INTERNATIONAL REPORT
Irish Education Alliance Seeks to Remove Teen LGBTQ+ Books From Library Shelves
by John Charlton
Public libraries in the Republic of Ireland recently faced demonstrations by protesters who want certain books removed from the shelves. The protests and book removal attempts are backed by the Irish Education Alliance (IEA), Natural Women’s Council, Lawyers for Justice Ireland, and Parents Rights Alliance, says a statement on the IEA site. IEA provides the following advice for parents who support this cause:
- Go to a library (you can use your library card to rent books in any library in your county) and ask to see the LGBTQ+ books in the 12 to 17 year old section. … Please be aware that it was the content we scrutinised and not whether it was a booked targeted for homosexual or straight boys and girls. It just so happened that the books with inappropriate content were in the Young Adult/Teens section.
- You should also ask the librarian what books they have on their database for this section. Some of these may already be on loan but could make their way back on the shelf. Please be respectful towards librarians and library staff. …
- Have a brief look though these books to see the content, rent them out and add them to the NOTICE OF LIABILITY [provided on the site]. Take a photo of these books.
- Hand the NOTICE OF LIABILITY to the head librarian and ask for the name and email of the person in charge of this County Library.
- When home, email this person. … Attach the photos of the books and some pages from the books which violate the Children’s First Act 2015.
- Report these books to the local garda [aka police] station. Ask them to file a report and start a pulse number. (This may take a few days to process so call in or phone to get it). Remind them of the Children’s First Act 2015 and the United Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989. You may also provide them with a copy of these acts if you wish. There have already been four cases lodged with the Garda (Lusk, Balbriggan, Swords and Pearse Street) that were dismissed as a ‘civil not criminal’ case. We are sending a letter to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to dispute this outcome.
Among the books that IEA says are not “age appropriate” are This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson and Trans Teen Survival Guide by Owl and Fox Fisher. IEA co-founder Lynda Kennedy says, “We have had some success. Some counties have moved the books to the adult section and ‘This Book is Gay’ was removed from the teacher’s resource list in the Junior Cycle … curriculum. We are also campaigning to stop gender ideology getting into schools.” Kennedy notes that IEA is portrayed as “far-right” and that its complaints are “basically ignored” by the media and the government, but that the organization “will continue to campaign until all these books are removed. And we will educate parents as to what changes the government are trying to bring in to the [school] curriculum. Truth and integrity are on our side.”
The Local Government Management Agency’s (LGMA) Libraries Development unit advises central and local government on library matters. Head of media and communications Brigid Fitzgerald says that LGMA “is aware of some recent protests at libraries and that some library authorities have had to provide additional support to their staff as a result, including information on how to deal with such incidents and how to protect their wellbeing.” Each library’s collection development policy dictates how to categorize books by age, Fitzgerald notes. “Borrowing restrictions based on age category are in place to support the role of parents and guardians in supervising their children’s selections. Parents and guardians play a fundamental role in guiding their children’s reading and library use. They are responsible for their children in the library, and for their children’s selections and use of library materials and services, including access to the internet and online resources. For this reason, parental consent is required when a child joins the library and further consent is sought before members move age category.” Fitzgerald asserts that LGMA is not aware of plans to remove any library books from shelves.
EBLIDA STUDIES ATTITUDES TOWARD THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Who doesn’t love a sustainable development goal? In “Second European Report on Sustainable Development Goals and Libraries: 2023 Update,” EBLIDA and the National Library of Latvia recently detailed progress by libraries in 17 European countries in meeting the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs). The SDGs include providing quality education, encouraging social inclusion and gender equality, and promoting good health and well-being. Some goals such as “no poverty” and “clean water and sanitation” seem to be outside the purview of European libraries, but what do I know?
The report also presents the results of a survey about how library associations perceive the SDGs and whether they are being applied: 47% of respondents say that SDGs are being implemented in a “convincing and active way,” while 33% say that the goals “are not implemented in libraries.”
ITALIAN ARCHITECTURE FIRM PLANS NEW
ACADEMIC LIBRARY SPACE
Sapienza University of Rome is going to get a new mega-library that will house more than 2 million volumes. A competition for the architecture contract was won by Mijic Architects. Its office manager, Caterina Guiducci, says the planned building is 6,800 square meters (about 73,195 square feet) and will have six floors—two basement floors, a ground floor, and three upper floors. Guiducci notes, “At the moment it’s not possible to say when the library will open, since the project is currently at the technical and economic feasibility study stage.” Guiducci is also unable to share the final cost because it’s still being defined.
The planned library will house works from the humanities and philosophy departments and merge several libraries that are currently spread across multiple buildings. Guiducci says the new building will feature a reading room that will be open around the clock, meeting and study rooms, and offices. There will also be a bookshop, a bar, a cafeteria, and exhibition spaces, plus an intimate and cozy green interior courtyard for hosting open-air events, as well as an auditorium for staging conferences, concerts, debates, and screenings.
AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE GETS FUNDING TO KEEP GOING
There have been sighs of relief all around at the National Library of Australia, which has been promised enough funding to keep its Trove digital public archive going for another 4 years or so. Recently, the federal executive government of Australia pledged 33 million Australian dollars (about $21.8 million) plus 9.2 million Australian dollars (about $6.1 million) in annual funding to cover the cost of maintaining and running Trove.
The National Library of Australia “welcomes the commitment” and is “delighted that Trove’s future has been secured,” Trove shares on its website. The previous funding arrangement was due to end on June 30 this year.
BLOOMSBURY ENLISTS LIBRARIES IN ITS OA EFFORTS
Bloomsbury Publishing has launched a pilot scheme to help authors publish works on an OA basis. Bloomsbury Open Collections will seek to spread the cost of OA across multiple institutions, says Ginni Arnold, head of corporate communications at Bloomsbury Publishing. Participating libraries will get “1 year’s access to 194 backlist African Studies and International Development titles as a private benefit,” Bloomsbury notes on its site. “We aim to make 20 frontlist titles in African Studies and International Development open access immediately upon publication. The titles are due to publish between March 2024 and February 2025, and include titles from Bloomsbury’s renowned Zed Books imprint.”
Arnold says, “By taking this new approach, we hope to enable open-access publication for research communities that may otherwise have limited, or no, means to access them, and thus to open up important new research and publishing opportunities for these scholars.” If the pilot is successful, “we intend to continue to offer Bloomsbury Open Collections for our African Studies books in future years, and we are actively seeking to increase representation of authors from Africa on the list over time. We also hope to expand Bloomsbury Open Collections to additional subjects in future years,” especially to those whose authors might not be able to pay the OA fee, Arnold explains. “Libraries who participate in the pilot year will be consulted about which subjects we offer the scheme for in future.” McMaster University in Canada is the first library to join the pilot scheme.
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During a long journalistic career, John Charlton has covered fields such as technology, law, business, and publishing for publications as diverse as Computer Weekly and The
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