Community of Courage. Building a Community Network to Defend Intellectual Freedom

by April M. Dawkins, September 2022

Do you sometimes feel like you are all alone when you stand up for the intellectual freedom of your students and school community? Often, it seems like school librarians are a lone voice shouting into the void, but actually most parents oppose book bans. Unfortunately, recent conversations around books and reading have been dominated by a very vocal minority. In a recent poll, the ALA found that "After hearing reasons to both support and oppose efforts to remove books from school libraries because some parents find them offensive or inappropriate, voters oppose efforts to remove books from school libraries by a 34-point margin (67% oppose, 33% support)" (ALA 2022). This indicates that it is extremely important for all voices to be heard, not just those who want to limit access.

Nothing is more powerful in defending intellectual freedom than when ordinary people stand up and demand to be heard. Developing and nurturing community support for your library is essential during these difficult times. Many parents and caregivers have little knowledge of what a modern, innovative school library can contribute to the education of their children because their only frame of reference is their own childhood experience. It is essential that school librarians make connections with members of the community and parents before any problems occur. Consider partnering with the public library to offer community outreach events that bring parents together in your library.

Take any opportunity you have to showcase your library's mission: providing opportunities for children to grow and learn through diverse and engaging resources and programs. Many local civic organizations host guest speakers at their meetings. Learn what organizations are active in your community and offer to provide a brief presentation about what your library does. During that presentation, be sure to focus on students and not stuff. Stories are important—tell about how access to your library has impacted the life of an individual student. I took advantage of an opportunity to speak to a women's book club about what the modern school library looks like and how it has changed. They became staunch advocates for the libraries of my district and some even became volunteer judges for my twice-yearly Poetry Slam competition.

Establishing community connections early allows you to build relationships of trust and understanding so that when a challenge arises, you can call on those supporters to speak up on behalf of your students and your library. I believe that one reason parents and community members may be reluctant to speak up in opposition to those who wish to limit access is because they are not prepared to do so. It can be daunting to speak in front of a group of people or write to representatives.

Here are a few resources that can help support parents, caregivers, and community members to become more comfortable in defending children's rights to access quality, diverse, and rich resources.

1. The Get Ready Stay Ready Community Action Toolkit was designed by parents and school librarians to empower parents and caregivers to speak up about the rights of children to access diverse and inclusive materials through the school library. Launched in May 2022, the toolkit continues to grow and add resources including script writing resources, training materials, webinars, and more. https://www.getreadystayready.info/

2. Red, Wine and Blue is a women's grassroots organization that works together to speak up on issues that impact women. They have a special subgroup called Book Ban Busters. In particular, they have what they refer to as "Troublemaker Training" which is intended to prepare parents to speak up against book banning or even to run for school board. https://redwine.blue/

3. The ACLU of Virginia's Censorship and Banned Books Advocacy Toolkit was developed several years ago but has excellent resources providing information about social media campaigns opposing censorship and developing good selection policies and reconsideration guidelines. https://www.acluva.org/en/publications/advocacy-toolkit-censorship-and-banned-books

4. Book Riot's Template for Talking at Board Meetings About Book Bans provides a quick overview of the process for signing up to speak at board meetings along with templates of speeches and links to research supporting the importance of access to diverse content. https://bookriot.com/book-censorship-news-august-5-2022/

Work Cited

ALA. "Voters Oppose Book Bans in Libraries." ALA (March 21, 2022). https://www.ala.org/advocacy/voters-oppose-book-bans-libraries.