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During late March and early April, the ALSC Discussion List was active with comments and concerns around Common Sense Media (CSM) and that organization’s reviews of children’s materials.  I followed this discussion with particular interest for two reasons. First, the organization is located in the city where I work.  Second, when they were just getting started, members of the organization came to our library to meet with us to discuss their values and seek our support.   We declined as we believed that their practice of labeling was in violation of the ALA Bill of Rights and the core values of library services for children.

I do not intend to rehash all of the comments and statements of the online discussion (sigh of relief on your part!).  Hopefully, most of you followed it and certainly many of you actively participated.  I found it to be a robust and lively exchange.  That being said, I believe that there are some points that bear repeating regarding CSM reviews:

• The qualifications of the “expert” reviewers are not always clear with regard to their knowledge of children’s literature and their background in bringing children and books together.

• Reviews contain a not-so-subtle bias that the values of CSM should be shared by everyone.

• Ratings that focus on a checklist of incidents that CSM considers problematic (i.e. violence, sex, language, consumerism, drinking, drugs, smoking) cannot provide a balanced and truly insightful evaluation of a literary work.  There is no context.

• The “Parents Need to Know” ratings are presented to the left of the reviews and are the most immediately visible component.  Even if the review itself does present some balance, a parent in a hurry will find it all too easy to simply look at the rating as a guide to deciding if the book is one they consider appropriate.

Nina Lindsay, Supervising Librarian for Children’s Services at Oakland Public Library, focused on this issue in a way that I found particularly insightful.  With her permission I am going to use her comments:

“…it is indeed the “What Parents Need to Know” section and ratings of CSM that I find inherently problematic, and totally different than, for instance, VOYA’s ratings on popularity and quality.  First of all…”Parents Need to Know”?  That very statement presupposes that what is about to follow is what every parent should value.  Try looking up some reviews of titles with complex stories in them, and picture yourself as a parent who is browsing this site to sanction or veto your child’s reading choices.  Does this section really tell you what you need to know about the book?  The point is it is different for every parent, every family.”

Thanks, Nina!

If you haven’t done so, I would like to encourage you to read a blog post from the Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) and a Booklist editorial by Pat Scales.  On March 28th, 2016, Joyce Johnston posted a piece to the OIF blog titled Common Sense Media:  Promoting Family Values or Dictating Them?  The original editorial from Pat Scales, titled Three Bombs, Two Lips, and a Martini Glass was published in Booklist in August of 2010.  It has just been reprinted with updates as a result of the ALSC-L discussions.  Both pieces are succinct and on target.

Are two blog posts and an updated editorial on top of the previous discussion excessive on this issue?  I would answer no.  The discussion about labeling in order to limit what children read is a vital one to our profession.  It is one that we should weigh in on whenever possible.

Finally, I encourage you to think about volunteering to serve on the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee.  Several of us currently serving are coming to the end of our appointments at the close of the Annual Conference.  This will provide openings for those who might be interested in participating in this critical committee, and working with great people who share your passion for intellectual freedom!

Toni Bernardi, San Francisco Public Library

Member, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee

The post Reviews & Common Sense Media appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Rochester (MN) Public Library’s core values focus on being a welcoming and inclusive environment. A few years ago we started to hear from adults and teens in the community that there were not a lot of safe spaces for LGBTQIA teens to hang out, so in our 2015 Action Plans we included “Develop programming to specifically meet the needs of Rainbow Families and LGBTQIA teens” and got started.

Before we share our ideas for serving LGBTQIA kids and families, let’s talk about “LGBTQIA”. LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual or Ally. Without including the word “queer”, this alphabet soup is not inclusive of the entire spectrum of sexual and gender identities out there. But as you can imagine, when we use the word queer in our program descriptions or trainings, people have a lot of questions.

Queer is a word with a terrible history, a confusing present, and a bright future. It was used negatively for many years, but over the last 30 years or so has had a comeback as a word that is embraced by many people as an identity, and is used regularly as a positive umbrella term for the LGBTQIA community (think: “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”).

Like any word, it can still be used negatively. It is all in how it is used and delivered. We would not label someone as queer who had not self-identified, nor would we refer to someone as “a queer” – those would be negative and inappropriate uses of the word. Our use is to be inclusive of the many teens and grown-ups in our community who self-identify as queer or under the queer umbrella. Embracing their choice of word further proves our commitment to creating a safe space for them. If you would like to read more try this website, this article, or this.

Why are we focusing on serving LGBTQIA kids & families?

Youth Services at RPL started undergoing changes in 2011 that included things as small as purchasing and displaying more books with LGBTQIA content. Once these books were on display and available in the library catalog, we started to hear from customers who appreciated having access to them. We also started regularly printing and keeping on display a Booklist for Rainbow Families which received a lot of positive attention. The conversations that we had around the books and booklists brought to light a need in the community: LGBTQIA kids and families needed safe spaces, they needed to see themselves represented in the library collection, and they needed to feel welcomed!

We also have bigger reasons for wanting to provide a safe space for LGBTQIA youth and families.  The Human Rights Campaign study “Growing up LGBT in America”  reports that 4 in 10 LGBTQIA youth say the community in which they live is not accepting of LGBT people, and and only 21% say there is a place where LGBTQIA youth can go in their community and get help or be accepted.  LGBTQIA youth face higher rates of bullying, homelessness, substance abuse and suicide, but teens who have supportive families and friends or safe spaces in their community are better equipped to deal with these additional challenges.

So what can libraries do to serve LGBTQIA kids & families?

Create a Safe Space

The most important step a library can take to create a safe space for LGBTQIA patrons is to train staff to be LGBTQIA allies and hold staff accountable. It is important that you have buy-in from the library administration, and that the people at the top understand why safe spaces are important, but it isn’t necessary to start there. Start with yourself and the staff around you, sometimes change has to trickle upwards. If you don’t have resources in your community such as an LGBTQ Community Center or a local college Gay/Straight Alliance which can provide you with training, there are plenty of options online to get started:

• GLSEN provides free toolkits and webinars
• ALA offers online training
• Safe Schools has a free recorded webinar

There are easy things you or your staff can start today to be good allies.  Being inclusive with your language doesn’t hurt anything, and can go a long way to making everyone feel more comfortable.  For example, when talking to kids about their parents, use “grown-ups” or “adults” or another neutral term that feels natural to you. Not every kid has a “mom” and/or a “dad”.  You can also choose to use gender neutral terms to refer to individual kids or groups of kids. Use “people” or “friend(s)” instead of “guys” or “ladies”.

Another easy change is to wear a pronoun name badge. Even if you have never been mis-gendered, wearing a name badge with your pronouns on it sends a message to everyone who sees you that you accepting and welcome conversations about pronouns. It also opens up opportunities to talk about how and why your library is a safe space or the LGBTQIA programs you offer.

Once your staff is better equipped to be allies, you’ll need to make sure you have policies in place to protect your LGBTQIA kids and families, and train staff on how to handle issues that may arise.  For example, does your written code of conduct include a statement about harassment? Are staff ready to step in with words connecting back to your code of conduct if they overhear teens saying, “That’s so gay!” or “No homo.”? For example: “The library doesn’t allow abusive language and your words are not inclusive or nice.”

All staff should pay attention to what is happening in your space (bullying). Some bullying can be subtle; watch the way teens are interacting in your teen space. When a certain group arrives, does another group always leave? Talk to your teens and make sure you know what is going on. Some bullying that starts at school may continue at the library after school.

Your library may also have business practices and procedures that need to be updated in order to be inclusive to your LGBTQIA community.  Does your library card application ask for a person’s gender?  Does it need to? Do you allow a patron to use a preferred name on their library card in addition to or instead of their legal name?  What about your bathrooms – do you have single stall restrooms that you could convert to gender neutral spaces?

The next step is to start the safe space conversation with the rest of the community. Meet with other youth workers in your community to talk about LGBTQIA services and creating safe spaces. The library can be a great neutral ground for offering training that is open to community youth workers.

Create LGBTQIA Inclusive Collections & Displays

It’s important for LGBTQIA youth to see themselves reflected in the books they read.  According to GLSEN’s 2013 National School Climate Survey, only 19% of LGBTQIA students report that positive representations of LGBTQIA people are included in their school curriculum.

There are a lot of really great books (fiction and nonfiction) available with LGBTQIA content, with more and more books coming out (get it?) every year.  Not all of them are published by big houses, and not all get picked up for reviews, but it’s worth the time to seek out the titles to make sure your collection is representative of the full spectrum of gender/sexual identities.  To get started, check out the ALA GLBT Round Table’s Rainbow Booklist.  The Rainbow Booklist Committee reads hundreds of books with LGBTQIA content and publishes its best-of list for kids and teens annually.  In addition, ALA’s Stonewall Award and the LAMBDA Literary Awards  both have categories honoring Children’s and Young Adult Literature.

Once you’ve got the books in your collection, you want your patrons to know they are there!   While special displays highlighting LGBTQIA materials are great, it’s important to include LGBTQIA materials in all of your displays and booklists.

Offer LGBTQIA Programs

Once you have created a safe space and opened dialogues with LGBTQIA customers and community members, you will start to hear about programs and resources that people would like to see in your community.

