Jane Austen Gets a Rebrand, and More News for Libraries

AI-Generated Slop Is Already In Your Library

The call is coming from inside the house! No, but seriously, AI-generated ebooks are already taking root in Hoopla’s collection, and libraries do not have the time, money, or staff to weed out these materials from Hoopla’s enormous collection. A library director quoted in the article said, “Hoopla is marketed to libraries and should offer material of a quality that libraries want since we are not involved in the selection process, as we are when choosing from other ebook vendors or print.” This is an even bigger problem when you consider how Hoopla’s pricing model is wreaking havoc with library budgets. Are we going to see a growing number of libraries discontinue Hoopla as these problems increase?

Censorship Updates

The hits just keep on coming. Rather than provide commentary on each item, I’m including a selection of important stories from the last few weeks to keep an eye on.

• “Hundreds of people on Monday protested the termination of the Susquehanna County Library’s [PA] administrator and demanded for the protection of LGBTQ+ books.”
• Four more books have been banned in all of South Carolina’s public schools after a complaint in Beaufort County receives statewide scrutiny.
• Former Saline County Library (AR) director, Patty Hector, has filed a federal lawsuit against the county, which alleges that county officials, Saline County Judge Matt Brumley, and the Saline County Quorum Court unconstitutionally used their executive and legislative powers to retaliate against her for refusing to relocate a number of books that had been deemed “harmful” to minors.
• Meanwhile, in Arkansas, state legislators have introduced a bill that would abolish the state library board.
• Indiana libraries are pushing back on a newly proposed bill that would remove taxing authority from library boards.
• North Dakota librarians fear the impacts of the state’s latest bill against explicit materials.
• Wyoming is re-upping a more stringent version of a bill that would remove protections from teachers and librarians if they are found guilty of “exposing minors to obscenity.”
• Utah has banned two more YA books from all public schools across the state.
• A group of publishers and authors have sued the state of Idaho over its book banning legislation.
• A far-right Arizona lawmaker has revived a bill that would jail educators for allowing access to “sexually explicit material.”

Jane Austen Covers Get a BookTok-Friendly Makeover

Penguin Random House has announced a series of new editions of Jane Austen novels geared at younger readers. The stories themselves haven’t changed, but each book is getting an obnoxiously pink rom-com cover, and they’re being marketed as “full of meet-cutes, missed connections, and drama.” PRH has also recruited a handful of popular YA romance authors to introduce each novel and inject a little modern commentary into the stories, like speculating about what a character’s favorite Taylor Swift song might be. (I’m not joking.) All of this seems misguided at best and grossly capitalistic at worst, and a lot of people have THOUGHTS about this. My thoughts? This feels like publishing’s version of Steve Buscemi carrying a skateboard and saying, “How do you do, fellow kids?”