I wasn't sure I was going to continue this once class got out and I suppose it doesn't matter, as I don't think anyone outside the course read it anyway, but I keep catching flashes on the news of testing libraries books. I think I've seen reports on both lead content (I know I've seen reports on lead) and germ content. Part of me wonders if this is an IF issue. Not directly, but it seems to me it could be a really insidious way of getting things off the shelves that certain factors -- and I'm not trying to single any one group out, as I've discovered, being for intellectual freedom is more than just being for the freedom to read what I think is good to read, its for I'd want to hide from my children if I had any -- don't feel should be in any given library. If all else fails, test it for lead or some other harmful particulate.
Another way this issue interests me is in the costs and cuts libraries are facing. The price of books goes up every year (month, week, day) and I'm sure publishers are just as interested as everyone else in cutting costs, which sadly, today seems to involve outsourcing the manufacturing to a county where wages and safety checks are lower. How will having to adhere to higher safety standards -- which I'm all for, who among us hasn't licked a finger to turn a page? Do we ever think about where the book was before us or does the fact that it's in our hands make it safe? And don't even get me started about small children and putting things in their mouths -- impact book costs, libraries and publishers? I'd really like to see some argument for stopping outsourcing and increasing production in this country as cost-effective once you get past all the environmental costs of shipping, the import fees, the testing fees and how it would benefit the economy, but this isn't the place for it and someone would probably tell me I'm wrong anyway.