Our first program focusing on LGBTQIA teens was q club. q club began in September 2014 with just one teen; it now boasts regular attendance of over twenty at each meeting, and is hands down our highest attended teen program. Like all of our teen programs, we let the teens decide what activities we plan and what topics we discuss.  Last summer, in partnership with Gay/Lesbian Community Services of Southeast Minnesota (http://www.glcsmn.org/), we hosted the first ever Pride Prom “Smells Like Pride Spirit” in Rochester. Forty-four teens attended and afterwards some called it the best night of their lives! We are currently in the early planning stages of our 2^nd Annual Pride Prom.

q club teens are interested having the chance to just hang out and be themselves, and they are also embrace opportunities to have their voices heard in the larger community.  They have created zines to celebrate Pride, National Coming Out Day, and Transgender Day of Remembrance which they distributed at the library and at local businesses.  q club teens were a large voice in our October National Coming Out Day celebration, and will soon be participating in a community health needs assessment.

In addition to q club and in response to community requests we currently offer:

• Parents Empower Pride: a meet up for parents of LGBTQIA kids to talk about how to support their kids on their journey.
• Pride Prom: An annual a safe & welcoming after-hours party for LGBTQIA teens and allies in grades 7-12 held during Rochester’s Pride Fest.
• Rainbow Family Storytime: During Rochester Pride we offer Rainbow Family Storytimes for preschool children and families.

Just in the last month we have received two more requests: one to offer a q club for tweens and the other to offer a meet-up group for kids of LGBTQIA parents. As staffing and space allows, we will make these programs happen. Even without special programming just for LGBTQIA youth, you can ge started by integrating inclusive LGBTQIA materials into your regular programs, such as storytime or book clubs. The possibilities for inclusion are endless. We would love to hear what you are doing to serve LGBTQIA kids and families at your library!

Heather Acerro is Head of Youth Services at Rochester (MN) Public Library.

Sarah Joynt is Teen Librarian at Rochester (MN) Public Library.

Heather and Sarah use the pronouns she/her/hers, but they are okay with they/them too, even when you are just talking about one of them.

**YALSA just released research on Teens, Libraries, and LGBT issues.**

The post An Invisible Minority: Serving LGBTQIA Kids and Families appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

The Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) entered its third week on Tuesday, March 15, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Champion the importance of school libraries and school librarians.

Read on to find out how Skye Corey, Rosemary Kiladitis, and Stacey Rattner took on the Week 3 challenge with a few small—and even some huge—steps that make a big difference for students of all ages!

Skye writes:

At the heart of Everyday Advocacy is the belief that small steps make a big difference. As part of this week’s challenge, I took the small step across the road to visit the neighboring middle school librarian.

We had a great conversation, and I left with a page-long list of practical steps that I could take to support the work that she does. From MakerSpace outreach programs at lunch, to weeding help, to coming up with a better system of exchange for when students return public library books to the school—there were so many simple, actionable ideas discussed! I can’t wait to work together with the Youth Services team and the school librarian to make these ideas a reality!

If I had to share just three points with others who are thinking about taking that small step of reaching out to the local school librarian, I’d say the following:

1. Don’t be afraid to take the first step! School librarians are just as passionate about advocating for children as public librarians, so fear not! (Read Stacey’s paragraph to see how amazing school librarians can be!)
2. Schedule time to check-in with the school librarian on a regular basis. Cultivate this important relationship so that when they need help or have a great idea, you are the first person they contact.
3. Do all that you can to remove barriers within the relationship. Listen well, be flexible, and go above and beyond to make the relationship easy for the school librarian.

What a wonderful challenge this has been, and what a great opportunity to walk alongside all those who are committed to making a better future for children through libraries.

Rosemary writes:

This week’s challenge had us advocating for the school libraries and librarians. Boy, do they need it! These last few years, we’ve read article after article about school libraries closing as budgets shrink. “They can use the Internet for their research,” people say. But who will teach them how to research, I ask?

School librarians are increasingly in sparse supply, at least in my area of urban Queens, New York City. I had a class visit from a relatively new public school yesterday, and their teacher told me that despite having a beautiful library, there is no school librarian to run it! The children rely on public library visits to get library time. My own experience with my 7th- grade son is similar; he hasn’t been in his middle school library once in the two years he’s been there, and the only time he seems to be in the library is for a Scholastic book sale.

Limiting access to children’s school libraries limits children’s access to information. In underserved areas, this further increases the education divide and the digital divide. Everyone needs to understand that elementary and secondary school librarianship is so much more than storytime. A class trip once a year is not going to provide children with the tools they need to learn research skills; how to classify and find information; and what a good information resource looks like. Having regular access to a school library and a library professional will give kids a head start that they need in life. It will put the power in their hands, building confidence and the ability to question and learn.

School librarians have just as much to say as any other library professional! Pick up any copy of School Library Journal, Horn Book, or VOYA, and see the articles they write. They’re on Pinterest, and they’re blogging and collaborating. I thank school librarians wherever I meet one because I started out my education with a great one and think every child has the right to one.

How can we advocate for our school librarian partners? We need to stand together with them and tell the decision makers that education is important, and librarianship is a vital part to every child’s education:

1. Underserved neighborhoods need more access to libraries, not less.
2. School librarian is not an optional position.
3. Put librarians back in schools where they belong.

Stacey writes:

It’s been quite a week of advocacy for me. Monday afternoon I met with my superintendent, and think I made some inroads.

We are a small district, facing another difficult budget year. Additionally, we are closing a middle school and moving from three buildings to two in the 2017-18 school year. My superintendent asked me almost immediately why he should hire someone only to let them go in a year, and I was prepared with an answer:

With our renovations, we will be adding an “Innovation Lab” in our elementary school. Why not staff that with a certified school librarian who knows how to collaborate; is familiar with Common Core and the all the curriculum; can work with every grade level; and is comfortable with technology and makerspaces?

Well… He got it! He said he never thought of that before but it sounded like a great idea!  I might have even found a pull to get funded, albeit partially, to go to ALA to find the right person!

Today I talked more with my principal and tonight (drum roll please) I stood up (sweat dripping down my side) at the School Board meeting and shared how important it is to be consistent and have a full-time school librarian in every building. I doubt anything will happen this year, but I can sleep tonight knowing that I tried.

In the meantime, I have a great relationship with the Youth Services librarian down in our small but active public library. Mia has lead an after-school book group during my Mock Newbery project with 5th graders.  We are lucky enough that the school and the library are only about half a mile apart.

When it is warm enough, I have walked down with students on a “field trip.” Mia has talked up library programs and given out library cards (I send home applications ahead of time and actually have a stack of blank ones at my circulation desk), and kids even check out books (as many as they care to carry up the hill back to school!). She has come up to school to assist with author visits and, of course, promote summer reading.

Now I also know that Mia can fill gaps we may have in our district without two full-time secondary librarians. She can also collaborate with me and therefore increase our full-time employee at the elementary school, so to speak.

Mia and I have a date to meet next week about summer reading, and I have my list ready to discuss how this can be a completely collaborative effort.  Thankfully, Mia is always open to my crazy ideas!

Skye Corey is a librarian at Meridian (Idaho) Library District; Rosemary Kiladitis is a librarian; and Stacey Rattner is a librarian at Castleton (N.Y.) Elementary School. Skye, Rosemary, and Stacey are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Championing School Libraries and School Librarians appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) published an article in December 2015 summarizing their top ten graphic novels that they defended that year from potential challenges. The 2015 Caldecott Honor winner, This One Summer, was not only the first graphic novel to be honored by the Caldecott Committee, it was also one of the most frequently challenged graphic novels that the CBLDF found itself defending during 2015.  

Image courtesy of First Second Books

After reading this article, I was curious. How long has it been since a Newbery or Caldecott Honoree has been challenged in connection with its status as an award winner? I wanted to know publication dates related to book challenges, rather than how often something was challenged.

Online searches resulted in popular titles like Maurice Sendak’s 1964 Caldecott Award Winner Where The Wild Things Are and his 1971 Caldecott Honor Winner, In the Night Kitchen.  But it was the Newbery titles that repeatedly filled my search results. Thanks to Books Under Fire: A Hit List of Banned and Challenged Children’s Books by Pat Scales (ALA Editions, 2015), I was able to find answers. The appendix contains lists of all Caldecott and Newbery titles that have been reported as being challenged. 

It’s been over twenty years since a Caldecott title has been the subject of so many challenges. The last notable Caldecott Honoree to be so scrutinized was A Smokey Night by Eve Bunting and illustrated by David Diaz, which won the 1995 Caldecott Medal. It has been challenged for containing “violence and horror.” Prior to that, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold, which won a 1992 Caldecott Honor was challenged for “racial stereotype & [that] the adults drink beer.”   

These Caldecott titles are all picture books, and the CBLDF did some research and discovered that within the last ten years, “about 82% of the Caldecott winners have been aimed at audiences age 8 and younger.” Since a majority of Caldecott books are picture books, many people believe that all of these winners and honorees should be cataloged as picture books. However, the Caldecott Award is intended for ages 0-14, representing a wide range of book formats.

This One Summer has recently ended up housed in some elementary school libraries, while the publisher, First Second Books, clearly states that its intended audience is ages 12-18. One challenge stemmed from three Seminole County Elementary schools in Florida because a parent complained about profanity and sexual references in the book. The book came under attack in the Seminole County High Schools as well. The CBLDF led the fight to preserve high school student access to the book, and just this week, we learned that the book will remain unrestricted in Seminole County High School libraries.

With all the challenges against this single title, I wondered how the publisher feels when their books become challenged or banned. So I emailed Mark Siegel, the publisher and editor of This One Summer to get his input on all these challenges and news headlines on the book.

