I have traveled to ALA Annual from Kaurna land (Adelaide, Australia). Our land in the driest state in the driest continent. We are home to people from across the world, some who have traveled willingly, others who were forced to leave their homeland. We are also the home to the oldest continuous culture, our Aboriginal Australian people. In 1975, my state, South Australia, decriminalized homosexuality.
I set this as a backdrop to why we need to hear different voices. I am proud of the land I live on, but as I heard of the book challenges in the US I knew it would eventually come to Australia. And it has. There are several presentations on book challenges at this conference, but more importantly, there are presentations by voices which do not always dominate mainstream media. I encourage you to broaden your scope to sessions which share a different story to your own. Check out the schedule for International Relations Round Table (IRRT) or International sessions and listen to the voices.
Catherine Barnes (she/her/hers) is a Teacher Librarian and University Lecturer from South Australia. A member and contributor to the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), IFLA and ALA, she enjoys learning and sharing her experiences. Catherine is presenting on ‘Applying a challenge ready approach to school libraries: the Australian experience’ at ALA Annual. Her passions are diversity, technology and she works hard to ensure students have access to diverse resources which represent themselves, their friends and their community, and technologies that can support them in their current learning and futures. Growing up in a small town, surrounded by bushland, she was a curious child and continues to feed this curiosity in her professional career. The smartest person in town was the local librarian, and Catherine decided at the age of five the Librarian was the career for her. Catherine is looking forward to meeting new friends and collecting interesting conference merch to take home to old friends in Australia.
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.