In speaking with OIF leadership, particularly Deborah Caldwell-Stone, in August, and then in additional discussions with Courtney Pentland, incoming president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) board of directors, the simple increase in the number of challenges not the only issue. The ALA website has many of the tools members need to prepare for potential challenges. In speaking with OIF leadership, particularly Deborah Caldwell-Stone, in August, and then in additional discussions with Courtney Pentland, incoming president of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) board of directors, the simple increase in the number of challenges not the only issue.
This study examined how the Office for Intellectual Freedom can create points of contact with school librarians and increase the use of available resources. While part of a librarian's job is to curate collections, self-censorship is not the same as curating materials. The scale of the challenges is increasing from year to year (Spilka 2022), and the content of the materials.
However, flagship campaigns such as Banned Books Week have led to muddied perceptions of the ALA's work (Kimmel & Hartsfield, 2019), with some even questioning whether the ALA is. Part of the value of the ALA website is the number of resources available to the public. Based on the conversations I had with the ALA staff, I reached out to several AASL board members as sources for my librarian interviews.
The next section of the note taking tool I focused on whether the information was present or easy to find.
Project Question 1: What are the current engagement levels of OIF and AASL in terms of
I then went through each Word version of the interview transcript, color coding by theme. Project Question 1: What are the current levels of engagement of OIF and AASL in terms of communication and resource sharing. AASL board members cite OIF's expertise on the subject, not only because of national scale data collection, but based on the qualifications of OIF staff.
For example, in my interview with the second librarian, they mentioned that “…[OIF staff] are best suited to know what's going on around the country because they hear from places around the country and what people in others… And they, I mean, none of us are lawyers.
Project Question 2: What resources are currently in place for members experiencing a book
They understand all of that in a way that I never will." Members understand that OIF has the legal expertise to In addition to the landing pages and information mentioned above, there are toolkits for Defending Intellectual Freedom: LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries, Selection &. Reassessment Policy Toolkit for Public, School, and Academic Libraries, Open to All: Serving the GLBT Community in Your Library and Privacy on the Public-facing ALA Web Site.
There are also "Questions and Answers" pages that provide answers to any questions librarians may receive. Although the tools are available on the ALA website, finding these tools is not intuitive for members. Interviewees' descriptions of the website included "extensive" and "complex". ALA Connect, an internal social networking site for ALA members, was described by one interviewee as "the worst."
Notably, both AASL board members and ALA staff noted that the website will be updated later in 2023.
Project Question 3: How can the OIF and AASL build a network to foster resource sharing and
Project Question 3: How can OIF and AASL build a network to promote resource sharing and communication among school librarians (their members). AASL also has established Community of Practitioner Forums, and while these are still “finding their feet,” as one librarian put it, members have the potential to share resources through the ALA infrastructure. There were also many mentions of AASL Town Halls, not only because of the events, but because of the informal connections in the chats between the events.
While OIF presents trainings and speaks at state association meetings, interviews of librarians indicated a heavy reliance on locally directed resources. Since education policy is driven at the state and local levels, it makes sense for OIF to find common needs and patterns in local curriculum and policy development so they can understand localized trends across the country. For example, two separate interviewees, an ALA staff member and a librarian, mentioned that they were looking to Florida for trends in education policymaking that might be developing in other states.
In cases where the local union or association is strong, there is less direct contact with the national organization. In areas where union influence is not supported (for example, if the state has right-to-work laws that undermine union power, or if the librarian is in an area without a union presence), there is a greater need for local organizing, through ALA and other organizations. Project Question 4: What additional options can OIF pursue to equip its members with the resources they need to meet increased library challenges.
Project Question 4: What additional options can the OIF pursue to equip its members with the
Given my findings, I have focused on recommendations that should be reasonable for a staff pushing its capacity limits at a time when the Bureau's demands are significantly increasing. I also recommend that OIF staff meet with members of the AASL staff and board to find out which pages are most frequently used when they asked for help. Because AASL board members often refer librarians to specific pages, or directly to OIF staff, OIF could use the AASL board as a focus group to suggest specific pages of the OIF web page that provide the most guidance.
Clearly, there are resources available for school librarians to seek help when facing book challenges. This would have to be sent out electronically each year with member renewals, which would require an annual check of the materials for any pages or addresses that have changed. These informal and local networks, such as the example of a member offering a user's manual to a non-member that I mentioned above, exist within ALA governance and beyond.
Based on the trends in reported challenges, we do not expect a slowdown in the need for librarian support from the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Based on my conversations with AASL board representatives, many school librarians utilize some form of OIF resources. Building on the strengths of what ALA offers, including thoughtful resources and a wealth of knowledge in intellectual freedom, the question is how to leverage the networks many school librarians are part of to facilitate access to them.
This study cannot meet all the needs of school librarians who face book challenges and need support from OIF. For example, the capacity of the current staffing model, although acknowledged in almost all interviews, was beyond the scope of this study. Both cited the need for a guided response to the inflammatory rhetoric used by political groups that weaponize book challenges.
STRADDLING PARALLEL TRACKS: Diversifying Novels in the ELA Curriculum as You Face Book Challenges on Diverse Texts. The Insider: School librarians as part of a blended professional learning community for student teacher development in technology integration. Building Your Personal Learning Network [PLN]: 21st Century School Librarians Seek Self-Regulated Professional Development Online.
APPROACH THE STORM: Use the Shared Foundations to Grow in the Face of Book Challenges and Attacks on Intellectual Freedom. 377 BOOK CHALLENGES FOLLOWED BY ALA IN 2019 – AND THE PROBLEM IS GROWING: Book bans and their adverse effects on students.
Interview Protocol for School Librarian
Interview Protocol for OIF Staff
If a member is looking for peer or community support, how can they find information about these networks at OIF.
Interview Protocol for AASL
What kind of community building and communication infrastructure is there to share resources through AASL. If a member is looking for peer or community support, how can they find information about these networks from AASL.
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