Janet Weber: First of all, congratulations on First Second Books‘ 10th Anniversary.  You’ve published a lot of amazing, high quality graphic novels during this time, with many winning high achievements and awards.  What was your reaction when you first learned that This One Summer faced its first challenge?

Mark Siegel: Thank you! My reaction to learning about This One Summer being challenged, as I recall, was NOT total surprise . . . we had a lot of discussions, when we were figuring out how to publish this book, about what the appropriate age level for it was. It definitely has challenging content for any age — following in the tradition of great kids’ books like Goodnight Mr. Tom, Nobody’s Family is Going to Change, and Forever.

But it’s always heartbreaking to hear that one of the books that we publish — a book we believe in and have championed and nurtured — has been challenged, because it means that someone out there thinks that the book has so many problems that no one should be allowed to read it. We know that our books are high quality — and that even if the person challenging the book isn’t the ideal audience, that there are readers in need of the book out there. That’s especially the case when books like This One Summer are challenged based on their content.

JW: How do you, as a publisher learn about titles that have been challenged? Especially of your own titles?

MS: It’s always a different process for each book. Sometimes, we hear from the authors, who tend to get contacted about challenges — sometimes, the school involved will contact us directly. And we’re very lucky to have the Comic Book Legal Defense at our backs in all of these situations. An industry organization that defends works in comics forms from challenges, the CBLDF is always on top of any potential censorship and on the phone with us and the parties involved within twenty-four hours. We really appreciate the work they do, and their support for our titles!

JW: Have any other First Second Books been challenged?

MS: Yes, several. The Korean Color of Earth trilogy, by Kim Dong Hwa, I remember very well. We half expected that, as it treads (however delicately and tastefully) on some sexual issues, in ways that don’t always sit comfortably with western moralities. In other instances, we were taken aback by reactions to very slight partial nudity in George O’Connor’s Journey to Mohawk Country and Sardine in Outer Space. The context and the treatment were so mild that I really didn’t think they could have been considered offensive. Apparently they could.

JW: As a publisher, do you see sales increase when a title has been challenged?

MS: In some instances, yes. I think in cases like This One Summer, there is a very legitimate counter-reaction from people who read and loved the book, and felt the challenge was unfair or misguided.

JW: Is there anything you can do as a publisher to fight for one of your challenged titles?

MS: Our catalog is our soapbox. We publish works by authors we believe in, and stand behind. And we will continue to do so.

We also work to give the teachers and librarians involved resources to fight the challenges themselves — lists of the book’s awards and praise, teacher’s guides, etc. Here we’re also very thankful for the CBLDF for their assistance. They’re a fantastic industry resource who have helped out in every challenge we’ve found our books embroiled in.

If anyone reading this is a teacher or a librarian (or anyone!) dealing with a challenge on one of our titles, we encourage you to get directly in touch with us so we can give you any help you need to keep great graphic novels in your libraries and schools. [email protected] is our e-mail address for this sort of thing.

JW: Is there any advice you can give as a publisher to fight for keeping challenged books in library collections?

MS: I think there are great advocates for good books—allies in all kinds of places. Many of them are librarians, who know and understand their communities, and have a direct line of communication with educators and parents, and patrons. And it’s not to say any challenge is a threat to freedom of speech—on the contrary. Some challenges provoke much needed conversations, and belong with a healthy social dialog. If books never provoked debate, we would really have to worry then!

JW: Thank you so much Mark for sharing your input! It is much appreciated!

Photo Courtesy of Janet Weber

Janet Weber is a member of the ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee and is a Youth Services Librarian at the Tigard Public Library in Oregon. She teaches the ALSC online continuing education course Children’s Graphic Novels 101.  She’s seen here (center) celebrating This One Summer with Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki at the American Library Association 2015 Annual Conference.  

The post Challenged Caldecotts & This One Summer appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

The Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) entered its second week on Tuesday, March 8, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Introduce Everyday Advocacy to a colleague.

To help them tackle this challenge, all Spring 2016 EAC cohort members received three advocacy buttons with tip sheets and three Everyday Advocacy one-page flyers to share with library colleagues and community members.

Read on to find out how Rose Hopkins-LaRocco, Angela Petrie, and Mary Voors took on the Week 2 challenge and won big!

Rose writes:

This week’s Take Action Tuesday Challenge was to introduce a colleague to Everyday Advocacy. We were given Everyday Advocacy buttons and tip sheets and were asked to give these to colleagues and start a conversation. I gave one button to my supervisor and another to my coworker. They were both thrilled to get them and immediately put them on.

They both noted how easy it is to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of the Youth Services department and forget to be advocates; however, this brought up the conversation of finding those little moments to advocate. It could be something as simple as promoting a program or a quick reference or readers’ advisory interaction. These small moments are great times to use our elevator speeches, quickly describing the value of what we do. I am saving my third button for when I encounter a colleague who may not see the importance of our roles as advocates.

These buttons have also been a great conversation starter with my family and friends. My parents live in the town of the library at which I work. In November there is going to be a referendum to allow the library more tax money to build a new building so that we can expand our space and services. There are many supporters of this initiative but also a great deal of naysayers. I had the discussion with my parents about how they can advocate for their library and help others to see its value.

Angela writes:

When I joined the EAC cohort, I thought about the mentor relationship I’m building with a new MLIS graduate, Melissa, who temporarily joined Youth Services through a Foundation Grant. Melissa is experiencing with us the implementation of a strategic plan. Prior to working with Youth Services, she interned with us. She attended board meetings and spent time with the library director which offered her the chance to see library administration from the top down. She is hoping to secure a position in library administration, which makes it even more important to express the value behind Youth Services efforts.

For this week’s challenge, I chose Melissa as my colleague to inform. I believe that communicating our efforts effectively encourages our colleagues to seek out valuable resources through ALSC. And this fit in nicely with our mentor relationship. I explained that I wanted to be involved with Everyday Advocacy to improve my ability to advocate using value-based language (VBL). I showed her the website and encouraged her to become involved. Finally, I offered her a few short sentences to show the difference VBL can make:

“I do storytime” becomes “I present early literacy enriched programming for preschoolers and their caregivers to help them better prepare for kindergarten.”

“We have stuff for teens to do” becomes “The passive programming we offer for visiting teens shows them they are valued library customers and we want to offer ways for them to be involved that’s easy and interesting.”

The conversations empowered me and encouraged my colleague.

Mary writes:

We are nearly midway through this spring’s EAC, and I am so pleased that I am participating! Last week’s challenge was to introduce Everyday Advocacy to a colleague. I used this as an opportunity to speak to a staff member in our Adult Services department about how we could work together to help adult customers find developmentally appropriate apps to use with their kids. I am hopeful that this could grow into a cooperative effort between our departments.

I also made a point to talk with a regular customer who works as a preschool teacher. She loves the challenges of her work and is always looking for ways to help “her kids” and their families. Many of the children she works with come from ESL families, and we talked about the many resources she and her families could find at the library:

1. Books, which can be used as both mirrors to their own experiences and windows to experiences of others;
2. Storytimes at which parents can assist with sharing bilingual stories or songs; and
3. Dramatic play in our Early Learning Center space, where kids and their families can build vocabulary and friendships.

Cultivating advocates within our libraries can be nothing but good not only for libraries, but even more importantly, for the kids with whom we work and their families. It is important that people both within the library profession as well as members of the general community are able (and willing) to articulate the importance and value of public libraries. To paraphrase a button I’ve taken to wearing as part of this advocacy challenge, “Together we can create a better future for children through libraries.”

Rose Hopkins-LaRocco is a librarian; Angela Petrie is a librarian and supervisor at Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library; and Mary Voors is a librarian and supervisor at Allen County (Ind.) Public Library. Rose, Angie, and Mary are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Introducing Everyday Advocacy to a Colleague appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Take a deep breath, Everyday Advocates: We’re plunging headfirst into the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC), which starts today!

Even if you aren’t part of our 15-member cohort convening from March 1-22, you can still get in on the action. Here’s how:

1. Check out the Take Action Tuesday blog on the Everyday Advocacy website to join our cohort in four weekly challenges;
2. Add yourself to the EAC community on ALA Connect and follow the rich discussion between cohort members; and
3. Promote the EAC on social media using #EAChallenge and #TakeActionALSC.

Need a little inspiration before taking the plunge with us? Meet Colleen and Cathy, two members of our Spring 2016 cohort.

While initially hesitant about participating in the EAC, children’s librarian Colleen Cochran is eager to learn how becoming Everyday Advocate can help her reach current and potential patrons.

Already confident in her advocacy role, library media specialist Cathy Collins looks forward to learning new techniques, sharing her advocacy story, and discussing the EAC experience with other Everyday Advocates.

Colleen writes:

May 4th will be my first anniversary as a children’s librarian. Working as a professional librarian is, in many ways, as I imagined it would be. There are unbelievably heartwarming moments. Numerous times I’ve offered up a silent “thank-you” to my reference, youth literature, and censorship professors. I am also privileged to work with some amazing librarians.

Conversely, the realities of working in a public institution and all the innate challenges attendant to that made me wish more than once that there had been a library school class on navigating bureaucracy effectively. Some days the challenges have felt insurmountable.

The Spring Everyday Advocacy Challenge came through my e-mail on a day I felt particularly confined by institutional obstructions keeping me from reaching potential patrons. Rather than stew over what I could not accomplish, I applied to participate. When I heard I had been accepted, I immediately wanted to bow out and claim I was too busy, or too new, or just too something that would get me out of stretching myself. Fortunately, an awesome coworker told me I had to do it.

