#support local libraries

[myjetpack]

a cartoon for the guardian

[finn-collectoroftin]

Reminder for punks or anyone wanting to be punk:

Punk isn't all about enamel pins, leather, and spikes

There's a lot of softer areas of punk that don't have to do with the way you dress

Supporting public libraries, independent gardening, shopping small, donating to charities, making your own stuff, (stealing from big businesses), and basically any form of environmentalism are all very punk things

I myself don't dress punk, but I listen to the music and have the same ideologies. I am just as punk as the people kicking cops and shaving their heads.

Punk fashion is grungy, punk ideology is kind. Remember this.

[0liver-hope]

if you love books, save a library!

I hear people on Tumblr talk a lot about the importance of libraries; now’s your chance to help save one!

At Vermont State University is a newly merging Uni in so-called North America, pushing together three previously separate universities: Castleton University, Northern Vermont University, and Vermont Technical College.

Just last week, the new VTSU administration sent out an email to faculty, staff and students announcing that all the libraries at each of the 5 campuses contained within these universities would be moving to an ‘all-digital’ model. Librarians will lose their jobs if this plan goes ahead; in fact, librarians were only informed of this change 11 minutes before the email was sent out.

We have come to understand that this means that all physical material will be removed from the library. They seem to want to do other things with the space, such as set up ‘a coffee or smoothie bar’ and determine ‘what students want’ to do with the space. This plan would go into effect on July 1st, 2023.

The fact is, students want to keep the library as it is. Quiet, and full of stacks and stacks of physical books. The administration cannot claim they are listening to students when we have demonstrated, via hundreds of emails and impassioned testimonies in front of the administration at a forum last week, that we hate this plan and oppose it vehemently. And the faculty and staff are with us, and they too have been speaking out. Not only that, the communities that surround these colleges greatly value having access to a research library, particularly in rural Vermont, and are opposing the plan as well, because, as far as I know, they will completely lose access to these resources if everything goes digital.

The image of the books above are what I just checked out today. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed browsing the stacks, in one case (not pictured above) finding a tiny book of Milton’s poetry inscribed with a reader’s name and the year 1865. So many important and precious books like that one are to be found in our library. Each book I checked out hasn’t been checked out for at least 10 years, and that’s one of the administration’s excuses for taking all our books away: that circulation is down, and that, somehow, it costs money to let books sit on a shelf. As many people have rebutted, though, just because books aren’t being checked out doesn’t mean they aren’t being read within the library and, most importantly, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have value.

Below I will post some links to various local news article on this subject as well as one radio broadcast that will probably be able to articulate this situation better than I can.

I’m just so angry and upset about this. I’ve seen students and faculty alike crying about this situation, and an old lady braver than me telling the administration that maybe they should consider lowering their own salaries before taking away our books. I think everyone here feels powerless, because the administration isn’t backing down, despite all our protests, because ultimately their goal is profit and to make sure that this new ‘equitable’ University makes as much money as possible.

At the Castleton forum, the president of the University said he was ‘deeply humiliated’, by the outrage, by the heckling, the ‘throwing of verbal tomatoes’ as I have taken to calling it, by having his and his fellow’s bullshit exposed and questioned.

Please, please, if you care about books, about libraries, about the problems with big tech and the way it continues to invade all our lives, replacing physical experiences with their more hollow, less engaging counterparts; if you care about the interests of the people triumphing over the interests of capital, about students, about education, then please -- help save our books by spreading the word however and wherever you can, by flooding the inboxes of the capitalists below; tell them how you feel about this decision and its larger implications for books and libraries in general! Not so much to convince them that they’re wrong (they already know that and don’t care), but to make going forward with this plan more of a nuisance and a PR nightmare than cancelling it would be.

I don’t know if anyone will read or see this post, but please if you do and you care, reblog, educate yourself on what’s going on, and take action if you can.

A few disclaimers:

Any specifics I mention pertain primarily to what I, as a student at Castleton University, have either heard via word of mouth or seen with my own eyes. I am not officially speaking on behalf of anyone but myself.

