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Check Your Shelf

Trump Threatens to Sue Penguin Random House, and More Library News

Trump threatens Penguin Random House and THE NEW YORK TIMES with a $10 billion lawsuit, how libraries fared in the election, and more.

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Katie McLain Horner

Contributing Editor

Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves. Twitter: @kt_librarylady

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What’s new in Library Land? Let’s gather ’round and discuss.

Trump Threatens to Sue Penguin Random House

Lucky Loser cover

Surprising absolutely no one, Trump has already threatened Penguin Random House and The New York Times with a $10 billion lawsuit related to the recent publication of Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, co-written by Times journalists Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig. The Columbia Journalism Review also noted that this lawsuit threat “was part of a larger effort from the Trump camp to accuse media outlets including CBS News, the Daily Beast, and the Washington Post of bias in reporting or other alleged actions—an effort reminiscent of Trump’s first term in the White House, when he regularly sued publishing houses that released books critical of him or his administration.”

Here’s How Libraries Fared in the 2024 Election

EveryLibrary tracked the election results on nearly 80 library measures on local and state ballots in 2024. Library Journal has a concise summary of the results, but overall, libraries fared pretty well. Texas school board elections also did fairly well, in that the majority of the candidates who supported book banning lost their elections. (However, the article notes a few exceptions, most notably Conroe ISD, where all of the school board trustees now have ties to book banning campaigns.)

There Is Hope in the World, and Her Name is Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton continues to be a ray of sunshine in an increasingly bleak political atmosphere. This time, she donated $4.5 million to the Nashville Public Library to kickstart a new early literacy program. The Begin Bright initiative “will deliver a Little Library filled with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Books and a host of NPL resources to every childcare center in the county.” This feels particularly needed, as we continue to see articles about decreasing literacy rates for students around the world.

Books Won’t Save Us

I’m closing out with a link to S. Zainab Williams’ recent Deep Dive post about how books won’t save us from the looming political horrorshow. Because this is part of Book Riot’s Deep Dive series, you won’t be able to read the entire article unless you’re a subscriber, but I think it’s something all library employees need to consider. Reading lists and displays are all well and good, but how is your library actually supporting the vulnerable people in your community? How are the staff protected from abuse? And how are we as individuals going to take the ideas we read about and put them into practice? Don’t fool yourself into believing that reading automatically translates to action. If you’re in a position to recommend policy and procedural changes, or to create new community partnerships, now is the time to start.

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