I know Jamie LaRue and have respected him for years now. On Monday he posted his response to a recent book challenge in his library district. Here’s the intro:
Recently, a library patron challenged (urged a reconsideration of the ownership or placement of) a book called "Uncle Bobby’s Wedding." Honestly, I hadn’t even heard of it until that complaint. But I did read the book, and responded to the patron, who challenged the item through email and requested that I respond online (not via snail-mail) about her concerns. I suspect the book will get a lot of challenges in 2008-2009. So I offer my response, purging the patron’s name, for other librarians.
The rest of the post is his response and I’m officially declaring it required reading for everyone reading this blog. So please take five minutes and read his post titled Uncle Bobby’s Wedding.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
2 Replies to “Response to a book challenge”
Hello, Sorry to post this inquiry as a comment to your blog post but wasn’t sure how else to do it…I enjoyed the YouTube clip of Your Life Work: Librarian. I am a student in the University of Rhode Island’s Library and Information Science program with an assignment. I am creating my first website using html code and would like to add the clip or at least a link to the clip. I have been trying to determine copyright for it and just discovered your blog this morning.Last night a 24/7 reference librarian suggested I call Iowa State University to ask for permission to use it.I linked to your copyright info on your blog and I think it is safe to assume that it is in the public domain for lack of copyright renewal. Is that correct? I am using it only on my website for an educational homework assignment due Thursday, July 24. Thank you in advance for your help… Donna Colson from Massachusetts…I look forward to your answer in my email… dlcolson20032003@yahoo.com
I’d say it’s in the public domain since it was a creation of the US government and they are not allowed to copyright their creations. As far as I’m concerned, feel free to use it however you’d like.
Hello,
Sorry to post this inquiry as a comment to your blog post but wasn’t sure how else to do it…I enjoyed the YouTube clip of Your Life Work: Librarian. I am a student in the University of Rhode Island’s Library and Information Science program with an assignment. I am creating my first website using html code and would like to add the clip or at least a link to the clip. I have been trying to determine copyright for it and just discovered your blog this morning.Last night a 24/7 reference librarian suggested I call Iowa State University to ask for permission to use it.I linked to your copyright info on your blog and I think it is safe to assume that it is in the public domain for lack of copyright renewal. Is that correct? I am using it only on my website for an educational homework assignment due Thursday, July 24. Thank you in advance for your help…
Donna Colson from Massachusetts…I look forward to your answer in my email…
dlcolson20032003@yahoo.com
I’d say it’s in the public domain since it was a creation of the US government and they are not allowed to copyright their creations. As far as I’m concerned, feel free to use it however you’d like.