By participating in the challenge, I hope to have the chance to focus on what I can​ do for patrons, both current and potential, the opportunity to expand my view of what advocacy is and learn the most effective ways to apply it to my career.

I am really grateful for this opportunity and look forward to learning and growing with everyone this March. Thank you, and stay awesome!

Cathy writes:

Advocacy means not only wearing our many hats, but also doing a symbolic fashion spread with them! To be a strong advocate of school library programs and services, one must be willing to toot one’s own horn loudly and wear one’s collective hats boldly on behalf of the students, staff, and community we serve. In fact, we should be sporting not just hats but also superhero masks and capes to proudly proclaim our place at the educational leadership table.

When we combine our voices, we naturally empower ourselves to make a stronger difference. So many opportunities exist for us to advocate on a daily basis through both small acts and larger ones. Advocacy is not supplemental to what we do. It is a central and enormously important aspect of our jobs as library media specialists.

I am super excited to be taking ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy Challenge this March. I hope to learn new advocacy tips and strategies, to share a few of my own, and to enjoy some rich, stimulating discussion on the all-important topic of library advocacy.

(For excellent examples Cathy’s advocacy work in action, check out her latest Knowledge Quest blog post, Everyday Advocacy, from which this post is excerpted.)

Related post:

Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Spring 2016 Cohort!

Colleen M. Cochran is a children’s librarian at Glenview (Ill.) Public Library; Cathy Collins is a library media specialist at Sharon (Mass.) High School. Both Colleen and Cathy are participants in the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge, a 15-member volunteer cohort convening from March 1-22.

The post Spring 2016 #EAChallenge: Take the Plunge with Us! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Who’s ready to take the Spring 2016 Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC)? Our next cohort of bold and daring Everyday Advocates is—and we hope you are, too!

From March 1-22, our cohort of intrepid volunteers will do the following:

• Commit to completing four consecutive Take Action Tuesday challenges on advocacy topics/themes of their choosing;
• Collaborate with their EAC cohort members over the four-week period, sharing successes and troubleshooting issues via ALA Connect;
• Write a post for the ALSC blog about their EAC experiences; and
• Contribute a reflection for the April 2016 issue of the Everyday Advocacy Matters e-newsletter.

Before the Spring 2016 EAC gets underway next week, we’d like to introduce some of our cohort members and their reasons for taking the four-week challenge. Watch for their sure-to-inspire ALSC blog posts beginning Tuesday, March 1!

Keturah Cappadonia, Librarian, David A. Howe Public Library (N.Y.)
“I want to take the Everyday Advocacy Challenge to help develop my skills in speaking out about the importance of library services for children and build self-confidence in my skills and abilities to help make me a better librarian. I want to be better able to serve the families in my community through improved communications on behalf of my library.”

Colleen M. Cochran, Librarian, Glenview (Ill.) Public Library
“As I near my first anniversary as a professional librarian, I would love to reinvigorate my perspective and be reminded of why I became a children’s librarian. The Everyday Advocacy Challenge would be an opportunity to focus on what I can do for the patrons I serve, regardless of the challenges of entrenched ideas and layers of bureaucracy common to public institutions.”

Cathy Collins, Librarian, Sharon (Mass.) Public Schools
“As the Advocacy Chair for Massachusetts State Library Association, I want to model for my colleagues some of the easy ways that school library media specialists can effectively advocate for strong school library programs on a daily basis!”

Skye Corey, Librarian, Meridian (Idaho) Library District
“As children’s librarians, advocacy is at the heart of what we do. From the programs we plan, to the collections we select, to the city hall meetings we attend – in all of these things, we are advocating for children and for a place where these children can be equipped with the skills, knowledge, wisdom, and vision needed to succeed.

I want to participate in the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) so that I can be challenged, pushed, and stretched. I want to learn how to best use stories, statistics, and news to demonstrate the value of children’s library services. I want to learn how to be more politically savvy as I work at defining key stakeholders both inside and outside the library, and as I work on crafting my own stories of impact. And, of course, I want to have a lot of fun along the way, meeting fellow ALSC members who are enthusiastic, inspiring, intelligent, and committed to learning how to be the best everyday advocates that they can be!

Once I have completed the EAC, I want to share my experiences with others (both those within the library and those outside of the library) so that together, we can work together to create a better future for children through libraries.

Katherine Paterson once wrote: ‘I discovered gradually and not without a little pain that you don’t put together a bridge for a child. You become one – you lay yourself across the chasm…’ It is my hope that through participating in the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Challenge, I will better learn how to be this bridge – a bridge to wonder, joy, friendship, and hope.”

Rosemary Kiladitis, Librarian
“I want to be more involved, and I want everyone to understand how important libraries are!”

Kimberly Patton, Supervisor, Kansas City, Kansas Public Library
“It’s important to be a voice for our library in our communities. As librarians, we need to be able to communicate the value of our libraries and all that we do to enhance our communities in large and small ways and I want to learn to do the best job I can with my advocacy efforts.”

Angela Petrie, Librarian and Supervisor, Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library
“My current position involves some involvement with an acting library board made up of a few members who would benefit from some dedicated and powerful advocacy, and I’m up for the challenge. I want to compose a few different messages for them and for all who may not really understand:

• The power behind a well developed, early literacy enriched library storytime;
• Why the kids are playing with dramatic play props in the children’s area;
• Why the babies are playing with toys after storytime; and
• Why the tweens really need a space for their own programming that can’t always include younger/older siblings.

It’s important to me that I can build upon and refine several messages that lead people to the accurate conclusion!”

Gayle Pulley, Supervisor, Ridgefield (Conn.) Library
“It is important to share our great ideas with each other and with our patrons. I should be advocating every day but usually allow other things get in the way. This experience will allow advocacy to be a top priority and become part of my daily responsibilities.”

Mary Voors, Librarian and Supervisor, Allen County (Ind.) Public Library
“I want to activate my inner Everyday Advocate and motivate my colleagues to do the same!”

Claudia Wayland, Supervisor, Allen (Texas) Public Library

Kimberly White, Librarian, Cheshire (Conn.) Public Library
“I think this is a great opportunity to make the commitment to advocating for libraries on a regular basis. I enjoy reading (and sometimes even completing) the Take Action Tuesday Challenges, so I think this would be great chance to make the commitment. I also really love the idea of collaborating with those in the cohort over the month of March!”

Jenna Nemec-Loise is Member Content Editor of the ALSC Everyday Advocacy Website and Electronic Newsletter. E-mail her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter: @ALAJenna. 

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Meet the Spring 2016 Cohort! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

National Library Legislative Day, a two-day advocacy event championing libraries and library legislation in Washington, D.C., is taking place from May 2-3 this year. The need to let our elected representatives know how imperative is it to have quality services for young children as well as decent pay for those of us who work with young children, has only grown within the past year.

Two weeks ago, I watched a newly released video series called “The Raising of America.”  It presented updated facts and research regarding the importance of the earliest years in children’s lives as well as historical information regarding childcare in the US.

I was surprised to learn that in 1970, Senator Walter Mondale introduced a bill called the Comprehensive Child Development Act (CCDA) that aimed to make the US government responsible for providing “high-quality childcare and early education, home visiting and other services to each and every family that wanted it.” Calling for free, universal childcare in the US, the CCDA sought to promote both social equality and national prosperity. It was passed in Congress with bi-partisan support from both Democrats and Republicans.

In order for it to become law, however, it needed to be signed by President Nixon. Pressure was put on him by groups claiming that universal childcare in the US would undercut “personal responsibility” and erode “family values.” Ignoring the fact that a large number of women could only support their families by working, that parents with children would need childcare in order to work outside of the home, and high-quality childcare could be too costly for some families, this government program that could have helped poor and working families was vetoed.

The CCDA bill was re-introduced twice in Congress following the 1971 veto. Although millions of people could have benefitted from it, vocal opponents claimed that the CCDA would “relieve parents of their responsibility for child rearing” rather than strengthening the family. Because of politics, the bill was squelched.

Lower and middle class working mothers in the US today struggle to find high-quality, affordable childcare. Some families pay more for childcare than they do for rent! The earliest years are the ones that form the social, emotional, and cognitive framework for children; not having adequate childcare can severely limit possibilities for development of important skills and experiences. It is not unusual in public libraries to see young struggling mothers visiting with their children. They seem tired, impatient, and beaten down. Because they cannot afford childcare, they are unwillingly “stuck” with the children, and unable to get a job that will help pay their bills while also building their self-esteem.

Although we provide a haven for these families, offer literacy programs, share information, and provide resources, it would be great if we could do more. Perhaps we can help by participating in National Library Legislative Day and telling our elected officials about the importance of free public services to families with children. I wonder if legislators realize the full impact of their actions on early childhood education. To whom do they talk to learn about the implications of policy?

Today’s guest blogger is Betsy Diamant-Cohen, posting on behalf of the ALSC Early Childhood Programs and Services Committee, of which she is a member. Betsy developed the Mother Goose on the Loose early literacy program; she enjoys consulting and presenting training workshops to fellow librarians.

The post National Library Legislative Day Matters! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Photo courtesy of Pat Scales

Pat Scales is the 2016 recipient of the ALSC Distinguished Service Award, and we’re thrilled to have her share some memories of her years of working with children, families, librarians, and educators across the country. ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee member Miriam Lang Budin chatted with Pat via email:

Miriam Lang Budin: First of all, congratulations on receiving the 2016 ALSC Distinguished Service Award! What a well-deserved recognition of your many years of dedicated school librarianship, professional leadership, and continuing guidance to those of us in the trenches.

