#public fund

[in4newz]

Federal workers are going off.

[lakecountylibrary]

🔥 The beacons are lit; the library calls for aid

The Trump administration has issued an executive order aimed at dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services - the ONLY federal agency for America's libraries.

Using just 0.003% of the federal budget, the IMLS funds services at libraries across the country; services like Braille and talking books for the visually impaired, high-speed internet access, and early literacy programs.

Libraries are known for doing more with less, but even we can't work with nothing.

How You Can Help:

🔥 Call your congressperson!

Use the app of your choice or look 'em up here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Pro tip: If your phone anxiety is high, call at night and leave a voicemail. You can even write yourself a script in advance and read it off. Heck, read them this post if you want to.

Phones a total no-go? The American Library Association has a form for you: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edit?promo_id=23577

🔥Tell your friends!

Tell strangers, for that matter. People in line at the check out, your elderly neighbor, the mail carrier - no one is safe from your library advocacy. Libraries are for everyone and we need all the help we can get.

...Wait, why do we need this IMLS thing again?

The ALA says it best in their official statement and lists some ways libraries across the country use IMLS funding:

But if you want a really specific answer, here at LCPL we use IMLS funding to provide our amazing interlibrary loan service. If we can't purchase an item you request (out of print books, for example) this service lets us borrow it from another library and check it out to you.

IMLS also funds the statewide Indiana Digital Library and Evergreen Indiana, which gives patrons of smaller Indiana libraries access to collections just as large and varied as the big libraries' collections.

As usual, cutting this funding will hurt rural communities the most - but every library user will feel it one way or another. Let's let Congress know that's unacceptable.

[halogalopaghost]

If you have an address within the United States, PLEASE consider taking sixty seconds to visit https://protectmypublicmedia.org to protest the executive order recently put in place to cut funding to vital public education and media programs such as PBS, PBS Kids, and NPR (national public radio).

PBS funds The American Experience show, which creates hour-long documentaries about American history. They frequently feature minority groups, African-American history, and missteps the government has made over the years. My favorites are the Love Canal doc, The Polio Crusade (which covers the march of dimes), and the history of American Eugenics doc. Watching their videos with your adblocker disabled is an easy way to give them money.

A PBS passport also only costs $5 a month minimum and provides access to a host of other content.

PLEASE take a moment to do send an email to your rep and sign the petition in the link below. This is vitally important programming which disproportionately benefits the poorest and most marginalized, but is still incredibly enjoyable even to those who don't need it. And remember: an uneducated public is an oppressed public.

[allsortsoffuckedup]

Public library work is crazy because one minute you’ll be helping a child find books on his latest hyperfixation (cattle breeds if you’re wondering) and the next you’ll be arguing with 70-something year old cult member because you won’t let them use your community display space for their recruitment materials (we’re not a cult! It’s spiritual enlightenment! But we call our leader the Master yes) and THEN suddenly you’ll be running a knitting programme where all the old ladies are hitting on the cop you had to call to come deal with the grown ass man who has developed beef with a literal child, is yelling swear words at said child even though you’ve taken the kid into the staff only area for safety, and will not leave the library without being literally arrested

[liberaljane]

[itgetsbetter]

Question for y'all: what would you do if you had $10,000 to make things better for LGBTQ+ youth in your community or school?

If you can dream it up, we want to help you make it happen.

Since 2022, we've awarded over $1.3 million in funding to 142 youth-led projects across the U.S., including things like gender-affirming clothing closets, regional LGBTQ+ youth conferences, student wellness programs and safe spaces, and inclusive arts and education projects.

And yup, we're doing it again.

With It Gets Better: Changemakers, we want to help you create a lasting impact at your school, your library, your local LGBTQ+ center, or wherever it’s needed most in your own local community. A downtown Pride mural? Education sessions at your local LGBTQ+ center? A Queer Prom? Let's do it!

You can apply now for a grant of up to $10,000 through May 5, 2025 at itgetsbetter.org/changemakers.

P.S.: Look out for upcoming live info sessions where we'll answer all your FAQs about the application and funding process. Can't wait to see your ideas. 💜

Edit: Deadline is now EXTENDED until May 12th!

[thebreakfastgenie]

This is going to get me screencapped and ridiculed by leftblr but at this point I don't care.

The way people talk about Ruth Bader Ginsburg is misogynistic. This post is not about the merits of her decision to remain in her seat. I've discussed that before and I'm happy to go through it again with anyone who is genuinely interested in the complexities of that situation, but for the sake of this post, I am not arguing that it's unreasonable to believe, with the benefit of hindsight, that the country would be a in a better position today if Ginsburg had retired in 2012. The issue I want to address is how people talk about it.

People who blame Ginsburg for the current state of the Supreme Court tend to throw around words like greedy, selfish, and ambitious, echoing a familiar form of misogyny. Ambition is only bad when women demonstrate it, and women in politics are regularly punished for ambition. Even more disturbingly, people tend to blame not just Ginsburg, but the women and girls who looked up to her. I've seen the "Notorious RBG" nickname derided as a cult of personality, when the reality is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazer and a role model to a lot of women and girls. I've seen leftists try to hide behind valid criticisms of some of Ginsburg's positions (and it should, but doesn't, go without saying that you can see someone as a role model without believing they are correct about every issue all the time) but you barely have to scratch the surface to see that the real complaint is that they think women who admire her are cringe. I don't know if people understand how significant she was; she was only the second woman on the Supreme Court and the first, Sandra Day O'Connor, was a conservative Reagan appointee. Even so, Justice O'Connor spoke about the significance of Justice Ginsburg joining her and reality that women faced in their position being more apparent when she could see it happening to someone else. It's the same old anti-feminist story of dismissing women and their desires.

