On September 16, 2024—one week before Banned Books Week (9/22-28)—the University Press of Mississippi (UPM) will be releasing my next book, In Silence or Indifference: Racism and Jim Crow Segregated Public School Libraries. The book shows that all the while the nation’s library community was honing its national image as defender of intellectual freedom, proponent of the freedom to read, and opponent of censorship between 1954 and 1974, it was silent or indifferent to the racism and humiliations experienced by Black school librarians, their students, services and collections. It is a story never before told, one that demonstrates the historical inaccuracy of statements like “For more than 140 years, ALA [the American Library Association] has been the trusted voice of libraries advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all.” (ALA Executive Board, August 18, 2021)
UMP has just told me that if you preorder the book from the UPM website between June 11 and 21, you will get a 50% discount. Orders over $60 will receive free shipping charges. To order, go to: https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/I/In-Silence-or-Indifference. If you have difficulty ordering, go to: https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Ordering/Ordering-Video.
Some of my library history friends have already told me they will be ordering copies of the book once published, but I thought all might like to know of this significant discount in advance. Friends might also want to “Share” this post with others so other libraries and librarians can across the country benefit from the discount. I don’t get much financial benefit from discounted books, but I’m really not interested in making money here. I am much more interested in getting stories like these into the profession’s collective memory so inaccurate statements like the one quoted above aren’t repeated in the future, particularly for anniversary events like the American Association of School Librarians’ 75th(2025), and ALA’s 150th (2026).
–Dr. Wayne A. Wiegand
