Importance Of Public Libraries In A Modern World

Banned For as long as people have been printing their ideas onto paper, there has been conflict. Anytime someone voices their opinion, there will be those who disagree. This is an unavoidable truth. However, through the practice of banning books, it has been possible for certain individuals to deny others their right to freely choose what they wish to read.

For libraries to remain a place for a lively exchange of ideas, librarians should be armed with the right knowledge and strong conviction to preserve people’s rights.

In Zadie Smith’s article, “The North West London Blues,” she repeatedly stresses on the vitality of public libraries, building an argument, through which, she attempts to induce her readers that public libraries are important and should remain accessible. In pursuance of her goal, Smith resorts to the use of ethos, the appeal to ethics, pathos, the appeal to emotion, and logos, the appeal to logic, in addition to her unique use of diction, rhetorical devices, and subtle word choice.

By definition, a democratic society in America is a form of society which favors equal rights, freedom of speech and a fair trial and tolerates the views of minorities. All students are entitled to intellectual freedom and by banning certain books in schools, the school system and parents are putting students at a disadvantage. While those who seek to ban books do so out of a desire to protect students, others believe that banning books does more harm than good. Books should never be banned for reasons such as no one person or group should decide what students can or cannot read, according to Jamie Leigh writer of “10 Reasons for Banning Books, and 5 Much Better Reasons Not To”, “Books are among our best teachers”, and overall books serve the greater good.

In Ray Bradbury’s fictional novel about the horrifying future, he discusses topics that, politically and socially, can relate to Judith Ortiz Cofer’s short story; The Paterson Public Library. These two pertain to each other because both Bradbury’s and Cofer’s characters are afraid of situations that involve books. Though they do compare in many ways, there are also differences between the stories.

I once had a friend who never read Harry Potter books. Why? Because someone in her school district decided the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were not proper for a Christian young woman. Examples of this and similar experiences bring up the question who has the right to decide what information you see. information is key to the human race. it is the reason that we have the planet. we are the only species that can learn from our mistakes. but troublingly, all across the country, information in places of learning is being swept under the rug. increasing censorship of school textbooks, libraries, and media is a misguided and poorly thought out attempt to force facts to fit on particular worldview. schools have fallen victim to this ideology, by being pressured to

Over two hundred years ago, the Constitution was signed giving citizens of a newly designed nation civil liberties that no man could ever confiscate. The first of many Amendments to said document included the freedoms to religion, the press, and most importantly freedom of speech. And with the freedom of speech, arose so many great works of literature. Schools of the past then decided on the context of their libraries and of their lesson plans. However, no one ever concerns themselves with what happens to all of those other textbooks and classics that mysteriously disappear from shelves and are no longer taught in the classroom. Withholding knowledge from any student, who will soon be a full-fledged societal

This source was important because it allowed us to see what is ‘legally’ considered a bill of rights for a library. As this is from a national association for libraries, it can be inferred that our own library would have shared the same ideals. This was important for the usefulness of for the Strategic Plan as it allowed us to outline the rules that the library would have to follow and how it would likely deal with events in the library.

In Eleanor Roosevelt's speech, “What Libraries Mean to the Nation”, she talks about the importance of libraries in the United States. She talks about how useful libraries are in making a better education for the people. She does this by using logical appeal and in an anecdote.

The London Public Library is an organization spanning the city of London, delivering services from 16 physical locations. The core services of the library include reference, reader’s advisory and referral; collections and lending; technology services; programming and community outreach. The library is focused on literacy, learning, culture/leisure/recreation, information and community meeting place. The past few years have seen significant resources pegged towards fund raising strategies, resulting in other areas of the organization being neglected and

The first side of this debate claims that banning books is for the good of the students, and parents should be happy that the school cares about the students and what they are reading. Robert P. Doyle shares his opinion about books and how they are banned because of the mild use of language, sexual content, and text against the government (Doyle). “So, in 1939, they wrote the “Library Bill of Rights,” which begins to articulate the library community’s philosophical position regarding censorship” (Doyle). ”For the book community, it wasn’t political content so much as sexual content that created censorship challenges and ultimately brought the issue to the attention of the courts” (Doyle). Doyle is the author of an article entitled “The American Experience”, he expresses his opinion for Pro banned books using statements such as above. Banning books is always for the benefit of the students, schools don’t ban them because they want to, there is always a reason for banning the book.

Think back to when you were in high school, do you remember that one book you read that really opened your eyes? Well the sad reality is that somewhere in the world that favorite book you read is either banned or challenged in a library. So it sits locked away never to open the eyes of another or help educate them further on its contents. Books should not be banned in libraries. We have the freedom of speech, so why take away or censor our freedom to simply read and consume literature?

Zadie starts the article with explaining the reason why public libraries and being closed. She states that the lack of attention people have given to public libraries "provides the excuse to close them down." This allows Zadie to grab the attention of the parent readers and allow readers to realize that they might of cause their children lost one of their access to public resources that can provide information and can educate them. By this information,

People who visit libraries should be able to read what they want. The government should not stick their noses in individual citizen's freedoms. The libraries should have clearly marked sections in order to keep children from checking out books they shouldn't read, but that is up to the parent's discretion. Parents are responsible for what their child can and cannot read, not the job of the library. Minors should not read books like Fifty Shades of Grey, but the library should have the book for other readers.

Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to advocate for the preservation of public libraries in America.