Hi everyone! Conference prep and some time away kept us from sending last month’s newsletter, but we’re glad to be back! We hope everyone had a great time at ILA or any other conferences you may have attended this fall.

Upcoming Events:

Below is what you can look forward to next week! Don’t forget to register!

Join LIRE for a discussion on legislation -- how to read and understand it, what is currently being tracked at the state and federal levels, and how to advocate through engagement with your elected officials. Attendees will also leave with a better understanding of the election process, including timelines, petition packets, and ideas of how to empower your community. 

Call to action:

Unfortunately, we have a few local libraries that need our support. If at all possible, please attend the Freeport Public Library and Talcott Free Library District board meetings. Both libraries are dealing with material challenges and other pressures, which we’ll discuss more at our LIRE meetup next week.

This week, Talcott Free Library District trustees voted 4-3 to remove “Gender Queer” from the YA department to the Adult department after a sustained pressure campaign. This kind of soft censorship will directly affect the teens’ ability to find the books they are seeking through serendipitous browsing. Obviously, this is a direct attack on the LGBTQ+ community, and part of the anti-intellectual freedom movement that is happening across America.

Regarding Freeport: what started as a patron showing up to library board meetings to make public comments about the book “It’s Perfectly Normal,” has deepened to involve city leadership when the mayor attempted to appoint this patron. The appointment motion failed at the next city council meeting after folks in the community started a petition asking for her to not be appointed.

After a more recent council meeting where an alderperson again brought up the book and its placement, the director attempted to correct the record about where the book what shelved and what it could do for young people.

We are so proud of both of these directors and all they’ve done to protect their community’s freedom to read. Showing up for our peers may not solve all the problems or change anyone’s mind, but it does show these boards that there is a professional community that will stand up for the right to read, and the library workers who have made it their life’s work to uphold it.

Freeport’s next board meeting: November 18 at 6:00pm

Talcott’s next board meeting: November 16 at 7:00pm

ILA Public Policy Committee Legislative Priorities

ILA’s Public Policy Committee selected four legislative priorities to focus on for the year.

1. Create an option to reduce a city library board from 9 trustees to 7

2. Raise closed bidding limitations for non-construction projects (equipment only) to $60,000, matching the Illinois Park and Rec limits

3. Standardize the records retention procedure for libraries (similar to Texas and many other states)

4. Request that all PPRT checks be sent directly to the unit of government they are for to reduce problematic exchange of monies

While this is a pretty aggressive list of “priorities,” the sub-committee for the e-book legislation continues to work to make sure that the Digital Library Protection Act goes through this spring.

Several working groups were also established.

• Harassment Protection for library directors and other staff Working Group: Do you have an idea how we can protect directors and staff from trustee harassment? I think with the next election, we will see more instances of trustees acting against the best interests and values of the libraries they serve. How do we make impactful change to prevent this trend? If you have been harassed by your board, I would love to talk to you about what PPC (or ILA) can do to help prevent the same from happening to others.

• Legislative Proposal Submittal Process Working Group: Have you had an idea that would help libraries across the state, but you weren’t sure how to start? I would love to talk to you! I am afraid that the process to submit an idea to PPC is unduly burdensome, and I want to implement some changes to the process. If you have an idea, I would love to talk to you.

• Residential Development Impact Fee Programs Working Group

These groups are technically only open to PPC members, but if ANY of our readers have concerns/questions/ideas, I would be happy to talk or connect you with the right person.

If you have questions or concerns, ideas or requests, please contact us at [email protected].

In solidarity,

<3 Emily & Steph