Free Republic

My friend is a certified elementary teacher. Teachers are getting paid $125-150/session (which is an hour) to teach classes at the library on weekends like arts&crafts. They move around to different libraries. In return, you know the teachers help the library out when the vote to cut their budget comes... This job could be filled by a library worker, a college student as an intern, or by offering a lot less $25-50/hr. Additionally the library renting dvds helped take care of blockbuster. At what point do we cut the budget of the sacred library?

Visit most public school libraries and you'll find an array of books that address the subject of homosexuality. Many include sexually explicit content, and some even include graphic images. But if you're looking for a book that refers to the possibility that homosexuality can be "reversed," a Chicago-based group says your best bet is the banned books list.

Visit most public school libraries and you'll find an array of books that address the subject of homosexuality. Many include sexually explicit content, and some even include graphic images. But if you're looking for a book that refers to the possibility that homosexuality can be "reversed," a Chicago-based group says your best bet is the banned books list. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) says there's an entire community of people across the world who say that their sexual orientation changed from gay to straight. But they're not getting their message out, the group says, because libraries across...

Locals express concerns about "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which includes a rape scene of an 8-year-old. An autobiography by renowned author Maya Angelou has become the latest book in Orange County to be challenged as unfit for school libraries. Judy Ahrens, a former Westminster School District trustee, took to the podium at Monday's Huntington Beach City Council meeting to read a scene from Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' that details the rape of an 8-year-old girl. The reading was a demonstration on why the book should be banned, she told the audience. "I would...

In one small Michigan town, another chapter is being written in a controversial library debate. On September 23, nearly 300 Owosso, Mich. citizens crowded a local middle school to discuss whether or not filtering software should be placed on all Shiawassee District Library computers. The filters would prevent patrons from accessing "adult content."

The novelist and children's writer Philip Pullman has been showered with awards that include a CBE, a Carnegie Medal and several honorary professorships. This week he notched up a new distinction: he is ranked second in the top 10 books that people have tried to ban across America. Pullman's fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, has leapt to the top of the target list of would-be censors in the new rankings issued this week by the American Library Association. Several schools across America faced requests from parents to remove the book. One challenge at a school in Winchester, Kentucky was made...

How ironic it is that when news emerges of Governor Palin's book becoming available prior to its expected date, she shows up in my school's library. No, she didn't show up in person and no, there was no announcement to inform interested students about her book, which reportedly is already number one on the Barnes and Noble list. She showed up in the center of a display highlighting Banned Books Week.

The City of Brotherly Love isn't showing much to book lovers. All 54 of Philadelphia's libraries are scheduled to close because the state of Pennsylvania has not been able to pass a budget to fund the library system. "All branch and regional library programs, including programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults, will be cancelled," the Free Library posted in a notice on its Web site. All 250,000 books, disks and other items that have been borrowed are now due Oct. 1, and nothing can be borrowed after Sept. 30. Pennsylvania lawmakers are...

We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009. Specifically, the following will take effect after the close of business, October 2, 2009: * All branch and regional library programs, including programs for children and teens, after school programs, computer classes, and programs for adults, will be cancelled * All Parkway Central Library programs, including children programs, programs to support small businesses and job seekers,...

ASHBURNHAM - There are rolling hills and ivy-covered brick buildings. There are small classrooms, high-tech labs, and well-manicured fields. There’s even a clock tower with a massive bell that rings for special events. Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with one exception. This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked...

Brooklyn's chief librarian has yanked a nearly 80-year-old book from the shelves because it depicts Africans as monkeys. Tintin Au Congo is the only book in the city library system hidden from public view after a reader complained that it was "racially offensive." The popular Belgian children's work - due to be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg - is locked behind a series of hidden doors on the third floor of Brooklyn's central library. "'Tintin au Congo' was relocated," said director Richard Reyes-Gavilan. Library officials across the city said they've debated pulling about 25 books and DVDs from...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Separation of church and state is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution but that doesn't mean the Bible can't be admired and appreciated by a public or government institution. Take the Library of Congress in Washington. It has an immense Bible collection, one augmented with modern technology. The interactive equipment available in the Library of Congress is making the Scriptures accessible to a high-tech generation, said Robert M. Sokol, project manager for the "New Visitors Experience" program at the largest library in the world. The most celebrated Bibles in the collection are the Gutenberg Bible and the Giant...

A Library of Congress curator is on a worldwide mission to find exact copies of the books that belonged to Thomas Jefferson For more than a decade, Mark Dimunation has led a quest to rebuild an American treasure—knowing he will likely never see the complete results of his efforts. On an August day 195 years ago, the British burned the U.S. Capitol in the War of 1812 and by doing so, destroyed the first Library of Congress. When the war ended, former President Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his personal library, which at 6,487 books was the largest in America,...

