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August 6, 2024 2560 × 1707 Newsmaker: Max Greenfield

Photo: EPNAC

Max Greenfield reads his new book during a June 30 talk at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition

Latest Library Links

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Olivia Nordyke writes: “Dozens of previously banned book titles from the Mat-Su Borough School District in Palmer, Alaska, are being returned to school library shelves. After removing 56 books from library circulation, the school district came under fire for not reviewing the books prior to their removal. [On August 6], Judge Gleason of the US District Court of Alaska ordered the school district to return all but seven of the 56 titles before the start of the school year. The books will remain available in libraries until a final decision is reached at a trial set for April 2025.”

KTUU-TV (Anchorage, Alaska), Aug. 7; ACLU of Alaska, Aug. 7
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“First Amendment audits are a social movement made up of individuals interested in making videos of their encounters with public officials. If the encounter results in an actual or perceived violation of the auditor’s First Amendment or other protected rights, the video will likely be posted on social media and/or serve as the basis for a claim or suit. A First Amendment auditor’s goal is to provoke a response. Auditors believe that the movement promotes transparency and open government. They are testing if their constitutional rights will be upheld. Many post their videos online to make money from video views.”

Public CEO, Aug. 6
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Ron French writes: “Voters in Alpena County [Michigan] on August 6 approved a tax to keep its public library open, despite a campaign to defund it [and county commissioners’ efforts to fire library board members] over children and teen books with sexual themes. An operating millage, necessary to keep the library open, passed with 59% of the vote. The same day, 54% of residents in Dickinson County in the Upper Peninsula approved a millage to continue funding their local library, despite a campaign to defeat it because of children’s books some deemed inappropriate.”

Bridge Michigan, Aug. 7; July 23
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Catherine Hollerbach writes: “Richmond, Virginia, has one of the highest eviction rates in the country. Richmond Public Library partnered with the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) to help renters who face potential eviction. During July and August, librarians and VPLC staff are available at the Main Library one morning, one afternoon, and one evening a week to assist renters who need help getting online, navigating resources on the internet, or printing forms to take to court.”

Public Libraries Online, Aug. 8
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Megan Bennett writes: “Max Greenfield knows that anxieties can keep our mind racing at night. Even the most far-fetched ones. The actor, best known for his roles on sitcoms New Girl and The Neighborhood, is also a children’s author. In his new title, Good Night Thoughts (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, September), he hopes to help readers put their fears to bed. At the American Library Association’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition, American Libraries spoke with Greenfield about his own anxieties and how his friendship with the late actor Leslie Jordan inspired his latest work.”

American Libraries Trend, Aug. 12
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Megan Bennett writes: “The weather report at the American Library Association’s 2024 Annual Conference and Exhibition, held June 27–July 2 in San Diego, was all smiles. Here are some of the week’s picture-perfect moments.”

American Libraries column, July/August
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Melina Moe and Victoria Nebolsin write: “What object might visually meld a couple into lovers, individuals into a family? In the early twentieth century, the subjects often chose books. Reading takes many postures. Performances of reading, perhaps even more. These portrait postcards present readers hunched over a book in a bar, reclined in a hospital bed, and seated stiffly on a front porch. There are groups sharing a newspaper in the breakroom and young people with disregarded books on a picnic blanket. Some portraits suggest engrossed readers, while others show sitters who hold their book limply, like an unwanted package.”

The Public Domain Review, July 31

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