LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Bad News For plans to make all children’s books carry age guidance were in tatters last night as JK Rowling came out in opposition to the move.

The support of the Edinburgh-based Harry Potter creator was welcomed by authors determined to sabotage moves to introduce age-banding on all children’s titles by the autumn.

Ask an adult what makes a children's book appealing, and she might talk about the colorful artwork, the clever storytelling or the lessons imparted.

Ask a child what makes a children's book appealing, and she might say, "It is weird and happy!"

Obviously, children and adults have different ideas about what makes a good children's book.

Ann Giles (the bookwitch) says that 'The censorship I have encountered on behalf of my children has mostly come from librarians' in the Guardian she says "There are lots of conflicting opinions about what children should and shouldn't read. In my experience, the kids themselves are the best judges"

Karen Schneider on why we’re passionate about “kids” learning & reading:

Reading — deeply, truly reading — is a wonderfully subversive act, one that undermines everything we are told about learning in this society. The world tells us that learning happens in boxes approved by government (school) and business (the commercial world). We are plopped in chairs for twelve or sixteen years and told how to think, and during that time and for the rest of our lives we are bathed in messages designed to shape our thoughts and actions.

Love what the NYT says on the subject: "With just a few days left until Father’s Day, way to make us all look bad, Meghan McCain."

McCain just finished writing a flattering children’s picture book about her father’s life [no Ron Reagan she], set to come out just as her father accepts the Republican nomination in September.

The book illustrated by Dan Andreasen, follows Mr. McCain’s life from his childhood as a Navy brat up until the Republican National Convention in September. Ms. McCain deals delicately with some of the less kid-friendly topics, such as his 5.5 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “He didn’t get the right kind of medical care for his broken bones, and the food was really bad,” she writes, accompanied by a somber drawing of Mr. McCain, looking apprehensive if not scared, sitting on the floor in a bare corner.

“We really focus on what he learned during that period,” said Mark McVeigh, an editorial director at the Simon and Schuster imprint Aladdin.

Often, when attending classes or sessions on library design, I'll hear about how such and such library adopted a sci-fi theme for their youth area. Or this and so library went with a Where the Wild Things Are theme for their children's section.

Here's a wild idea, why not adopt a library and book theme for your kid's area and then get some furniture that looks like big freakin' books?

If not for a library, with some venture capital I'd open a coffee house with furniture like this!

A battle over books broke out at Saugus MA Town Meeting on Monday, pitting the library against the struggling school system.

In the end, the schools won out, receiving an unexpected $75,000, while the library budget was cut by the same amount, according to the Boston Globe. The additional funding for the schools will be used to hire two reading teachers at the elementary level.

"The $75,000 would make it possible for people to keep working in the library, and back up the reading programs in the schools," said resident Martha Clouse. "It will bring us a step closer to recertification."
Town Meeting member Barbara Malone, a former School Committee chairwoman, countered that the schools must produce strong readers.

"What is the point of having a library serving children who can't read?" she said. "I'd just like you to think about that."

From ABC15 (KNXV-TV) in Phoenix, AZ:

Public libraries allow minors to check out R-rated movies:

R-rated movies with sex, nudity, and graphic violence are available for check-out at public libraries across the Valley, and the ABC15 Investigators found teenagers can get movies there they can't at the video store . . . .

6/4/08 UPDATE:
The Phoenix Library Advisory Board is conducting a comprehensive review of its circulation policies for minors. We'll keep you posted on any changes they may make.

Article from the June 2008 issue of Governing Magazine by Christopher Swope:

Interesting view of public libraries from the municipalities' point of view -- "To appeal to a new generation, some libraries are positioning themselves as places to create content."

We never had this as kids! Toronto Public Library offers a new literacy playground.

From the light-up entrance to the silver rocket ship to the wall of spinning blocks, this is so not the library you grew up with.

The Toronto Public Library today opens the first of several planned KidsStops – an indoor literacy playground – located in the S. Walter Stewart branch in East York, which has been closed since September 2006 for a major renovation.

http://www.thestar.com/article/432693