Delving into Book Resumes

 

We've mentioned Book Resumes from United Against Book Bans before in the blog. A recent ALSC blog post by ALSC's Intellectual Freedom Committee has even more information on this resource to help you address challenges. Stop here to read to get their review of this resource.

Power Up Conference Workshops

Power Up Conference 2024

A Leadership Conference for Youth Services Managers & Staff

March 21 - 22, 2024, Madison, WI

Register today: go.wisc.edu/c02752

Power Up brings together youth services librarians and staff from public libraries, schools, after-school programs, museums, and other community partners. This year our opening keynote will be Past President of ALSC and REFORMA and award-winning author Lucia Gonzalez. Closing out the conference will be Mimi Ito, author of eight books, including Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out: Youth Living and Learning with New Media. 

In addition to the great sessions happening during the conference there are also two post-conference workshops offered on Friday afternoon.

• Taking a Stand for True Play with Carissa Christner, Madison Public Library
• Materials Challenge Readiness with Megan Schliesman and Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)
  
  
  

Workshop Offerings 

Local to Madison and can't make the entire conference? Check out these workshops being offered alongside the Power Up Conference. Anyone is welcome to attend either workshop, even if you are unable to attend the conference. 

Materials Challenge Readiness 

with Megan Schliesman and Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)

Friday, March 22, 1:30-4:00 pm 

at Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)

We’ll walk through ways to be prepared for and respond to concerns and challenges in this workshop that will provide opportunities to acknowledge and then decenter fear in order to focus on the reasons why libraries do what they do when it comes to providing community members with diverse materials and a wide range of choices. We encourage all participants to review their library’s mission and selection and reconsideration policy and related procedures in advance. Find out more: go.wisc.edu/7j8o4t

Taking a Stand for True Play 

with Carissa Christner, Madison Public Library

Friday, March 22, 2:00-4:00 pm 

at Madison Public Library 

Would you like to reduce the amount of time spent planning programs for children AND increase the positive outcomes for participants? In this workshop, we will be discussing the various ways that Madison Public Library has embraced the Anji Play approach since 2016 and the benefits for staff, patrons and outreach partners. The workshop will include a tour of the Central Library children’s area play spaces as well as an opportunity for adult play during the workshop, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes! Find out more: go.wisc.edu/7j8o4t

Workshop registration only: https://go.wisc.edu/o15631

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Questions? Email ce-info@ischool.wisc.edu 

Freedom to Read/Program Resources

As seen in the IFLS Keeping Up with Kids blog, December 6, 2023

• Thanks to Sam Carpenter at the Chippewa Falls Public Library for sharing this outstanding resource to help the public stand up for kids’ access to books:  The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Kids’ Right to Read Action Kit

• The Association for Library Service to Children (part of the American Library Association) has created a Toolkit for Program Challenges for library workers who are looking for help preparing for and responding to program challenges, including Before, During, and After sections.

Tuesday Tips - News from ALA on Challenged Books

Sam Jones is the Youth Services Librarian at the Beaver Dam Public Library. She shares tips to make your job easier in her Tuesday posts.

Last week, ALA shared their data regarding book challenges in 2022. ALA announced that reported book challenges had almost doubled since 2021. Most of the books that were challenged were written by people of color or members of the LGBTQ community. Read more about it here. 

ALA's top 10 most challenged books will be announced April 24th. 

Marathon County Retains Challenged Books in Juvenile Collection

According to the Wausau Pilot and Review in a November 28, 2022 article, the Marathon County Board "voted unanimously to endorse recommendations of a book review committee that will keep two challenged books in its juvenile nonfiction section.

This is pretty big news. There was a concerted effort by both a number of citizens AND county supervisors to have the books removed.  There was real pressure on the library when some of those county board supervisors appeared to support a retaliatory budget cut to the library. 

The article is fascinating - and hopeful - from a number of key points:

• the library has a collection development policy that they used in defending the books
• the library had a clear policy on addressing challenges
• the book review committee used the ALA Library Bill of Rights to emphasize that "parents - and only parents- have the right and responsibility to restrict access of their children - and only their children- to library resources. as well as other ALA docs to bolster their case.
• the committee dis their homework, citing the presence of the challenged titles in other WI libraries.
• library card applications signed by the parent acknowledge the parent is responsible for determining what resources are appropriate for their child.
• the library's corporation counsel did an overview on legal definitions/statutes in WI and stated that the library board has control of all library material and these materials have statutory protection. 

It also underscores the real importance of elections and consequences when a community elects representatives who are willing to put their personal views ahead of representing all the people in the community.

We applaud Marathon Co Library and its board for the successful defense of intellectual freedom.

Summer Reading & NASA & Challenged Books, Oh My!

 Today, we are bringing you three opportunities to be aware of for the month of December.

On Thursday, December 2, you can join the CSLP (Collaborative Summer Library Program) Summer Symposium. This is CSLP's first annual, all-day event offered for free! The sessions throughout the day will cover the topics of programming ideas, outreach/partnerships, and promotion/marketing. For more details and to register, visit here. 

Image from pixabay.com 

On Wednesday, December 15 at 10:00 am, join Shannon Schultz, Public Library Administration Consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She will provide you with practical tips and resources for dealing with challenged materials in your library. For more details and to register, visit here. 

 And here's a timely thought to go with this topic: Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, recently said that during her 20 years with the organization, “there’s always been a steady hum of censorship, and the reasons have shifted over time. But I’ve never seen the number of challenges we’ve seen this year.”

Image from Wikimedia commons.

Finally, check out this post from Hannah Arata on the Programming Librarian blog. Hannah provides resources, programming ideas, and take-home kit suggestions to celebrate NASA's telescope launch on December 22, 2021. 

THE HATE U GIVE: Angie Thomas Shares Her Thoughts On Challenges

Recently, Angie Thomas was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, where she discussed her best-selling book The Hate U Give and her thoughts on the recurring resistance her book has faced since its publication. 

Many of the adverse parties are concerned about the graphic depictions of drug use, police brutality, and the regular use of explicit language throughout the story.  Thomas responds as such:

“When you say ‘Black Lives Matter’ to three different people, you get 30 different reactions,” Thomas says. “There are so many misunderstandings. There’s the assumption that it’s an antipolice book, when the fact is it’s anti-police brutality.” She continues, in regard to the language: “There are books with way more curse words in them, for one. And two, there are 89 F-bombs in The Hate U Give. But there were 800 people killed by police officers last year alone.”

Read the whole article HERE.

With the film adaptation being released in select theaters this month, the book and its story are likely to be a topic of conversation for quite awhile.

And speaking of the movie, have y'all seen the trailer?!  

Top 10 Challenged Books of 2017

Here's a link to additional resources and goodies, including social media shareables, digital graphics, and infographs!