work with him on room bookings after he challenged their denials and threatened to “assert” his “rights in court.”
Read full story

Opinion: The school library used to be a sanctuary. Now it’s a battleground
October 31, 2022
(CNN) In September 2021, protesters ambushed the board meeting of the New Jersey school district where I have worked as a high school librarian since 2005. The protesters railed against “Gender Queer,” a memoir in graphic novel form by Maia Kobabe, and “Lawn Boy,” a coming-of-age novel by Jonathan Evison. They spewed selected sentences from the Evison book, while brandishing isolated images from Kobabe’s.
But the real sucker punch came when one protester branded me a pedophile, pornographer and groomer of children. After a successful career, with retirement on the horizon, to be cast as a villain was heartbreaking.
Read more

After Her Book Displays Drew Criticism, Librarian Elissa Malespina Lost Her Job. She’s Here to Say “I’m Not OK with This.”
October 13, 2022
(School Library Journal) Elissa Malespina was shelving books in the library at her new school. She started with the biography section, arranging titles to make the shelves more appealing to students at Union (NJ) High School, where she is the new school library media specialist.
Barack Obama. Rosa Parks.
She paused and debated which book to select next.“I better go with Colin Powell,” she thought. “Because then it’s a more conservative approach.”
That decision was not wrong, says Malespina, but the creeping doubt is new.
Read more
Links provided to external (non-MBLC) news stories are done so as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the MBLC. MBLC bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

*Links provided to external (non-MBLC) news stories are done so as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the MBLC. MBLC bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality, or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.