It has been a rather long while since I’ve been in this space, since I’ve put pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard. You may be wondering: “Well, where have you been?” Since truly and completely answering such a query… Read More ›
Intellectual Freedom
Holding Out for a Hero Who Can Bring The Noise
“Welcome to the Jungle” We all know that school librarianship has come into some dark times. Small but vocal national groups are making a lot of noise about titles they have personal objections to. Their playbook includes personal attacks vilifying… Read More ›
Two Novels About Librarians Fighting Censorship
Like most librarians, I’m a reader, especially when I need an escape from reality. One of my consistent responses to stress is to lose myself in a good book because the world of fiction is often more pleasant than the… Read More ›
Books Matter
On February 1, I attended the webinar hosted by AASL Partner organization, ADL Education, titled “Books Matter: Using Children’s Literature to Invite Conversations about Identity, Bias and Social Justice.” Attending this webinar, emphasized to me that during this time, when… Read More ›
A Few Coping Strategies for Challenging Times
A Few Coping Strategies for Challenging Times We read about this more and more every day: a parent or group has challenged library materials. As members of the AASL/ALSC/YALSA Interdivisional Committee on School and Public Library Cooperation, we offer here… Read More ›
Sharing Selection & Reconsideration Policies to Support Reading Choices
We as librarians understand that offering a rich, diverse range of reading options to meet needs of all community members is a major focus of both school and public libraries. Unfortunately, some individuals (and, recently, groups) are working to limit… Read More ›
“Turn It Up!” Helping the Message Escape the Echo-Chamber
“Oh, No; Not Again!” I saw the above Tweet, and it hit me all over again. We are all tired of hearing about the ongoing onslaught of book challenges across the nation. School librarians have been talking about this for… Read More ›
AASL Leadership Travel and FAME
AASL highly respects and values its relationship with the AASL Chapter organizations. In order to stay connected with the chapters, AASL is committed to its policy of leadership travel to the AASL Chapter organizations’ conferences. AASL Chapters are visited in… Read More ›
Hallway Conversations as Book Challenge Repellent, Part 2
Previously on “Hallway Conversations as Book Challenge Repellent”… Last month, I shared some topics that school librarians might want to discuss with colleagues, supervisors, administrators, and members of the school community ahead of any book challenges that might come their… Read More ›
Supporting Each Other: Book Challenges
On September 16, 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) reported that “total book challenges in 2022 set to exceed 2021 record.” (https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/09/ala-releases-preliminary-data-2022-book-bans) I know that school librarians around the country were not surprised by this news. Many school librarians have… Read More ›