Books Featuring Queer and Female Characters Disappear Online
By Camilla Garrison
Early this week, frequent Libby user Isaac Garrison discovered something very strange, many books were disappearing online, especially those featuring queer or female characters.
For those who don’t know, Libby is an app online where you can check out e-books for free from a public library if you have a library card. There are a certain number of digital copies and one can put them on hold or borrow them for one or two weeks.
Garrison is an avid reader of Libby books (especially graphic novels), cycling through new ones for their reading homework for the fifth grade. When they noticed books were disappearing, Garrison was very distressed. They told their mom, Hannah Garrison and then got to investigating. Isaac and Hannah looked through Isaac’s borrowing history, finding many titles “not available”. She then made a list of books and called up their local Providence Public Library. The librarian at the phone was just as disturbed, promised to make some calls, send emails, and gave Hannah contact information of the main branch.
We don’t know why this is happening, but have very strong suspicions of lack of funding, licensing issues, or trouble with new government regulations.
Here’s a list of a few titles that are no longer available:
The Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman
Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
The Tower of Time by Lincoln Pierce
The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill.
Aru Shah and the End of Time (graphic novel version)
Welcome to St Hell by Louis Hancox
The Witch Boy, The Hidden Witch and the Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag
Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy
Gina: The Girl Who Broke the World by Judd Winick
Even before this happened, the middle schoolers at the Grace School each wrote a letter to a Rhode Island Senator or Representative regarding the funding of libraries and museums. The students wrote of their best memories at libraries, and also how libraries help people, like offering free Wifi, AC, and other services. Their ELA teacher mailed a huge stack of about forty envelopes!
