Pursuing excellence for library service to children
As Spring bloomed, and withered, and bloomed again in Washington, D.C., my school library learned into pastel colors, funny animals, and text for emerging readers with a deep dive into the work of Corey R. Tabor.
Collection development and management has always been a significant part of the work of school librarians, but these days that work is complicated by outside efforts to censor those collections. So much of the advice around managing book challenges focuses on things within a librarian or school board’s control — developing robust collection development policies and updating them annually; creating an advisory panel of respected educators and family representatives to distribute responsibility for challenged book decisions; avoiding unintentional self-censorship. But what happens when legislation is passed that demands changes to those carefully-developed policies? What happens when the state takes control of your collection? Librarians in Tennessee are currently facing that challenge. Enacted in 2022, The Age Appropriate Materials Act initially had limited implications. But the July 2024 updates have caused significant impacts. To better understand the impact of these changes, here is a timeline of key events: The original act…
One of the hardest things about ALA Annual (#ALAAC2024) is choosing which session or event to attend. The conference scheduler app is great for this because you can star more than one thing, and it adds it to your calendar. Then, I usually make a game day decision!
As a school librarian member of ALSC, I have a programming hiatus thanks to our summer break. I enjoy the break and time off to refresh and renew. As the new school year approaches, though, I am beginning to look ahead to programming for this year. This will be my sixth year in the library but only my second year as a full-time school librarian, and I know that thinking about a year of programming can be daunting. So, for this ALSC SAPS blog, I thought I’d offer a few tips for my fellow librarians who are similarly in the planning stages for a year of programming! My first tip is for those of my fellow librarians who are also relatively new to this profession: Remember that you don’t have to do it all all at once! When I began work as a librarian, I had So. Many. Ideas! …
Intellectual Freedom and the freedom to read children’s and young adult literature is a hot button topic and has been a hot button topic for the last few years since the pandemic. Books, specifically books with LGBTQI+ characters and books centered around racial issues, are being used for political clout and to whip up the ire of conservatives throughout the United States. Groups are systematically organizing and fueling the fire to remove books from library shelves across the country–both public and private school libraries. Missouri schools are no exception. On August 28, 2022 Missouri Senate Bill SB 775 was signed into law causing school librarians across the state of Missouri to pull graphic novels from their shelves in a panic. School district leaders required their librarians to pull any graphic novels that met the restrictions of the law in hopes that they could circumvent a possible lawsuit. Some district leaders…
Sadly, it was not surprising in late August when USA Today ran a headline calling librarians the “perfect target” for those who would ban books from schools. Librarians are often the purchasers of materials and the people to suggest and connect students with books of interest. Of course, they—we—would be under attack from those who would limit access to information of which censors do not approve.
It’s been a long, long week/month/year/decade, and May is stressful for all; public library staff are gearing up for Summer Reading (a wild time to work in a public library environment), while school staff are just trying to make it to the end of the school year (a wild time to work in a school environment). And of course, we’re still living in a pandemic; things are scary and uncertain in so many ways. With all this happening, it is no surprise that I often have to remind myself to breathe. How often do you actually pay attention to your breathing? The persistently ragged, near-panicky gasping that has become my pandemic breathing style doesn’t exactly lead to inner peace. To really help yourself achieve some level of calm, one needs to be mindful of their breathing, and so, in that spirit, here are some links I hope you find helpful…
In August 2019, the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) system in Albuquerque, New Mexico gave every K-8 classroom a collection of culturally responsive books for their classroom libraries. These books reflected the interests and the diversity of students and represented diverse authors and points of view. The underlying goal was to encourage the APS student population to feel seen, valued, and welcomed in schools, and to help students value the races and cultures of others. This was no small feat since the process involved tons of books—literally. APS is located in the largest city in New Mexico with a population of 560,000, spread across 1,200 square miles, including 144 schools with approximately 80,000 students. This makes APS amongst the fifty largest school districts in the United States. The two APS employees behind this massive undertaking were Rachel Altobelli (Director of Library Services and Instructional Materials) and Jessica Villalobos (Senior Director of…