The only exception to all the physical materials being removed from the libraries seem to be the books deemed ‘most used’ and some valuable historical collections. This was not clear from the beginning and not yet fully clear in any further specificity.

please try not to use violent rhetoric - as much as I’m not into policing people’s speech and anger, I don’t want this to backfire and I don’t want them to crackdown harder on us or make a big stink about it if they receive those kinds of messages

Email addresses of administration officials responsible for this decision:

VTSU President Grewal: parwinder.grewal@vermontstate.edu

VTSU Provost Atkins: nolan.atkins@northernvermont.edu

VSC Chancellor Zdatny sophie.zdatny@vsc.edu

VSC Board of Trustees Chair: Eileen “Lynn” Dickinson eileen.dickinson@vsc.edu

News articles + broadcast:

https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/vermont-edition/2023-02-10/vermont-state-university-president-on-move-to-all-digital-libraries-changes-in-athletic-programs

https://www.rutlandherald.com/news/local/castleton-community-protests-vtsu-library-cuts/article_100d9539-c6ca-569e-a9b9-ecd6b3cef0ad.html

https://vtdigger.org/2023/02/08/vermont-state-university-to-close-libraries-downgrade-sports-programs/

http://www.castletonspartan.com/2023/02/12/vtsu-library-plan-sparks-outrage-and-emotion/

[fixing-bad-posts]

[Image description: An advertisement graphic which has been edited from its original form. Plaintext is below.]

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your local library forever of unlimited reading for $0.00 LIBRARY fuck amazon forever

inspired by this post

[mysharona1987]

But by his own legal standards Florida governor Ron Desantis should be going to jail, right?

[brilokuloj]

Join me and take action in the Battle for Libraries

As you may know, I am a passionate lover of the Internet Archive. Through 2020, I ran a section on my ephemera blog where I talked about hits from the Wayback Machine; I am a contributor myself, to the extent that my free time allows; even a lot of the music I play on streams is from there.

Yesterday, the worst happened: the future of 4 million digital books on the Internet Archive is now at stake, as well as libraries everywhere in the USA. I learned that the methods being targeted in this lawsuit (CDL, Controlled Digital Lending) are not just unique to the Internet Archive, but apply to the way even libraries like the fucking Boston Public Library, one of the largest libraries in the United States. This is a threat to public libraries and accessibility. The alternative we are expected to follow is book bans.

How can I help?

Donate if you have the money, obviously. But I know that's hard.

Sign the petition and sign up for email updates at Battle for Libraries. Not just a change.org petition but an established group that is working on organizing rallies.

They have some freebie graphics you can put on your posts (above). I don't see the harm in it.

Subscribe to the Empowering Libraries newsletter.

Support your local library. Even just going there when you can counts, they need the numbers! Check out books, look at their equipment if they have a makerspace.

Now's a good time to make personal backups of things that you could not live without. There's no real hope of an Internet Archive Archive (more on why it's more difficult than you think), but decentralized backups are always a good thing.

Don't just take it for me. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

How to argue with "But piracy..."

First off, don't argue with trolls. But if you have an acquaintance who really doesn't get it, here's some resources.

Bandcamp's stance on piracy: "It’s not like they’d slap their forehead and open their wallet. Instead, they’d just move on to some other site where those restrictions aren’t in place."

"But if they steal it – how can I make money?"

Small Publisher Embraces Controlled Digital Lending to Connect with New Readers: "I think in the end, it drives sales because you are finding readers you wouldn’t normally have. Those readers aren’t getting a copy that they keep forever — it’s a copy that’s going to lead them to want to own it."

In the hopefully-near future I will be publishing a list of online library catalogues; coincidentally, I was reading a decade-old book about digital libraries, so I've got a ton of links for you guys.

[bookishfreedom]

library haul!!!!!!! went for one nonfiction book to read for the month and left with… a lot more

[teeth-wanted]

Was listening to The Lost Hero for the first time and the narrator for Leo sounded so fucking familiar and it's Raine. It's Raine Whispers.

(Also here's everyone gentle reminder that your local public library probably has audiobooks and if you work at a job like mine, having access to free, streamable audiobooks is a lifesaver. Support public libraries 🖤)

[novlr]

National Library Week starts tomorrow, so let's celebrate with a fun fact! Did you know, the first National Library Week was celebrated in 1958, with the theme "Wake up and Read!"?

This year's theme is "There's More to the Story", so let's give our libraries some love this week. ❤️

[avikats66]

Just a library worker here reminding everyone to check out whatever online resources and e-library systems are available at your local library. From streaming services to databases to learning programs, you may very well be quite surprised by all the things a library card (or just using a library computer/wifi network) can give you access to!