This particular case rankles me because it's underscored by the complete silence about Anthony Kennedy. Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a judgment call about her health that didn't work out--and barely; she died four months before Trump left office. Anthony Kennedy, a supposed moderate justice who claimed to not want Roe v Wade to be overturned, retired in 2018, knowing full well Trump would replace him with someone who would overturn Roe v Wade. It was Kennedy's replacement, not Ginsburg's, that doomed Roe. The decision was 6-3. If Ginsburg had lived four more months, or retired in 2012 and been replaced with an Obama appointee, the Dobbs v Jackson decision would have been 5-4 in the same direction. Anthony Kennedy was replaced with Brett Kavanaugh, a white man who sobbed crocodile tears when confronted with credible allegations of sexual assault and ultimately faced no consequences. Anthony Kennedy let all of this happen and slunk off into his cushy retirement. Where is the anger for him? He's alive! Being angrier at Ginsburg than Kennedy makes absolutely no sense. There is no logic to explain it, only misogyny.

It doesn't escape my notice that the anger at Ginsburg goes hand-in-hand with blaming women for their own suffering as a result of the Dobbs decision and with blaming Hillary Clinton for the 2016 election, while making any excuse for not voting for her or deriding her for months. It's emblematic of a political system that does not care about women and despises women trying to speak up and make our issues known.

[littlecrittereli]

Hey there! I read both Reprogrammed and Decoded and was blown away. Unfortunately (sorta), my odd little brain had one little question that was burning from the end of Reprogrammed till the end of the story: what about the Wild Kratts Kids? How did they react to Chris's disappearance/return? I know if I were 8 and my teacher (i guess thats an okay metaphor? maybe?) randomly disappeared for 3 months and came back 10 pounds lighter with dozens of new scars and white hair in their early twenties, I'd be a little torn up/curious. How would Chris feel about showing up on screen in front of a bunch of kids in his state? Would he...wear a...hat...or something...? I don't know, just thoughts lol

They never told the public that Chris was missing (Didn't wanna scare the kids or give the Villains the knowledge that they were vulnerable)

And being out in the most rural parts of the world, it's not uncommon for them to go months without any sort of public appearance. For now, Martin is handling any sort of press alone until Chris is ready to be back in the public eye.

But of course they still run into a wild kratts kid every once and a while.

He's still working on his alibi.....

[entitledrichpeople]

"We're told public finances are tight, we can't afford a winter fuel allowance, but we can pay for an increase for the Royal Family. It's completely wrong."

[in4newz]

Everyone keeps saying "four years" as if we are not living in a christo fascist oligarchic dictatorship now. I envy your optimism and naivety.

It's been three days since I originally posted this and I'm here to say

I just told y'all.

[onlytiktoks]

[brunhielda]

Gonna throw out something crazy. See what sticks. Maybe nothing, hopefully something:

In about 3 months, the US is getting a total solar eclipse. I am a Librarian at a Public Library hosting an event.

Now, I KNOW every corner of the globe has mythology on this very cool astrological event. Many with neat monsters/creatures to go with. It is difficult to find images of said creatures. Sometimes even difficult to find the mythology from various parts of the world. Almost impossible to find coloring pages.

I live in a tiny town, and I am doing everything I can to expand the horizons of the kiddos who live here, and they go bananas for a good story out loud, especially if they have something to do with their hands while listening, like pictures to color in.

I call on the artists of the internet. If you know of a myth about Solar Eclipse, please add on to this post. Tell me the basic myth, tell me the country/culture of origin, and please please please, add a cool picture I can turn into a coloring page. Artist names will be left on pictures for admirers to go look them up, and I hope artists see this as a fun challenge.

I don’t even know if Tumbler in English language has that much of an international presence but… 🤷🏻‍♀️ Here’s hoping.

[lakecountylibrary]

That's a nice interlibrary loan service you have there.

Be a shame if something were to happen to it.

If this is the first you're hearing of it, here are more details on what's going on with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and how you can help.

And here's that link from the end card: ala.org/showup

--

[Video Description: A librarian frantically unloading books from a cart full of Interlibrary Loan bags marked Info Express. The clip is sped up to 1.5 speed and "Flight of the Bumblebee" is playing in the background. He shelves books as fast as he can onto the library holds shelf, occasionally fumbling one, while another librarian very calmly and slowly checks the items off on a clipboard.

The music stops abruptly and we cut to a shelf of books with one of the interlibrary loan bags displayed prominently in front. The librarian who was shelving slides the books away so we can see him through the shelf. He says "Lake County Public Library borrows and lends over 800 items a month using our interlibrary loan service - a service only possible thanks to IMLS." He slides the books back into place with gusto.

"Flight of the Bumblebee" resumes as the end card appears, reading Support Your Libraries and Museums! Tell Congress to Save IMLS! Visit ala.org/showup to see how you can help. /description]

Music Credit: Composition: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Performer: US Army Band, Public Domain

[libraryjournal]

From the loss of Hoopla, databases, and Wi-Fi hotspots to the closing of rural branches, these stories document the devastating effect of the Trump administration’s policy decisions on public and school libraries across the country.

[ruigiraccoon]

If anyone needs clarity, this is Trump selling off public parks that are free or cheap to access, and putting that money into a slush fund that he can use without oversight- very much a personal bank account for himself.

[in4newz]