Do you have any funny stories about your work as a champion of intellectual freedom?

Pat Scales: Yes.  I helped an elementary school in the late 1980s deal with a parent who complained about William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble because “Sylvester has an out of body experience.”  She was, of course, referring to Sylvester turning into a rock.  I have used that book in teaching students about the freedom to read.  I told them about the complaint about the “pig policemen” in the 1970s, and then I told them about the later complaint.  They asked me to explain an out of body experience.  I had to say I didn’t know because I had never had one.

One of my favorite stories is the time I was teaching the First Amendment to eighth graders.  I told them that My Friend Flicka had been banned in Florida because of the word “bitch” in reference to a female dog.  I asked them to name other words that society has turned into slang.  A boy on the front row said, “pussy.”  The students didn’t hear him and asked me what he said.  I turned to the class and said, “John said pussy, and he’s absolutely right.”  I then recited ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat.’ Not one student laughed. Later the teacher and I invited the principal to the class to hear the lecture.  He was amazed by the students, and said it was one of the best lessons he had ever observed.  I turned to him and told him that I was sorry he missed “pussy.”  He collapsed on the floor laughing.

MLB: Have you ever been afraid for your safety when working in the field?

PS: No, not ever.  There were two incidents that happened when I was at a residential high school for the arts, but they didn’t frighten me.

I served on a panel at ALA about privacy and the Patriot Act. What we didn’t know until later was that some very conservative organizations had planted people in the audience.  When I returned home I received some very threatening telephone calls at work. Someone even wrote to our governor complaining about my views.  I was called from the governor’s office just to inform me that the governor stood behind me.  Security guards escorted me to my car for about a week.  I never heard anything more after that week.

A woman appeared in the library one day around 5:00 and began pulling books, marking specific pages with strips of paper, and stacking them on tables.  Most were art books that had nude paintings.  There were a few graphic novels that she added to the stacks.  She quickly fled when I asked her if I could help her.  Then I spotted a magazine that had my name on the label.  She had circled my name and written “the problem.” I never knew who she was.

MLB: Can you tell us about a satisfying victory?

PS: I worked with a group of citizens in Fayetteville, Arkansas who were fighting a woman who was leading a campaign to get any books that dealt with “sex” out of the school libraries.  The group addressed the school board in a kind of town hall meeting, and won their battle.  It was wonderful to see a community group rise in support of books, the right to read, and the right to seek information.

I was also an expert witness to the Annie on My Mind censorship trial in Olathe, Kansas. High school students sued the superintendent of schools after he pulled the book from the library shelves.  Garden’s book had been in the library for ten years, and there had never been a question until a gay/lesbian group wanted to gift the book to the school library. That made the superintendent nervous, and he dismissed the selection policy and the materials review policy, and banned the book. The students were brilliant, and they won the case.

MLB: Have there been any crushing defeats?

PS: Yes.  The Miami-Dade Public Schools removed Vamos a Cuba because they didn’t think it accurately represented life in the Communist country.  They cited the cover of the book where a young boy is smiling.  “No child would smile under the Castro regime.” There were other complaints: “Only the rich would wear the festival dress.” “The boy pulling the oxen was too clean and neat and didn’t represent hard work.”  The Florida ACLU took the case to court, and they called me as an expert witness. We won the case in the federal district court, but the school district appealed.  The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is very conservative, and they ruled that the school board had not violated anyone’s First Amendment rights.  The book was permanently removed.

MLB: Is there an ongoing battle that you feel is especially important?

PS: We still deal with issues related to “labeling” of content in books, and restricting students to books on their “reading level” in school and public libraries.  This is extremely troubling, because this restricts young readers’ access to books they want, or information they need.  There are documented cases where books have been removed from a library based solely on a Common Sense Media review.  This site uses emoticons to label controversial issues in books and media.  It’s all taken out of context, and the folks working for them aren’t professionals. There are other websites that label in much the same way.

There have been many censorship cases related to “reading levels.”  Parents and teachers want their really “good” readers to read books that have “high reading levels.”  Sometimes these books are too mature for the reader.  For example, a newspaper in Arizona interviewed me when The Perks of Being a Wallflower was banned in an elementary school in Apache Junction.  The school had purchased the book because Accelerated Reader put it on the fourth-grade reading level.  This case prompted the State Superintendent to send a letter of “warning” to all school libraries in the state.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower isn’t appropriate for fourth-grade, and shouldn’t have been purchased for the elementary school.

No librarian should ever allow any company to determine what they purchase for their library.  We have a number of professional review journals to guide us.

MLB: What can we do to help?

PS: Talk the Talk.  Walk the Walk.  DO NOT succumb to pressure from organizations from the “right” or the “left.”  Review your selection policies and make sure they include statements related to “controversial” materials and cultural and historical accuracy.  Then stick to your policies.

Encourage state library associations to sponsor programs; enroll in webinars about the issues; write blogs and articles for journals and newsletters; and, sponsor Banned Books Week activities for kids and adults to make them aware of the issues.

Pat’s regular column in School Library Journal, Scales on Censorship, is a valuable resource for reasoned, practical responses to intellectual freedom concerns. Questions can be sent to [email protected].

Thank you, Pat!

The post A Talk With Pat Scales appeared first on ALSC Blog.

When you say “yes” to an appointment to serve on an ALSC committee, you’re saying “yes” to meeting interesting people, and getting re-energized about topics and issues that are important to our profession and vital to those we serve. The ALSC Intellectual Freedom (IF) Committee serves as a liaison to other ALA Divisions and Committees, but also to a partner institution you might not know well.  At Midwinter 2016, the co-chairs of the ALSC IF committee spent a fascinating day with the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) folks and learned a lot.

Source: Freedom to Read Foundation website

FTRF is an affiliate – not a part – of ALA. Its purpose is to protect and defend the First Amendment, particularly supporting “the right of libraries to collect – and individuals to access – information.”  If you face a challenge in your library, you’ll probably call ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom for advice.  But you also want to remember our powerful advocates at FTRF, since that is where passionate attorneys speak for our patrons and for us when legal defense is needed.  They’ll go to court, if necessary. FTRF also works to fend off trouble before it gets to litigation by keeping close tabs on state and federal legislation.  And they’re on the lookout for developing issues on the free speech and privacy horizon, such as the question of labeling book and media content for youth.

So here are a couple of action items for you to consider: Join the FTRF for as little as $10 if you’re a student, or $35 if you’re not.  Get started on your application for a Conable Conference Scholarship for a free trip to an ALA Annual conference if you’re a student or new to the profession.  (Applications open in February.)

And volunteer to serve on an ALSC committee to feed – or reignite – your passion.  

-Laura Jenkins, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee co-chair

The post Fired Up About the Freedom to Read appeared first on ALSC Blog.

While browsing the exhibits at ALA Midwinter, I came upon the Harry Potter Alliance and its work on organizing youth to participate in National Library Legislative Day – mainly by creating local chapters in schools, libraries, youth centers, etc.. to enlist passionate readers in youth advocacy.  Of course, I also had to buy this wicked awesome (note my attempt at Boston lingo!) t-shirt:

These local chapters “serve as an access point for young people who are passionate about stories to become civically engaged and lead projects that improve their communities.” (thehpalliance.org)  The HPA envisions librarians being “most heavily involved in creating their chapters, planning the first few meetings, and identifying potential leaders among the young people in attendance.”

Are you as intrigued as I am? You can send questions via a virtual owl (HPA brilliant lingo!) to their Chapters Staff at [email protected] to learn more.

The post Harry Potter Alliance and Youth Advocacy appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The Friends of ALSC is accepting tax-deductible donations (image courtesy of the Friends of ALSC)

It’s not too late to become a Friend of ALSC!

Friends’ projects have a powerful impact not only on our members, but also on their larger communities as a whole. Friends of ALSC support activities such as innovative conference programs and institutes, 21st century challenges, professional development and early literacy projects.

As you are making your plans for the holidays and your final year-end donations for the 2015 tax year, we hope that you will include Friends of ALSC in those plans and show your continuing support for creating a better future for children. Every contribution helps ALSC support the work of our members and meet new challenges.

Be sure to check out the new 2015 Friends of ALSC Annual Report as well to read about all of the great things the Friends did in 2015.

The post Join the Friends of ALSC appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Among the standard review and professional journals to which my library subscribes, there are a few that are a little more unusual to find in a public librarian’s inbox. Literacy Today, the journal of the International Literacy Association (ILA), is one of these. I certainly had never encountered it before I started in this job, but I’ve come to look forward to each issue. While ILA members come from a wide range of disciplines, I particularly value the perspectives of classroom teachers that I get from reading Literacy Today.

Source: www.literacyworldwide.org

A recent article on using challenging materials in the classroom resonated with me because of my work on the Intellectual Freedom Committee. More and more, the challenges to reading material for young people that we’re seeing across the country are coming from school libraries and class reading assignments more than from public library collections. As we consider ways in which we as librarians can support our schools in promoting the importance of challenging reads, I found the two differing opinions on navigating book selection in the classroom featured in this article to be truly thought-provoking.

ILA has generously allowed us to provide the article here, so I encourage you to take a few minutes to read and consider it.

Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt website

I’m intrigued by the middle school teacher who whets her students’ appetites for challenging materials by using excerpts in class, but encourages them to seek out the full book outside of school in order to avoid parent complaints. It’s evident that this approach to potentially forbidden fruit gets teens excited about reading these titles.

