Hello everyone! I hope your summers are going great and that everyone is getting lots of reading, rest, and relaxation time. Coming up! Virtual Happy Hour tomorrow! Email us if you would like the Zoom link to attend.

Events

This month we’re excited to feature a new resource/toolkit — more on that below — but we also want to plug the new LIRE Resource Guide in case you missed our announcement last month. This is a compilation of toolkits and resources that we’ve found useful, and hope that you will too. If you’d like to request that a resource be added, let us know! We want it to continue to grow.

Advocacy Opportunity: In case you didn’t know, E-Rate is under attack. E-Rate is a federally funded program that subsidizes the cost of technology for qualifying schools and public libraries. If you are an ALA member, there is a webinar tomorrow that will explain more. If not, ALA made it easy and created a form to submit your support of E-Rate to your legislators.

Censorship: We all know it’s happening, but book and program censorship continues to be a huge issue. Today’s article Republican Senators Introduce Nationwide Book Ban Companion Bill, S. 4925 is particularly great. Stay informed and subscribe to Book Riot’s newsletter. (Kelly Jensen is our superhero!)

NEW! School Librarian Public Comment Toolkit

After hearing from AISLE at RAILS’ Advocacy meeting, we decided that there was something we could do to help. There is a growing trend across the state to devalue the school library by reassigning certified librarians away from the library. In order to support our profession, schools, and the students that need us, we started working on a School Public Comment Repository. (You can also find it in the LIRE Resource Guide.)

It is so important that school boards hear from their constituents (including librarians) how important their certified librarians are. Also, maybe it’s obvious, but Stephanie and I really believe in the power of public comments. Standing up in a public meeting is the best way to speak directly with your local governments and create awareness around the issues you care about. Full disclosure: I used ChatGPT. Feel free to use and adapt these sample public comments at school board meetings to defend our librarian colleagues. If you want to write your own, I would love to add it to the repository! Just email it to [email protected].

Other Notes

In other exciting news, we have both ramped up our professional involvement this year!

Emily has been appointed to a 3-year term on the ILA’s Public Policy Committee.

Stephanie has been appointed to a 3-year term on the Rockford Public Library Board of Trustees & a 3-year term on the Illinois Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. She’s also starting a graduate program this fall in pursuit of a Master of Arts in Character Education, which she hopes to apply to future research on professional expectations and challenges in public libraries.

Until next time!

<3 Emily & Stephanie