The Wood River Middle School (WRMS) serves approximately 600 students a year. The school is diverse, with roughly half Latinx students and a large English language learner population. The library collection boasts almost 16,000 books. The most popular section? If you combine the manga and graphic novel sections, they win the top prize, with 38% of…

Soft or self-censorship is when librarians' modify their book choices, not based on a selection policy, but on the climate. To avoid getting in trouble, they choose books that will not be controversial. The result may be that their self-censorship is a greater threat to school libraries than the actual book challenges. In this article, Robbie…

Adults at school board meetings screaming at elected members about "groomer" and "pedophile" school librarians' books, programs, and displays. Politicians who repeat these claims and pledge to remove pornography from local schools. Public threats of physical harm or loss of livelihood against school librarians. The result of…

If there was ever a time to review material selection policy and bring stakeholders into the conversation, the time is now. Kowalski discusses the school librarian as an instructional leader who must keep administrators informed, but also organizational partners, and stakeholders. Teachers, family partners, and student partners are also discussed…

Teachers and school librarians know that giving students the freedom to choose what to read from a variety of materials is the most effective way to foster a love of reading. Curiosity, pre-existing interests, or even a desire for connection cause students to reach for books that inform instead of entertain. But a genre of books is often left out…

In a socially just world, everyone would have an equal chance to become an enthusiastic reader. This article presents a detailed 'asset map' of a successful reading life and investigates three necessary components for creating readers: access, choice and time to read. Access to books, the chance and the requisite knowledge to choose reading…

In this article, the author explores why a school librarian's value should be wrapped up in books. First, reading is a foundational skill, and memories are built around who people are before and who they are after reading a book. School librarians get to be a part of that transformation. Second, books still make up the heart of a physical library,…

What can school librarians do about library and book censorship? First, ask questions. Find out what your principal and your district have put into policy and what your principal's expectations are for your school library. Then, communicate with your classroom teachers. For ourselves, school librarians should work with colleagues, especially other…

The students at the author's alternative, academic-recovery school come from their base schools and at the author's school are able to rewrite their own school stories. Some of that rewriting naturally happens in the library. Many of the students have experiences at multiple schools, but it is not until they come to the author's school that many…

School libraries play a powerful role in enabling, informing, and sustaining student agency, and nothing engages and motivates students more deeply than enabling them to become the active agents in the process of learning. Students with agency are powerful learners who are prepared to engage with the world with sustained, courageous curiosity.…

School librarians are experiencing upheaval and controversy in education today. They are coping with the implementation of (and battles over) the Common Core State Standards, the uncertain future of their jobs, and the rapidly changing nature of school libraries. Despite the flux and instability in education, the importance of intellectual freedom…

School librarians are experts at so many things: navigating the seas of digital information to find an elusive article, creating interactive forums in which kids learn to collaborate and create, and, of course, critically selecting materials. Some have been reading and reviewing books for so long they can smell a stinker from a mile away or…

This article features a conversation between Usha Mukunda, who identifies herself as a librarian, and Vivek Vellanki, who is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in education. Mukunda has been successful in challenging the stereotypical image of the librarian as being serious, angry, and detached. Shortly after meeting her, one would likely be…

Selecting materials for school libraries has always been a challenging task, but it has become much more complicated in the 21st Century. A school librarian at a junior high in the late 1990s could allot a certain portion of her budget for reference books, the general circulating collection, a few audiovisual materials, and newspapers and…

School librarians often wonder whether school superintendents and school board members understand and support intellectual freedom for students in K-12 schools. In this article, an administrator and a school board member discuss their thoughts and the actions they took to support access to information in the face of formal challenges to school…