At the same time, I understand the perspective of the high school teacher who worries that teachers deferring to outside pressure are diminishing their roles as professional educators. Additionally, as IF advocates frequently point out, no one can ever predict what someone else will consider “offensive” or “inappropriate.”

What do you think of these two viewpoints? Does the first suggestion offer an acceptable compromise for teachers looking to avoid reconsideration battles? Or does it give in too much to a “potential challenge” that may never come? Do you have other examples of ways in which teachers navigate the selection of classroom reading assignments? Please share your thoughts in the comments, and visit literacyworldwide.org for more information on Literacy Today magazine and the International Literacy Association.

Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Co-Chair ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee

Two Takes article from Sept/Oct 2015 issue of Literacy Today shared with permission of the International Literacy Association.

The post Two Takes on Challenging Materials appeared first on ALSC Blog.

What’s new in the ALSC Competencies? The Education Committee asked Lisa Nowlain to just show you.

Original illustration by Lisa Nowlain, 2015

The post Core Competencies in Comics appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Everyday Advocates, do you have 30 seconds for school libraries?

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

In the same time it takes you to read this post, you can make a lasting difference for school libraries, school librarians, and our nation’s students.

Here’s the low-down:

Last week the House voted in favor of much-needed reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), but we’re not there yet. Now it’s time to ask your U.S. Senators to do the same.

Ask your U.S. Senators today to vote “Yes!” on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Conference Report.

The Senate vote is scheduled for Wednesday morning, December 9. Call, tweet, or e-mail your U.S. Senators today and ask for their “Yes!” votes on this critical legislation that includes school libraries in many important ways.

Visit the ALA Legislative Action Center for detailed instructions on how you can reach your U.S. Senators with this critical message. Then spread the word and ask everyone you know to do the same.

Want to learn more about the history of ESEA and ESSA? District Dispatch, the official blog of the ALA Washington Office, has all the background.

Calling, tweeting, or e-mailing your U.S. Senators and asking for their “Yes!” votes is Everyday Advocacy in action!

The post The Final Stretch: Act Now for School Libraries! appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Thanks, in no small part, to all of your calls and emails, the House of Representatives passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which will reauthorize the ESEA if approved. As mentioned in his blog post about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) last month, ALSC President Andrew Medlar gave us the heads-up that this second call to action would be critical to ensure that a reauthorization includes these hard-fought school library provisions.

Now is the time for the final push! The Senate is expected to vote early next week and it is critical that both of your US Senators hear from you. Ask them to, “vote YES on the ESSA Conference Report” and take a moment to let them know how librarians and school libraries positively impact children’s lives and communities.

Visit ALA’s Action Center to locate your Senators and stay up to date on this historic vote. While you’re at it, head over to ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy page to find out more ways to make your voice heard on issues that matter.

Matt McLain is the Co-chair of the ALSC Advocacy and Legislation Committee.

The post Time to Contact Your Senators #ESEA appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Calling all Everyday Advocates! The fight for school libraries is real, and it needs you to make a difference.

Use the resources on the Everyday Advocacy site to help make your voice heard! Photo courtesy of ALSC.

Congress is poised to act definitively on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) very soon. According ALA’s Washington Office, we could know as early as next week if watershed language for school libraries, included in the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), makes it into this federal education bill.

This means there is important work for all of us to do! The last time Congress passed an education bill they left out school libraries and our kids’ futures can’t afford for that to happen again. As soon as the Washington Office learns what is in the new compromise bill language, they will be posting an alert to the Legislative Action Center with instructions for how you can help (including talking points you can use to call, email, and Tweet Congress). That will be our opportunity to make sure that every member of the House of Representatives (and after that, the Senate) hears from library experts before they vote, which could be as early as December 2. ALSC will also provide a heads-up when it’s time.

Here’s how you can make a difference:

• Be prepared to contact your Senators and Representatives and let them know that any agreement to reauthorize ESEA must maintain the school library provisions overwhelmingly adopted by the HELP Committee and the full Senate under S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act.
• Give a heads-up to coworkers, family, and friends to take action as well by contacting Congress sometime between next week and mid-December.
• Gather together stories about the impact of school libraries in your community which you can use when you and your supporters contact Congress.

For support in these vital efforts, check out the tips from ALSC’s Everyday Advocacy initiative at http://www.ala.org/everyday-advocacy/

The more voices that speak up on behalf of school libraries, the better for all kids! Please keep your eyes peeled and your ears open for the upcoming alert.

Thank you!

Andrew Medlar
ALSC President

The post Fight for School Libraries! #ESEA appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Source: Jonathan Haynes, Flickr

I had an encounter recently that shifted my perspective.  We are proud – justifiably – of our role as defenders of freedom to read and access to information.  And, as a colleague reported in a recent post, that role is extremely valuable.  But there are quiet defenders out there, too, who are our allies, and sometimes they are the ones we least expect.

I serve a diverse community with immigrants from Central America, Southeast Asia and Africa, along with upscale urban professionals.  Explaining the wonders of the public library system to immigrants – and it’s all free! – is the most gratifying part of my job. But sometimes a gentle explanation of access to everything, and the parent’s role as arbiter of what their children should read in print or online, is needed.

Source: HarperCollins.com

At the end of summer, a mother who brings her three children to the library regularly asked me for help in finding books for the oldest child, a boy entering 6th grade.  She wanted books to help him get ready because he was “starting middle school.”  The language barrier made it a little difficult to identify exactly what she was thinking of, so I selected several books on dealing with school issues, and also books on puberty. I showed her what I had, and we put them out for him to look over and decide what he wanted to take home.

While he was looking them over, she said to me, “Where I come from, they think you shouldn’t talk about these things.  But he needs to know!” This was certainly a teachable moment – for me!  It upended my assumptions and moved me profoundly to find that this woman is such a courageous parent, bucking her culture to do what she thinks is best for her children.

The post Unsung Heroes appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Last month, a cohort of ALSC members wrapped up the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge. I was particularly interested in the 8-week Everyday Advocacy Challenge because it presented an opportunity to advocate while working in a non-library setting. What helped me feel comfortable was having information I eagerly wanted to share with others no matter the setting, and the #EAChallenge presented several opportunities for information-sharing.

In week 3, we were prompted to send an email to a local school or community-based organization presumably about our library’s services.  Admittedly, this was challenging since I don’t work in a library, so I tabled this challenge for a later date. However, upon reflection I realize that I visit my library almost weekly, and I subscribe to and read the library’s newsletter. I have access to local library-related information to discuss with schools or organizations, though it might not be as readily available as if I worked directly with patrons. I’ll be ready next time.

Week 4 challenged us to write or call our elected officials to talk about our work in libraries. Some participants said, and I agree, that this challenge is much easier when there is a specific issue to discuss. So, I went straight to the District Dispatch website to learn about a current issue that ALA is supporting. I read about the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and tailored my letter to that bill.

For the fifth week, our prompt was to talk up the EA challenge with a colleague. Sometimes my face-to-face interaction with library colleagues is limited but this did not stop me from talking up the challenge. I found it easy to talk about the challenge when friends asked what I’d been working on lately. I used this question as an opening to discuss the challenge. It helped to have examples of the advocacy work others are doing and current legislative work, so previous challenges came in handy.

Perhaps my favorite challenge was the last one, in which we were urged to read the October issue of Everyday Advocacy Matters. I had recently received the newsletter via email and glanced at it, but the challenge prompted me to go back for a closer read. I’m glad I did because the Everyday Advocacy Spotlight affirmed my thoughts about the challenge as a whole. The first tenet of Everyday Advocacy is Be Informed. Throughout the 8-week challenge having information about library issues helped me find my sweet spot – lifting the weight that I sometimes experience when thinking about advocacy work. Of course, advocacy work involves more than information-sharing but it is a desire to share information about issues important to me that drives me to champion, promote, or push for particular services and issue.

I hope others use the Everyday Advocacy Challenge and weekly Take Action Tuesday prompts to find an advocacy sweet spot. I especially hope others approach the challenge and prompts as an opportunity to be a library advocate no matter your workplace setting.

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Africa Hands, MLIS, serves on the Advocacy and Legislation Committee and was a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort convening from September 1-October 20, 2015. She’s on Twitter @africahands.

The post With Information Comes Advocacy appeared first on ALSC Blog.

On Tuesday, October 13, the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) called for a time of reflection with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Submit the Share Your Advocacy Story webform.

EAC cohort member Lise Tewes shares these reflections on our Week 7 challenge:

This week’s Everyday Advocacy Challenge turned the focus inward and became an examination of conscience, so to speak. But fortunately, the challenge required spending time looking for the examples of when I’ve been good, not when I’ve been bad! I learned these three things from our challenge this week:

It’s good to look back at what you’ve done right. Too often, in our hyper-critical society and workplaces, we are focused on the negative, on the things we didn’t do, or the things that didn’t work very well. The “woulda, coulda, shouldas.” Taking stock of the things that have gone well, that we did right, of the efforts that have been successful, is powerfully motivating!

When I started to think back in order to discover a successful advocacy effort that I could post on the webform, I discovered that there were actually quite a few examples of successful advocacy activities that I could choose among. Wow, that made me feel good! It energized me and made me realize that advocacy is not some weird, odd activity that I have to make a special effort to fit into my already over-extended schedule.

It’s basically what I do every day.

It’s the time I take singing the praises of my library, to everyone and anyone, and I do that at every storytime, outreach visit, and community meeting that I attend. Sometimes my “praise singing” is more vocal than others, more effective than others, or has a deeper impact in my community than others.

