Hoopla, Overdrive/Libby Now Banned for Those Under 18 in Mississippi

That's a shame. It's a very important time in most people's lives. They need perspective. They need advice. An entire library on their phone could give them professional career advice, instructions for applying to college, how to balance a bank account, etc.

It takes editing, vetting, corroboration, a whole set of safeguards and checks to get a nonfiction title to print. Any idiot, propagandist, psycho maniac can put some garbage on social media. Creating barriers to all of that vetted literature is basically throwing kids to the wolves- the friction is lower, that's where kids will go for their answers.

We live in an era where adults feel no responsibility to the greater good. Only whatever reinforces their tribal identity.

Good, this is a good move. If a service cannot get its catalog under control and curated properly by the institutions that use it, then the service should be prohibited, especially to vulnerable children.

Libraries, including my municipal one, depend heavily on these eBook services, and the independent public libraries have basically abdicated their liberty and freedom to curate their collections and choose what readers can access. They have given that up to a commercial service that doesn't know or care about local communities nor their ethical or moral standards. So, I would support a widening ban for these services until they can restore said freedoms and liberties to libraries and educational institutions that finance their operations.