In the News

For the second time this year, the federal government’s top watchdog concluded Monday that the Trump administration violated the law by withholding funding Congress already approved.

The Trump administration broke the law when it withheld funding for the nation’s libraries, a nonpartisan government watchdog said on Monday, a finding that inches the White House another step closer to a legal showdown over its powers to reconfigure the country’s spending.

May 23, 1955, was a bad day to be found with a dirty magazine in Rochester. The national “comics czar,” Charles F. Murphy, was in town to speak to the Chamber of Commerce and various self-appointed “clean-literature leaders.” Mayor Samuel Dicker had formally declared it Decent Literature Day in Rochester.

Books are tremendous things. They’re recorders of all things, provocateurs of ideas and instruction manuals on anything and everything humans can imagine. And libraries, both public libraries and school libraries, are the sacred houses for these amazing things.

Idaho’s libraries are preparing to end and restructure a digital access plan and the talking book service in response to the recent sudden termination of federal grants.

Sarah Jessica Parker might play a writer passionate about relationships (and shoes) on TV, but in real life she’s an avid reader who holds books near and dear to her heart.

The stage is set in the Oregon Legislature for a final showdown over a bill that would prohibit removing or declining to carry books from school libraries solely because they are written by diverse authors or contain themes about race, gender, LGBTQ+ issues and other groups protected from discrimination under Oregon law.

Senate Bill 13 would require school boards or advisory councils to approve new books and review complaints. Critics worry the bill would lead to banning classic titles and create administrative logjams.