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.

School libraries are no longer solely repositories for the information that has traditionally been published in books. School library professionals are providing education and access to information in many different formats and technologies. The role of the school librarian is much more than just literacy; it is about visibility, culture, and…

It's the whispering and giggling that tips off the school librarian, and the growing circle of students gathering around a book or computer screen. The students have discovered something, and it's probably not just a funny cat video or a particularly fascinating diagram of a medieval castle. Maybe it's a book about: puberty, an art book with a few…

The American Library Association's (ALA's) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) strives to educate librarians and the public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries, and it will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2017. Libraries are a forum for information and ideas (under the First Amendment), and librarians are…

Libraries are the central resource for supporting faculty and students in their research and information needs, both physically and remotely. This essential role of libraries and library faculty has remained consistent amid significant technological and pedagogical changes within the community college system. As librarians continue to determine…

In this article, the author presents observations learned while "on loan" from Northwestern University (NU), Evanston, Illinois, to the campus library in Doha, Qatar, (NU-Q) Middle East. The author's ongoing experience is helping her see how important global exposure can be to a library professional's attaining a deeper and wider level…

Important happenings related to the concept of intellectual freedom (IF) coincide with the annual back-to-school ramp up. This article discusses how to use the summer hiatus to develop learning opportunities related to events such as Banned Books Week (BBW) and Banned Websites Awareness Day (BWAD). The author provides resource information to aid…

In this article, the author states that school librarians can contribute to an atmosphere that supports intellectual freedom by drawing attention to the subtle messages about community values--messages that are communicated by virtue of what is included or excluded from curricular and co-curricular offerings. The author address issues with…

This article asks the question: How well versed are school librarians on issues related to labeling and rating systems? As school librarians continue to design and implement resource location schemes to assist patrons, they must recognize the difference between using labels to create interest in books or implementing labeling and rating systems…

School librarians regularly face difficult intellectual freedom questions. Is it a good idea to put grade- or reading-level labels on the outside of books or use labels to determine what students should read? Do children have First Amendment rights? The ALA "Intellectual Freedom Manual" provides answers and guidance. The…

The article is divided into three sections. The main section, "Filtering beyond CIPA: Consequences of and Alternatives to Overfiltering in Schools" (Kristen Batch) describes factors that contribute to the overimplementation of CIPA. Internet filtering is a routine practice in public schools and libraries. The Children's Internet…

Building a personal learning network (PLN) for intellectual freedom has long been an important role of a school librarian; however, in the steadily increasing onslaught of digital information that librarians face today, and in the future, the task has become mission-critical. Personal learning, it stands to reason, requires an appropriate dialogue…

The author has been thinking about the kind of freedoms embodied in the idea of the library and the plight of the book that cannot find its reader. What can librarians do to help readers and books find one another in a world where money is going toward temporary access to corporate-controlled intellectual property? How can one liberate knowledge…

The article gives a brief description of intellectual freedom and censorship in order to set a foundation for looking into the library community's role in advocating for intellectual freedom and combating censorship. Focus is given to the unique challenges of school libraries in fulfilling the larger library community's expectations in these two…

Intellectual freedom is a core value of librarianship, but fighting to keep controversial materials on the shelves can sometimes feel like a lonely battle. And not all censorship controversies involve the public objecting to a book in the collection--libraries are venues for displays and meetings, and sometimes library staff themselves are tempted…