Latest news with #publiclibraries
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Parks, libraries, museums: here's why Trump is attacking America's best-loved institutions
The author and environmentalist Wallace Stegner called our national parks 'America's best idea'. Certainly, these jewels – 85m acres of parkland throughout all the 50 states – are beloved by the public. So are America's public libraries, arts organizations and museums. But that hasn't stopped the Trump administration from threatening or harming them. These institutions are under siege. They are hurt by deep funding cuts, the loss or bullying of public employees and, in some cases, by threats of extinction. Why would any politician – especially one as hungry for adulation as Donald Trump – go after such cherished parts of America? It seems counterintuitive, but this is all a part of a broad plan that the great 20th century political thinker Hannah Arendt would have understood all too well. Take away natural beauty, free access to books and support for the arts, and you end up with a less enlightened, more ignorant and less engaged public. That's a public much more easily manipulated. 'A people that can no longer believe in anything cannot make up its mind,' said Arendt, a student of authoritarianism, in 1973. Eventually, such a public 'is deprived … of its ability to think and judge', and with people like that, 'you can then do what you please'. That's what Trump and company are counting on. It's also part of the effort to divide Americans into two tribes – the elites and the regular folks, the blue and the red, the drivers of dorky hybrid sedans and the drivers of oversized pick-up trucks. The arts and nature, by contrast, serve to unite us. When you're admiring a redwood or gazing at the Grand Canyon, you're neither Republican nor Democrat. The same goes for listening to a beautiful piece of new music or choosing library books to read with your children. But division and grievance serve Trump better. And so, we have the attacks on marginalized people, on university research, and the performing arts, often in the guise of eliminating waste or discriminatory hiring practices. 'The Trump administration has launched a comprehensive attack on knowledge itself, a war against culture, history and science,' Adam Serwer wrote in the Atlantic recently in a much-discussed piece describing 'the attack on knowledge', putting in broad context Trump's defunding of universities and attempts to discourage international scholarship. What's really going on is a longterm power grab. In crippling learning, beauty and culture Trump and his helpers 'seek to make the country more amenable to their political domination'. When it comes to the parks, as the Guardian's Annette McGivney reported recently, the harm is well under way. Thousands of staffing cuts mean that many parks lack adequate supervision, that campgrounds are closed and that the care of precious natural resources is neglected. Again, it's by design, as the former national parks director Jonathan Jarvis told McGivney. 'There are ideologues who want to dismantle the federal government,' Jarvis said. 'And the last thing they need is a highly popular federal agency that undermines their argument about how the government is dysfunctional.' Mark Nebel, a longtime manager of a program at the Grand Canyon, and a true believer in the value of national parks, spoke about the personal toll. 'The Trump administration says this is all about efficiency, but it is nothing of the sort,' said Nebel, who became demoralized at the harm being done and abruptly resigned. Reducing government waste may sound good but it looks more like willful destruction. Among the many agencies that are under attack are the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These organizations provide crucial support for public libraries and museums, grants to artists and writers, and much more. They make us better as a people. They uplift us. Like the parks, they can bring beauty into our lives. And as the poet John Keats wrote, beauty and truth are inseparable. But truth is only trouble for the would-be autocrat. And truth itself is under attack, as Trump – a prolific liar – tries to control the message to the public by controlling the reality-based press. That's how successful propaganda works. Toward that end, his administration is trying to defund public media, including NPR and PBS, and – partly through lawsuits against media organizations including CBS News and ABC News – to intimidate journalists and their corporate bosses. A more ignorant, less enlightened, more divided electorate is far easier to manipulate. And the power grab, after all, is the larger aim. Once that power is fully secured, there is no one left to challenge the endless grift and self-dealing that is a hallmark of this administration – the sale of meme coins, the pay-to-play pardons of criminals and the cultivation of rich guys and their fat wallets. The diminishment of truth and beauty is part of a long game, but one that doesn't have to prevail. Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Books about June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown grow scarce in Hong Kong
Books about the Tiananmen Square crackdown have become increasingly scarce in Hong Kong's independent bookstores, with sellers citing widespread self-censorship fuelled by legal uncertainties surrounding the sale of politically sensitive titles under the national security laws. The disappearance of the books and the loss of the annual June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, combined with the city's changed political environment, had contributed to turning commemoration into a private experience, rather than a publicly shared one, observers said. Ultimately, this shift would alter how memories about the event were passed down by generations, one professor of communications said. As Wednesday's 36th anniversary of the crackdown approaches, the Post reviewed the archives of public libraries and university libraries and surveyed bookshops to assess the availability of books in Chinese or English on the topic. Public libraries used to house 149 titles, totalling 1,162 copies about the event, according to a list released by the Home Affairs Bureau in 2009 in response to a lawmaker's request. None of the titles are available on the public library's online catalogue, according to a recent search. In a reply to the Post, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said public libraries reviewed and withdrew materials to ensure 'their compliance with the laws of Hong Kong'.