Last week, my wife and I concluded a trip to California with a visit to the Reagan Library, a place I had always wanted to visit.It wasn't exactly easy or convenient. We were staying in the Palm Springs area at the conclusion of a family wedding (her side, our nephew) and it was our first visit to California since the last family wedding five years ago. Our itinieary for the day consisted of dropping our daughter off at the John Wayne airport for a noon flight back to her college in Idaho, a quick lunch and an afternoon at the...

Many American presidents have kept prized possessions within reach during their White House years. Franklin D. Roosevelt cherished a 19th century ship model of the U.S.S. Constitution. One of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s favorite gifts was an engraved Steuben glass bowl from his cabinet. And sitting on John F. Kennedy’s desk in the Oval Office was a paperweight made from a coconut shell he had carved with a distress message after his PT-109 was sunk during World War II.

Cavuto reports that donations are pouring in for the presidential library of former President George W. Bush. In 100 days, he's raised $100 million - an amount that former President Bill Clinton planned to raise in one year.

San Jose council votes down porn filters at public library computers A year and a half of debate over filtering pornography out of San Jose public library computers came to a head late Tuesday when the City Council rejected spending money on the technology. After a lively debate that lasted hours, the council voted 7-3 to approve a proposal by the vice mayor and two councilmen that would remind computer users of existing policies to be courteous to others. Mayor Chuck Reed and council members Pete Constant, who led the push for the filters, and Pierluigi Oliverio were opposed, favoring...

(AP) — WASHINGTON - Nearly 145 years after it was stolen by a Union soldier during a Civil War raid, a missing library book has been returned to the Washington and Lee University library by an Illinois man who inherited it from the soldier's descendants. The book was passed down through the soldier's family, then on to Mike Dau of Lake Forest, Ill., who tracked down the original library and returned it.

San Jose City Council to reconsider porn filters at libraries San Jose officials are preparing for a showdown later this month over online pornography in city libraries. City officials last considered whether to electronically filter library Internet use in 1997. At the time, they overwhelmingly concluded the technology was too primitive to snag smut without also snaring information about health topics like breast cancer. The council will revisit that decision in what is expected to be a heavily attended evening meeting April 21. Councilman Pete Constant since October 2007 has called for reconsidering that move. He has cited improvements in...

Philadelphia's public libraries can no longer open without a guard present, according to an internal Free Library e-mail obtained by The Inquirer. The Free Library says it's to ensure staff and patron safety but unions and library advocates believe it's an effort to find new ways to close libraries. For years, Philadelphia libraries have opened without guards present, library union officials said. The new rule, like the library's recently instituted requirement to have four workers present to open a branch instead of the customary three, is seen by some in the contentious fight over libraries as another attempt by the...

The library board of trustees meeting was moved to a larger room to accommodate all those wanting to speak. The proposal, which came from a library patron, was to restrict the access by children to four books, Sex for Busy People, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex. "This is clearly an effort to suppress books about gay people. Only four books were targeted out of the thousands that might have been targeted, say, about tawdry romance novels or books about how to make a bomb or maybe a book about how to...

The library on DePaul University's Lincoln Park campus was evacuated this morning following a bomb threat, university officials said. It's unclear how the university learned of the threat, but said it only affected the John T. Richardson Library, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave., and did not interfere with operations in other campus buildings, said Denise Mattson, a DePaul spokeswoman.

Librarians have been advised to move the Bible to the top shelves to appease religious concerns in the Islamic community. Muslims have complained that the Koran is often displayed on the lower shelves, which is deemed offensive as many believe the holy book should be placed above "commonplace things". Now library officials in one city have been told to keep all holy books, including the Bible, on the top shelves in the interests of equality. It has caused concern from Christian charities that this will put the Bible out of the reach and sight of many people.

One picture is a man during a real crisis caught in the middle of a planned event for months at an elementary school. A man who was ridiculed in dozens of films and thousands of articles and millions of internet posts. The next picture is of a man who makes an un-scheduled appearance at a charter school and is applauded for taking time out to visit with local kids during a self-described "crisis" of the economy, jobs, and tax evading liberals not passing the test. Because he was "tired of being in the White House", I give you Day 15....

Berkeley -- Berkeley's city council voted early today to let the public library override the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act in order to get its checkout machines serviced.After a heated debate, the council voted 6-2, with one abstention, to grant a waiver for the library to contract with 3M, a multinational technology company, even though the firm refused to sign a form promising it does not engage in nuclear research or development.The library asked permission to sign a 5-year, $63,000 contract with 3M to maintain five self-checkout scanning machines at the main library and four branches. The Peace and Justice Commission...

