🥇 Library Champion Newsletter #91 | 📚 White House to appoint anti-book ban coordinator
Library Champion,
👋 Welcome to our new subscribers! I am SO GLAD to have you aboard!
White House to appoint anti-book ban coordinator
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is appointing a new coordinator to take on book bans in classrooms and libraries across the country, the White House announced Thursday June 8th 2023.
The coordinator is to develop new training for schools nationwide regarding how book bans targeting specific communities and driving “hostile school environments” may violate federal civil rights laws.
The Education Department created the position as books are increasingly being pulled from school and library shelves because of district response to growing state legislation and parent-led groups.
“Book banning erodes our democracy, removes vital resources for student learning, and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQI+ people and other communities face,” the White House said in a fact sheet released to mark Pride Month.
2022 saw the highest number of book bans in 20 years. A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color. Of the reported book challenges, 58% targeted books and materials in school libraries, classroom libraries or school curricula; 41% of book challenges targeted materials in public libraries.
The prevalent use of lists of books compiled by organized censorship groups contributed significantly to the skyrocketing number of challenges and the frequency with which each title was challenged. Of the overall number of books challenged, 90% were part of attempts to censor multiple titles. Of the books challenged, 40% were in cases involving 100 or more books. Prior to 2021, the vast majority of challenges to library resources only sought to remove or restrict access to a single book.
“A book challenge is a demand to remove a book from a library’s collection so that no one else can read it. Overwhelmingly, we’re seeing these challenges come from organized censorship groups that target local library board meetings to demand removal of a long list of books they share on social media,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Their aim is to suppress the voices of those traditionally excluded from our nation’s conversations, such as people in the LGBTQIA+ community or people of color.
“Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore,” said Caldwell-Stone. "The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents. That choice does not belong to self-appointed book police.”
Proponents for removing books from school libraries believe that books are not being banned but age restricted. But how is that determined? How is it decided what is and isn’t age appropriate? Should one parents opposition to a book impact all other students?
Juneteenth (June 19) - library closed
✊ Monday, June 19th the library will be closed in observance of Juneteenth (Freedom Day.) We will reopen the next day at 9:00 AM
📅 View the list of all of our holiday closures here: https://www.juniatalibrary.org/using-library/library-closings
📲 Get free eBooks with your library card, whether the library is open or not: https://www.juniatalibrary.org/programs-services/ebooks-main
Passport Services at the Library! ✈️
Make an appointment at the Juniata County Library to get or renew your passport!
Visit our website to learn more about this new service and how you can get a passport or renew your passport.
Passport agents: Vince Giordano, Christine May and Mercedes Berrier
📢 June book sale: Wednesday, June 21 to Friday, June 23
📢 The next Friends of the Juniata County Library book sale will be held Wednesday, June 21, Thursday, June 22 and Friday, June 23, 2023 during regular business hours.
Wednesday, June 21 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Thursday, June 22 from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Friday, June 23 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
We provide the bag, you fill it for $7!
Note: there will not be a preview night for the June book sale.
ℹ️ More info: https://www.juniatalibrary.org/programs-services/book-sales
Book of the week! – if you are going to read one book, give this one a try…
Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
(New young adult fiction (age 12-17): coming of age, romance, diversity & multicultural)
In a nutshell: Autistic Palestinian Canadian high school student Jessie navigates family, friendship, and love while trying to figure out: Who exactly is Jessie Kassis?
Though her family is Greek Orthodox, 15-year-old Jessie begins attending high school at Roman Catholic Holy Trinity, where she hopes to start over fresh with kids who don’t know her. Since recently being diagnosed with autism, she’s finally had an answer to why fitting in has always been hard. Meanwhile, Jessie tries everything she can to mask her autism and fulfill the goals she lists in the journal her psychologist suggests she keep, ones like making friends, kissing the cute 10th grader in her science class, and participating in the school musical. It’s not long before Jessie struggles to keep it all together and fulfill the expectations of those around her, however, and it’s ultimately up to her to find her place in the world without losing herself. As an autistic person herself, Khalilieh presents readers with a genuine protagonist. Jessie’s identity as the daughter of Palestinian immigrants is woven into the novel through cultural elements and brief explorations of Palestinian issues. Her inner monologue is at times profoundly introspective while also displaying the gushing enthusiasm of an adolescent with a crush.
Bottom line: A coming-of-age debut with a refreshingly authentic protagonist.
Borrow the book: Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
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Thank you for being a library champion. You make a difference each day!
--Vince Giordano
Librarian and Director of the Juniata County Library.
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