But all advocacy efforts, big and small, are important, and we need to pat ourselves on the back sometimes and take stock of how successful we are, at everything we are doing!

Advocacy = “Let me tell you what the Library can do for you.” As mentioned above, advocacy isn’t some weird activity that requires specialized training and time. It’s simply the efforts we make to ensure that the people in our community, state, and nation are aware of all the wonderful materials and services that libraries of all kinds can provide to improve and enrich the lives of everyone, which ensures that libraries have value in the community, state, and nation.

When the library is woven deeply into the fabric of the life of the community, then it becomes very easy to advocate at the level of lawmakers and budget-cutters, which is usually the level of politicians. And politicians seldom want to cut or eliminate services that are popular, i.e., deeply entrenched, in the community.

So start in the community, become an essential player in all the activities of your community, and you will have the community’s support and approval. And if the politicians even suggest that the library should be cut or downsized or, heaven forbid, eliminated, the roar of the community should silence those ridiculous politicians!

Success breeds success, so share your advocacy stories! Why do we have an Everyday Advocacy website and Share Your Advocacy Story webform?

Because we all need to pat ourselves on the back and congratulate ourselves for the great work we are doing (re-read the first point above).

Because we need to see that, in libraries of every kind and all around the country, we are all working hard at advocacy, at making our libraries valued by its users and acknowledged as such by decision-makers. In other words, we are all in this together, and there is always strength and encouragement in numbers!

Finally, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! The advocacy story that is posted by another library in a state far away might inspire me to do a similar activity in my own Library. And I might inspire someone far away to try an activity that I have done successfully.

But if we don’t have a forum for sharing those stories, I’ll never have a chance to find out about the great activity that Library Faraway did, and then I’ll miss the chance to improve my own community and library. I want to hear about other libraries and the great work they are doing. I want to be inspired and challenged and encouraged in my work, and a simple click on the Everyday Advocacy website might be all it takes sometimes to get my mojo moving!

Here’s hoping that we all spend some time patting ourselves on the back for what we’ve done right, and then sharing our stories with everyone in the library world.

Lisa Tewes is a supervisor and librarian at Kenton County (Ky.) Public Library. She’s a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 7 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

On Tuesday, October 6, the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) presented our volunteer cohort with what’s proven to be their biggest Take Action Tuesday prompt yet:

Make a formal request to attend National Library Legislative Day.

Here’s what a few of our participants had to say about their Week 6 experiences in six words or less:

• “Easier than expected! Now I’m apprehensive!”
• “Out of my league.”
• “I used this as a learning tool only.”
• “Apprehension, how to justify the request.”
• “An exercise in balancing priorities.”
• “Impossible.”
• “A bit disheartening.”

For Olga Cardenas, the Week 6 prompt was an opportunity to pause and consider what she can do to preserve the future of libraries and library users.

For Pam Carlton, the Week 6 prompt brought the realization that there’s really no one better suited than she is to tell the stories of her library community.

Olga writes:

Since the staff attrition of 2008, my colleagues and I are still struggling to manage everyday increasing responsibilities while providing outstanding customer service to our patrons. Most of us are too busy with what is happening today, or in our immediate futures, to really consider what’s happening in our wider profession.

Though what’s happening today has immediate effects, we sometimes forget that what we fail to do today will have lasting consequences for ourselves, our profession, and those we serve in the future. It’s not that the future is unimportant or non-urgent. On the contrary!

Therefore, let’s pause from the mundane, look to the horizon, and ponder what we can do today to ensure our tomorrows continue to provide access to information and resources for all our patrons. It’s time to invest our precious time and effort so that future generations enjoy the privileges of a strong democracy that we hold so dear and defend so zealously!

This week’s challenge allowed me to momentarily turn a deaf ear to the screaming important urgent things to one important, non-urgent, whispering thing: Advocacy in its highest form. I must confess, I didn’t know what National Library Legislative Day entailed. So, for the benefit of those who, like me, were in the dark about this, I’ll share an abridged version:

Library professionals and supporters gather annually over a two-day period in Washington, D.C. to rally support for libraries. On the first day, attendees learn about current issues in Congress affecting libraries via experts—and here’s the cool part—you actually learn what to expect and do the following day during a meeting with your Congress representative!

In the evening of the first day, attendees have the option of mingling with members of Congress and their staff. The second day is dedicated to personal meetings with legislators. Just imagine, finding yourself at the cusp of advocacy and using your voice in favor of preserving what you hold dearest in your heart!   

That, my dear colleagues, is a bold leap into formal advocacy.

Yeah, yeah, that sounds fine and dandy, but where would one find the strength to make the leap, to actually make a concerted effort to attend National Library Legislative Day? Would it be the bright eyes of your youngest customer? Perhaps the absence of teen customers? What about the shuffle of your elderly customers who have already ensured the existence of your library? What about the vision of what it would be like to live under the tyranny of a dictatorship?

As for me, I took a huge leap by joining the Everyday Advocacy’s Take Action Tuesday movement and have found the challenges uncomfortable to various degrees yet empowering. I have come to realize that advocacy takes many forms and has neither beginning nor end. I feel I owe it to the next generation of professionals and library users to get involved, for libraries and what they represent are worth preserving.

May you find your source of strength and inspiration today so you may choose to learn more and possibly attend ALA’s National Library Legislative Day or your own state’s legislative event in 2016!   

Pam writes:

National Library Legislative Day was something I had heard about but I had never thought of as something in which I would participate. In Montana, we have a very capable Legislative Committee that is formed at our Montana Library Association. They have been helping Montana Libraries get the funding they need for years now.

But the tide is turning.

We now have a State Library Development Task Force, which will recommend new ways for operating our libraries. We are having to make difficult decisions on what will stay funded and what will not. On top of this, the librarian who has very capably lead our legislative efforts alongside of our State Librarian is retiring.

I just attended a follow-up event for a leadership class I took this past summer, and the presenter asked each and every one of us to think hard about our commitment to our work as librarians and how we might join the efforts to lobby our State Legislature and work with them to continue funding the wonderful programs and services offered by Montana’s Libraries.

Then Week 6 of our Everyday Advocacy Challenge comes along: Ask to attend the National Library Legislative Day. What in the world would I accomplish at this event? I was a Youth Services Librarian. I wasn’t a director. I wasn’t on the Montana Library Legislative Committee.

So I took a deep breath and I thought again. I was one of the many librarians who sees on a daily basis the benefits of the library in their community. I could tell the stories about the patrons who were helped by our services.

I realized that there was really no one better to attend National Library Legislative Day.

It’s the day to day challenges and success stories that best tell the library’s story. Yes, the directors and managers will have statistics and and official letters stating how important libraries are, but we have the “real” stories. Stories about patrons of all ages who come to our libraries and get the help, information, entertainment and community involvement they need.

Going to the National Library Legislative Day would be an awesome, eye-opening experience. I have given my formal request to attend to my director. Now I wait and see. But whether I go or not I do know that I will be joining our Montana Legislative Library Committee and work toward making Montana Libraries the best they can be.

Olga Cardenas is a librarian at Stanislaus County (Calif.) Library; Pam Carlton is a librarian. Olga and Pam are members of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 6 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) began its second half on September 29 with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Talk up the Everyday Advocacy initiative with a colleague.

Here’s what a few of our EAC cohort members said about the Week 5 challenge in six words or less:

• “One of the easiest so far.”
• “Sharing the proactive thinking.”
• “Energizing!”
• “Perfectly timed to coincide with newsletter.”
• “Much easier to do!”

For Lynda Salem-Poling, the Week 5 challenge was both a fun opportunity and a great reminder of what Everyday Advocacy is all about.

Lynda writes:

This week’s challenge was to talk up the Everyday Advocacy Challenge to our colleagues. I took this opportunity to poll my co-workers to find out who was interested in learning more about ALA, as well as more about the EAC specifically. I sent out a general e-mail to all the librarians in my library system, linking to all of the ALSC blog posts, and asking if anyone was interested in participating and inviting them to contact me for more information.

The resulting conversations were fabulous and enlightening. I learned a lot about how my fellow librarians saw advocacy and their roles as advocates. And, as usual, I surprised myself by having insights while we were talking that I had never thought of before.

Talking over the EAC with my fellow librarians helped me find even more importance in doing it. Specifically, I realized the added benefit of talking to librarians from different types of public libraries from across the country, and even some “library folks” who work outside of libraries all together. One colleague pointed out that even if I never spoke to anyone about libraries again, it is good to have internalized the positive messages that I was creating.

We are now past the half-way mark, when it’s possible to suffer from a bit of burn-out, even for such a short experience. This week’s challenge was an invigorating, uplifting, reminder of how important the EAC is and how much fun.

Lynda Salem-Poling, is a librarian and supervisor at El Dorado (Calif.) Neighborhood Library. Lynda is a member of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 5 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) reached the halfway mark on September 22 with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Write or call your elected officials to talk about your work at the library.

In six words or less, here’s what a few of our cohort members had to say about their Week 4 experiences:

• “Voicing political opinion demands attention.”
• “From library lover to library advocate.”
• “Calling or email probably more productive.”
• “This one just crushed me.”
• “Afraid to start. Managed to complete.”
• “Scary! Not a skill I’ve used!”

For Brittany Staszak, the EAC Week 4 challenge was a great opportunity to do her homework on the best ways to appeal to her representatives.

For Mira Tanna, the EAC Week 4 challenge helped her champion the critical roles of both school libraries and state-certified school library media specialists.