The old White Hose website is now available online. Daily dosers like me rejoice! (clik on source link)

School Libraries May Soon Be Historyby Paul C. Clark Staff Writer January 22, 2009 Some local educators are imagining a future in which schools have no libraries. Quick, thoroughly unscientific visual surveys of the libraries – called "media centers" in eduspeak – of Guilford County high schools of late give the impression that they're hardly beehives of activity, at least as far as books are concerned. The percentage of space dedicated to books instead of computers seems to have shrunk over the years, and a scan of the shelves turns up relatively few newly acquired books. The use of the...

Sabeeh Radyi, Rashid District Council Education Committee chairman, treats Iraqi school children from the Doura community in the Rashid district to story time as part of the commemoration of the reopening of the Doura Public Library, Jan. 21, 2009. BAGHDAD — Iraqi and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers joined local civic leaders Jan. 21 to commemorate the opening of the Doura Public Library in the Rashid district, christening a cultural and educational landmark for the Iraqi citizens of southern Baghdad. The public library, capable of housing approximately 10,000 books and a score of personal computers for use by Iraqi citizens...

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man is now $35,000 richer thanks to President Bush’s sheepish advisers who let his library’s Web site address expire. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports today that Web developer George Hunger was searching through a list of expiring domain names two years ago when he noticed a treasure. The Web address www.GeorgeWBushLibrary.com was about to expire. bought the rights for $5. Hunger says he recently sold them for $35,000 to Florida-based Yuma Solutions, which the Bush Library Foundation said is in charge of Web site care. Company owner Mark Mills didn’t return the...

A wealthy Iranian businessman was jailed for two years on Friday (local time) for stealing pages from rare books in Britain's top libraries to improve his own collection. Farhad Hakimzadeh, 60, admitted he used a scalpel to remove selected pages from priceless volumes in reading rooms at the British Library in London and the world-famous Bodleian Libary in Oxford, south-east England. "As an author, you cannot have been unaware of the damage you were causing," said judge Peter Ader, passing sentence at Wood Green Crown Court in London. "You have a deep love of books, perhaps so deep that it...

When BHO prepares to leave office in four years (or sooner) and starts thinking of his "legacy", I was wondering what he would have in mind regarding his presidential library. Some questions that came to mind 1. Where will it be located ? 2. Who would fund it ? 3. What will it contain ? 4. Will the public be allowed inside ? ... etc, etc..

Donors to President George W. Bush's presidential library probably will remain a mystery, said the foundation overseeing fundraising. Mark Langdale, who heads the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, said that's the way some donors want it. "It's our decision not to disclose who the donors are," he said. The foundation will oversee construction of the library, museum and public policy institute at the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas. The group had raised less than $3 million when the latest tax reports were filed in August. That's far short of its $300 million goal, but foundation officials said fundraising...

DES MOINES, Iowa – Vicki Myron intended to wait a year or two before getting another cat. Her best-selling book, "Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World," was keeping her on the road most of the time and she didn't have time for a pet. An orange and white kitten found on a snow-covered road changed her mind. "I fell in love instantly," Myron says. The little tabby was found Dec. 16 by Sue Selzer, who works for the school district in Myron's northwest Iowa hometown of Spencer. "I was out and about and met a truck that...

While driving into the office this morning I heard the "expert" guest on Coast to Coast tell everyone not once but several times it was the terrible Christians that burned down the Library at Alexandria. Sadly, facts do not matter or go challenged on that political show any longer. The fact is: Amr bin Aas at the behest of the Second Caliph, Umar burned the Library in Alexandria. Umar the Great or Omar the Great was a Muslim convert from the Banu Adi clan of the Quraysh tribe,[1] and a sahaba (righteous companion) of Muhammad. He became the second Caliph...

Wash Post Misses Clinton’s Biggest Donor Again- Canadian Uranium Tsar Once again the Washington Post seems to have missed the “vette� while reporting on vetting the Clintons.  The Post’s coverage today on vetting donors to Clinton’s Library Foundation is not unlike the Post Sunday Magazine 8,000 word cover story, in October, 2005, “House of Cards� by April Witt which un-reported on the Galagate scandal surrounding Peter Paul’s illegally solicited and unreported $1.2 million plus contribution to Hillary’s Senate campaign is now matched by its story today vetting Bill Clinton’s Foundation donors.In both stories the Post managed to miss reporting...

Clinton for sale By posting this am I saying that Bill Clinton is different from any other powerful politician, in taking money from foreign donors who obviously hope to influence the political process? No, in this Bill Clinton is not singular. But look at this list: $10 million to $25 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Between $1 million and $5 million each from Saudi businessman Nasser Al-Rashid, Friends of Saudi Arabia, the Dubai Foundation, and the governments of Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman. And the New York Post here is worried about money from India keeping Hillary from...

