Over the past couple of years, school districts nationwide have seen a wave of challenges to books in libraries and on reading lists, as well as rising demands to know what titles are in schools. These challenges and demands have put public school libraries under significant scrutiny and raised fundamental questions about their purpose and…

Meaningful learning resources for earthquake safety and survival have become an increasingly important topic among geoscientists, especially educators and researchers. Various members of the public, especially K-12 (ages 5-18) learners, continue to depend on scientific trade books available at their local public and school libraries for…

Adults at school board meetings screaming at elected members about "groomer" and "pedophile" school librarians' books, programs, and displays. Politicians who repeat these claims and pledge to remove pornography from local schools. Public threats of physical harm or loss of livelihood against school librarians. The result of…

This comprehensive study aims to investigate school librarians' perspectives, experiences, and decision-making processes regarding collection curation, book challenges, and removals, bridging a critical knowledge gap in the field. By delving into the challenges and dilemmas, the research seeks to highlight the delicate balance between intellectual…

What can school librarians do about library and book censorship? First, ask questions. Find out what your principal and your district have put into policy and what your principal's expectations are for your school library. Then, communicate with your classroom teachers. For ourselves, school librarians should work with colleagues, especially other…

Using the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) "National School Library Standards," and the essential questions developed out of the author's work on the Emerging Leaders project "Defending Intellectual Freedom LGBTQ+ Materials in School Libraries" resource guide, readers are taken through applying essential…

Parents and guardians are uniquely positioned to help their children succeed in school. When it comes to the educational interests and needs of an individual child, it is difficult to think of anyone who is a stronger advocate than a parent. But what happens when a parent's views of that individual child's interests and needs conflict with the…

In this article, the author explores why a school librarian's value should be wrapped up in books. First, reading is a foundational skill, and memories are built around who people are before and who they are after reading a book. School librarians get to be a part of that transformation. Second, books still make up the heart of a physical library,…

Soft or self-censorship is when librarians' modify their book choices, not based on a selection policy, but on the climate. To avoid getting in trouble, they choose books that will not be controversial. The result may be that their self-censorship is a greater threat to school libraries than the actual book challenges. In this article, Robbie…

The recent spike in book challenges has put school libraries at the center of heated political debates. I investigate the relationship between local politics and school library collections using data on books with controversial content from a sample of 6,631 public school libraries. Libraries in conservative areas have fewer titles with LGBTQ,…

This article responds to the endemic, intergenerational, and pervasive racism endured by Black children in the USA and the need to reimagine classrooms as cultures of peace where Black histories, literatures, accomplishment, oppression, resistance, resilience, and joy are taught as central to the curriculum. To do so, the article shares a…

YA author Pérez offers encouragement and insight into book challenges today, which are about much more than just a book. Offering tips for how to prepare for challenges and amplify student voices, the reader will also find ideas to help marginalized learners still find their way to targeted books.

Parents and politicians feel it is their duty to assert control over the information within school libraries. According to Joshua Spilka, a high school junior, book banning has affected no one more than students and school librarians. Students find that the people who are supposed to advocate for them, parents and guardians, are often working…

Books for and in schools are commodities. They form a central part of the political economy of publishing. They are also, profoundly, sites of cultural and ideological conflict. While always there, there are periods when these economic and ideological conflicts are even more powerful. This is just such a time. This reality asks us to also examine…

As a recipient of an ALA Libraries Transforming Communities: Focus on Small and Rural Communities grant, the author's school was fortunate to receive funds to purchase books for a special program. With a librarian partner the author ran "Book Bites" during lunchtime. The aim of this program was to provide a platform for students to…