Brittany writes:

I decided to contact the state and national legislatures that represented both the district I work in and the district I live in via telephone, where I knew I would most likely be leaving a voicemail. After briefly researching the leanings of my representatives and having no specific piece of legislation I intended to lobby for (or against), I decided it was time get some hard facts and concrete numbers about libraries.

I quickly discovered that ALA has a handy “Quotable Facts about America’s Libraries” PDF. Utilizing the annotated version, as well as the Pew Research Center’s “10 Facts about Americans and Public Libraries,” I tailored a few quick and persuasive statements for each representative, hoping to demonstrate the importance of libraries in America, the importance of libraries to voters, and the huge toll legislation can take on the livelihood of America’s academic, school, and public libraries.

The talking points I found most useful were the following:

• A 2012 poll conducted for the American Library Association found that 94% respondents agreed that public libraries play an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed because they provide free access to materials and resources. —ALA
• 90% of Americans say the closing of their local public library would impact their community and 67% said it would affect them and their families. —Pew
• More than 92% of public libraries provide services for job seekers. —ALA
• Research shows the highest achieving students attend schools with well-staffed and well-funded library media centers.  —ALA
• 85% of Americans say libraries “should definitely” coordinate more closely with local schools. And 82% believe libraries should provide free literacy programs to young children, which may include traditional reading, writing and comprehension as well as technology and new media literacies. —Pew
• Americans go to school, public and academic libraries more than three times more often than they go to the movies. —ALA

Mira writes:

As a new member of ALSC, I decided to join the Everyday Advocacy Challenge as a way to get my feet wet and get to know other ALSC members across the country. Our Week 4 challenge was to contact our elected officials about the work we do.

Conveniently, I had received an e-mail several days prior from YALSA (lucky that I joined YALSA, too!) about the need to take action to ensure that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) includes provisions to fund school libraries.

ESEA is a big deal.  When the law was last authorized in 2001, No Child Left Behind (as it was called) made sweeping changes in education policy, the reverberations which have been felt not only on schools but on families, neighborhoods, and communities. School libraries were impacted as well.

I learned from ALA’s advocacy information that 8,830 public schools across the country do not have a school library, and that 17,000 schools don’t have a full- or part-time state-certified school librarian.

Luckily, the U.S. Senate passed the Reed-Chochran Amendment, which explicitly makes effective school library programs part of ESEA. I wrote my U.S. Representative, Corrine Brown, and my two U.S. Senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, to urge them to support the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act (S. 1177), which reauthorizes ESEA and includes provisions for effective school library programs.

Although I work in a public library, I felt that this call to action was important both as a library assistant manager and as a parent. In our large library system, we work closely with the public school system to ensure that students have library cards, to inform families about the resources we offer to children and families, to improve literacy and pre-literacy skills, and to publicize our programs. Our main point of entry into individual schools is through the media specialist. We rely on media specialists to get the word out about the public library. Families also rely on media specialists to inform them about our resources.

As a parent, I also feel strongly that school libraries and effective media specialists are important to my children’s success. Having a quality school library or media center improves students’ love of literature, their digital literacy, and their academic success. My children have benefited by reading books as part of our state’s Sunshine State Young Reader Awards (SSYRA) with their classmates and by participating in televised morning announcements run by their media specialist.

I hope that others will answer the call to action, whether you are directly impacted by the funding of school libraries or—like me—simply understand how crucial these institutions are to our families, schools and communities.

Brittany Staszak is a librarian and supervisor; Mira Tanna is a new ALSC member. Both are participants in the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 4 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Banned Books Week, a celebration of our freedom to read, takes place September 27- October 3.  Many libraries and book sellers will be offering activities, displays and events to remind us of the importance of everyone’s right to access materials and information.  As many books are challenged on the basis of protecting children, it is particularly important that those of us who serve young people be involved in whatever is being planned for Banned Books Week in our libraries.

What is happening in your library?

• A read-aloud of banned/challenged books – Make sure that titles for young people are included, from In the Night Kitchen to Captain Underpants and a certain young wizard who created an international reading craze.
• Displays – Create one in the children’s and teen areas (teen books are especially fertile ground for challenges), or include copies of books for young people if your library is creating one, all-purpose display.
• An article in your library newsletter – If your library offers a newsletter for the public and is including an article on Banned Books Week with a list of frequently challenged books, include some younger titles.  Our library article included some challenged titles that might surprise readers; Charlotte’s Web and The Wizard of Oz among others.  
• Radio and television – What about contacting a station about participating in a talk show?  Two of our children’s librarians are joining a local radio show to talk about the obvious and frequently challenged items as well as some of the more surprising titles.  
• Speakers – If your library is hosting a speaker to talk about intellectual freedom and Banned Books Week, go ahead and ask if she/he is including information regarding challenges related to books for young readers.  Have a list ready to share!
• A match-up game – On a bulletin board, sheet of paper or bookmark, list titles, plus reasons for challenges and see if people can put the right ones together.  Some will be obvious, others not so obvious.  

These are only a few ideas and I know that there are many more out there.  Please share yours!  

I want to close this post with a question and a recommendation.    Have you gone to the ALA web site and viewed the Banned Books Week site and the site for the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF)?  These sites are rich resources for anyone who works with young people as well as those who work with adults.  They track frequently challenged books, update us on relevant legislation and provide supportive information.  If you haven’t visited them yet, I encourage you to do so.  Finally, don’t forget that ALA has just released the new Intellectual Freedom Manual, Ninth Edition.  It is available in print and e-book formats.  

Let’s celebrate our freedom to read!

Toni Bernardi, San Francisco Public Library

Member, ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee

The post Are You Ready for Banned Books Week? appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge (EAC) kicked off on Tuesday, September 1, with this Take Action Tuesday prompt:

Spend 15 minutes talking with your supervisor about your advocacy role within your library or organization.

Never ones to shy away from a tall order, we asked our intrepid cohort members to summarize their Week 1 experiences in six words or less. Here’s what a few of our 18 volunteers had to say:

• “Comfort zone has been taken down.”
• “Affirming yet eye-opening.”
• “Confirmed what I knew, added detail.”
• “A step in the right direction.”
• “Good to compare our perspectives.”
• “Supportive; free lunch!”
• “Conversation that had us both thinking.”
• “Thinking outside the box.”

For Kendra Jones, the EAC Week 1 challenge was “thought-organizing” since her supervisor was on vacation.

For JoAnna Schofield, the Week 1 challenge left her with “expectations met based on manager philosophy.”

Read on for more of Kendra’s reflections on preparing to talk with her manager about her Everyday Advocacy role as well as JoAnna’s vision for where her conversation can lead!

Kendra writes:

This week’s challenge happened to land at the same time my supervisor was on vacation. Since I was unable to speak with her, I decided to write some notes to help guide a future discussion.

When I sat down to write notes, I started to reflect on our past conversations when I was advocating for a policy, procedure, for our patrons, for myself, or for a co-worker. Coming away from these reflections, I was able to identify some issues we had discussed in the past but that were still unresolved or needed to be addressed more fully.

A big part of why so many of these issues have fallen to the wayside is likely due to my role as advocate not only being undefined but unsupported. I am fairly new to this position, but the politics are the same as in previous positions. My goal has always been, and remains, to gain the support and trust of my supervisors so that I can be the best advocate I can be. It has become clear that in order to make this happen, my supervisor and I need to be on the same page in terms of advocacy (we mostly are), and we have to work together to advocate for change.

After all this soul searching, my notes ended up being two sentences: “I need to advocate. How can we work together to make this happen?”

My hope is this will open an open and frank conversation and we will come up with a great plan moving forward.  

JoAnna writes:

Advocating within an organization, especially one in which you are employed, is often not an easy task. How far is too far? What is the nature of the environment, and where do I as the individual fit in?

This weeks’ Everyday Advocacy Challenge stretched my ethical and philosophical thinking skills (that I haven’t used as much as I did in library school) and encouraged me to find direct ways to connect with my supervisor on the the topic of advocacy.

Like many other places around the country, there is a more recent push in Akron, Ohio, to directly involve library professionals in community engagement. Rather than “sitting behind the table” at booth-sits or story times, librarians are looking for ways to build deeper and more meaningful relationships “at the decision-making table.” We are finding new ways to offer our expertise and resources to our community in order to showcase our immense value.

In some ways, community engagement can be seen as a flip of advocacy (especially for the purposes of this week’s challenge). Community engagement focuses on showcasing our value to community partners outside our organization while advocacy within our organization focuses on discovering the needs of our community and using this knowledge to inform internal policy and procedures. This information allows administration and professionals at all levels to best budget our limited resources (both time and fiscal) and steer our organization in a public-driven, literacy-focused way.

An actionable example of this type of advocacy in Akron has been our after-school snacks program. Research supports that hungry children do not perform as well in school because their basic needs are not being met. In Summit County alone, one in four children face hunger. The library offers a safe environment that (1) is filled with informational and recreational materials and (2) can also offer after-school snacks to Akron’s children through a partnership with the local food bank. Without the support of front-line librarians and administration, this partnership would not have been successful.

Kendra Jones and JoAnna Schofield are both librarians, working at the Tacoma (Wash.) Public Library and the Akron-Summit County (Ohio) Public Library, respectively. Kendra and JoAnna are members of the inaugural Everyday Advocacy Challenge cohort, an 18-member volunteer group convening from September 1-October 20, 2015.

The post Everyday Advocacy Challenge: Week 1 Reflections appeared first on ALSC Blog.