[myjetpack]

A cartoon about #bannedbooks or the @guardian

[wallf1ower]

Where I like to read books

Under the covers in the darkness, with only a reading light. Like a child again, sneaking up past my bedtime, I get lost in the fantastical worlds of someone else’s stories, rather than my own far less fantastic nighttime imaginations. The prose of good fantasy authors is so beautiful; I would much rather have their words fill my head than the ones I think up - the ones that keep me awake into the long, dark hours of the early morning. If I can’t sleep, at least I can have someone else’s dreams to keep me company, and a good fantasy novel has never let me down for this.

On the train ride to work while the sun rises, hot coffee in one hand. I always read manga on the train. There is no reason for this other than habit; I always have, so now I always do. I find comfort in rituals, however arbitrary, especially in the morning. The Japanese have a wonderful sense of humour; even the heaviest and most profound mangas I’ve come across are peppered with jokes and little human moments that make the stories come alive off the page. Plus, the art is often beautiful to admire. By the time I’ve arrived at my station, I am always left smiling from what I’ve read. It’s the perfect way to wake my brain up and start the day.

At my desk job; I pore through textbooks when I’m bored and taskless, I let the secret beauty of the universe reveal itself before me. No matter how much I learn, I always want more. To me, there is no greater magic than that of the world we live in, and the people who made and discovered seemingly impossible things, and made them possible. Finding order in the chaos brings me peace within the world, and finding understanding in things I never thought I could brings me peace within myself. Learning for the sake of it has shown me countless beauty in a world I once thought was completely devoid of it. I will never tire of a well-written textbook.

On the train ride home while the sun sets over the grey, concrete city and lights my pages on fire with deep orange sunbeams through the window. There are always large crowds on the train home, but I lose myself in the stories until it’s just me and the characters. I always read manga on the train. It helps me decompress after a long day. By the time I’m home, I am always left smiling.

On the weekends, I like to pack a few books in my bag; novels and nonfiction, whatever my heart desires, and walk until wherever I end up. Sometimes I sit and read in coffee shops, sometimes it’s in the park if the weather’s nice. On Sundays I sit curled up on the giant beanbag in my parents’ attic while my old dog snores soundly beside me. If I’m lucky enough to find a fireplace to sit in front of, I will read there until I’ve run out of books. I love reading by the fire.

In the bath, or on walks, or when my hands are busy, I listen to audiobooks. I always borrow audio versions from the library of whatever books I’m currently reading, so that I can pick up right where I left off anytime with minimal disruption. Sometimes I even listen to them while I have the written book in front of me, and it’s like I’m a child again, being read to. I especially like to do this at bedtime, with a timer set to the end of the chapter, so I can fall asleep listening.

To all authors: thank you for sharing your imagination and your knowledge. You have made my life so much richer, brighter, and more profound. Thank you for your words; thank you for your stories. I carry these pieces of you with me everywhere, and I am so much better for it. Thank you.

And to my fellow readers: please leave me some recommendations of your favourite books in the replies :]

[fixing-bad-posts]

ㅤ

i know we all want to feel like we're making a meaningful difference, but blogging is very rarely activism. it's okay to do something just for fun/for you. sometimes what you're doing on the internet doesn't matter. it shouldn't have to matter.

[ineffably-ryuu]

First time I’ve been in my local library in roughly a decade (been living in my university libraries for the past six years) and I think I’m in love.

[modernhamlet]

oh, to study in one of those libraries

[soontobelibrarian]

What do libraries post i

For this uni project, I not only had to share what wee see in class, but also to look up what other libraries are posting on this website. To do this, I followed different accounts and here's a sum up of what I found : 1. Mostly, they post about the collections they want to share, the new books coming in, the exhibitions they are hosting... Promoting their activity, as one does on the Internet.

2. The second most common activity of libraries on Tumblr, and it is my favorite, is sharing about political issues. Book bans, inclusivity, community support, I was pleased to see how diverse the subjects are. 3. The third and last main thing libraries post on here is meme content end pretty pictures of libraries, which is pretty accurate and fitting of how Tumblr works.

I also wanted to follow the #libraries but most of the posts were photographs of beautiful libraries around the world (they're majestic) but not so much about what libraries post by themselves.