“A mother complained to our local library about a book her 7-year old daughter brought home from the children's section and which she discovered was a veiled propaganda piece advocating same-sex relationships.”

NOV 22 UPDATE: a clown named Aurelio Munoz, masquerading as a real superior court judge, delayed an important hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court in the Paul v Clinton case. (Yes, the case is still going.) Munoz came into the courtroom and said that he wasn't prepared. He knows very well that Hillary's nomination for Sec of State is expected to be announced right after Thanksgiving. What do the Clintons have on Munoz? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FR EXCLUSIVE: Did a $1 Million Clinton Library Donation Come from a Scam Against a Chicago Bank? YouTube/interview with a witness ^ | 4-2-08 | dfu...

The one-room clapboard building, a beloved small-town gathering place since 1923, had no restrooms. When nature called, patrons young and old either had to hold it, do their business next door at the Roxbury Union Congregational Church or go home. "I used to say 'We're the Wi-Fi library without a pot to p-- in,'" said library director Susan D'Amico.

Body found in Arkansas RiverLast Update: 11/13 9:21 pm In Pulaski County search crews found the body of man who died in the Arkansas River. The body has not been officially identified but it's thought to be that of a man who went missing Tuesday Pablo Ramos, 19, disappeared while mowing the Clinton library lawn. Ramos' mower was found tipped over at the bank of the river. The body will be taken to the state crime lab.

Our children: This board didn't take the steps necessary to protect our kids from hard-core video pornography at our public libraries. In an unbelievably disgraceful move, the incumbent voted to allow deviants to view this perversion in our libraries with our kids nearby. It's illegal for explicit sexual material to be on display in public. I pledge to protect our kids and enforce that law in Pima County libraries.

WASILLA — Wasilla Public Library has decided not to shelve two children’s books dealing with homosexuality donated by a gay activist in California. Michael Petrelis, a 49-year-old from San Francisco, donated the books in September after learning of Gov. Sarah Palin’s question about banning certain books when she was Wasilla’s mayor. In 1996 Palin asked Wasilla’s librarian how she would feel about banning certain books at the library. While no books were banned, Palin’s question started a brief controversy over censorship at the library. Palin reportedly took issue with the book “Pastor, I Am Gay,” by local author and now-retired...

Students Protest School Library’s Rejection of Christian Books on Homosexuality

As part of the microscopic scrutiny applied to Sarah Palin’s record, the public has been told that as the incoming Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska in 1996, Palin dared to ask the town librarian what would happen if anyone objected to an inappropriate book. She merely inquired, but "anti-censorship" activists, perpetually filled with visions of a trash can full of burning books, exploded. At the time, the Anchorage Daily News captured the librarian, one Mary Ellen Emmons, putting up her First Amendment dukes. “I told her clearly, I will fight anyone who tries to dictate what books can go on the...

CITY OF WASILLA •Office of the Mayor• We at the City of Wasilla have received many emails and requests for information about “banned or censored” books at the Wasilla Library while former Mayor Palin was in office. We have no records of any books being “banned or censored” ever. Below is the policy to request reconsideration of library materials: Reconsideration Requests of Library Materials In accordance with the Wasilla Public Library Collection Development Policy, the library, “…strives to achieve a balanced collection of materials in the major information categories, as well as a fiction collection calculated to satisfy the widest...

In most cases, the one to bring a complaint to the library is a concerned parent or a citizen sincerely interested in the future wellbeing of the community. Although complainants may not have a broad knowledge of literature or of the principles of freedom of expression, their motives in questioning a book or other library material are seldom unusual. Any number of reasons are given for recommending that certain material be removed from the library. Complainants may believe that the materials will corrupt children and adolescents, offend the sensitive or unwary reader, or undermine basic values and beliefs. Sometimes, for...

Librarians irked colleague sent unverified Palin e-mail By LAURA GREEN Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Thursday, September 11, 2008 A Palm Beach County School District library manager set off an e-mail controversy this week when she sent school librarians a list of books Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin allegedly tried to ban as mayor of a small Alaska town. Problem was the list turned out to be a hoax. It included Harry Potter books that weren't yet published when Palin had an exchange with the Wasilla librarian about removing books.

Sarah Palin’s biography includes such honorifics as hockey mom, moose hunter, town mayor, governor, and now Republican vice-presidential nominee. But Palin’s detractors would like to add another title to that list: Book banner. It’s a surprisingly effective attack — but just another smear. Fact is, Sarah Palin has never advocated censorship. She never railed against “filthy” literature as mayor or as governor. And although Palin is an evangelical Christian, the only real crusade in her career has been against political corruption and self-dealing. Yet far-left bloggers and interest groups, abetted by Palin’s political rivals in Alaska and the press, say...

WASILLA, Alaska- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and...

WASILLA -- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and...