CBC
11-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Budget boost to N.L. libraries a welcomed surprise, says director, but questions linger
Public libraries across Newfoundland and Labrador got a surprise in this year's provincial budget — an extra $500,000 added to the funding. The province earmarked $13.5 million in April's budget announcement for the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board, a Crown corporation established under the Public Libraries Act to oversee the operation of public library services in the province. The budget has not yet passed in the House of Assembly. "It was very good news for us. We're very pleased to see it," said Fred Whitmarsh, director of library operations with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries (NLPL). However, Whitmarsh says there's some uncertainty around the money. "We're still in the process of parsing it out because one of the things that's unknown … is this a permanent boost to the funding or is it one time money?" he said. Some of that funding could go toward facility maintenance and improving accessibility in libraries across the province, Whitmarsh said, as well as updating servers so they run smoothly. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries put a pause on late fees. Whitmarsh said he'd like to see that become permanent. "The big thing for us is our collections, whether it's the physical collections on the shelves and the branches or some of the digital resources as well," he said. He said books are becoming more expensive, so libraries are being strategic in what they acquire, and he doesn't know why the government decided to increase the budget this year. "My personal perspective is that the library is wonderful, it's great. We can do great things with the funding," he said. According to a briefing note prepared for government officials, released via an access-to-information request in 2023, Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries saw a jump in clients using Libby, the library system that lets patrons access e-books and audiobooks, in recent years. Whitmarsh says the increase in people using the online services hasn't gone down. "You can't put that genie back in the bottle," he said. "We've seen a continued demand for those online services." In an email, Department of Education spokesperson Lynn Robinson told CBC News the budget increase is in recognition of the vital work libraries carry out. "Library staff and volunteers work diligently to support public library services and programming throughout Newfoundland and Labrador," Robinson wrote. "Funding for the [Provincial Information and Library Resources Board] supports the operation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Library system and fosters improved literacy in our province." NLPL was established in 1935 and provides public library services through a network of 94 locations across the province.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Budget boost to N.L. libraries a welcomed surprise, says director, but questions linger
Public libraries across Newfoundland and Labrador got a surprise in this year's provincial budget — an extra $500,000 added to the funding. The province earmarked $13.5 million in April's budget announcement for the Provincial Information and Library Resources Board, a Crown corporation established under the Public Libraries Act to oversee the operation of public library services in the province. The budget has not yet passed in the House of Assembly. "It was very good news for us. We're very pleased to see it," said Fred Whitmarsh, director of library operations with Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries (NLPL). However, Whitmarsh says there's some uncertainty around the money. "We're still in the process of parsing it out because one of the things that's unknown … is this a permanent boost to the funding or is it one time money?" he said. Some of that funding could go toward facility maintenance and improving accessibility in libraries across the province, Whitmarsh said, as well as updating servers so they run smoothly. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, libraries put a pause on late fees. Whitmarsh said he'd like to see that become permanent. "The big thing for us is our collections, whether it's the physical collections on the shelves and the branches or some of the digital resources as well," he said. He said books are becoming more expensive, so libraries are being strategic in what they acquire, and he doesn't know why the government decided to increase the budget this year. "My personal perspective is that the library is wonderful, it's great. We can do great things with the funding," he said. According to a briefing note prepared for government officials, released via an access-to-information request in 2023, Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries saw a jump in clients using Libby, the library system that lets patrons access e-books and audiobooks, in recent years. Whitmarsh says the increase in people using the online services hasn't gone down. "You can't put that genie back in the bottle," he said. "We've seen a continued demand for those online services." In an email, Department of Education spokesperson Lynn Robinson told CBC News the budget increase is in recognition of the vital work libraries carry out. "Library staff and volunteers work diligently to support public library services and programming throughout Newfoundland and Labrador," Robinson wrote. "Funding for the [Provincial Information and Library Resources Board] supports the operation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Library system and fosters improved literacy in our province." NLPL was established in 1935 and provides public library services through a network of 94 locations across the province. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Columbia County residents protest possible library censorship guidelines
COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga (WJBF) – The Freedom To Read Coalition of Columbia County was outside the Columbia County Library this morning protesting guidelines that were put in place in September. These guidelines would move books in the county's public libraries based on content which has many Columbia County citizens frustrated. The county's new plan is to withdraw from the Greater Clark's Hill Library Region and become its own single county region within the state library system. Officials with the county say this move is for the library to be more independent so they can address the citizens' needs. Many feel this change is an excuse to move and remove books from the libraries. 'Moving the book from where it's supposed to be is a form of censorship and is essentially book banning. Taking it from where it was supposed to be and you're making it harder to find, in a sense you're hiding it, you're trying to hide it in the library from the audience that it was intended to be written for,' said Karin Parham, CEO of Freedom to Read Coalition Columbia County. Many say they feel the commissioners are censoring materials at libraries when it should be up to the parent or person to decide what they or their children will read. 'If we are a free country, free people read freely. We don't need the government coming in and enforcing these weird guidelines to tell us what books are available. I think that every parent is more than capable of watching their own child in the library and deciding for themselves if a book is okay or not okay,' Parham said. Parham says she loves seeing the community come together for any issue going on and fight for what they believe in. 'I just think it's great to see our community engaged in ways that we're passionate about and this is a way for people to be involved in their local community and in community government, we have a voice, and we have more of a voice here locally than we do on a national level,' said Parham. The move will be effective on January 1st of 2026. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
