Advancing the Whole Community Library and Finding your Support Tools

There is little question that our profession is experiencing unprecedented levels of political and ideological distortion. This is a time to seek our support from our networks and all the tools we can find to weather this storm that is upon us. As promised, I am posting a few of the best resources to assist you in your challenges on this unfamiliar road. Thanks to our wonderful Tocker Foundation and Mark Smith, our former State Librarian, you have a tool that will help build on your information protections to anticipate the issues and also comfort and settle some of the anxiety associated with heading off the spurious logic models that are currently being employed. The Whole Community Library, https://tocker.org/banned-books-week-the-perfect-time-to-launch-video-on-the-whole-community-library/ In this video, Mark provides crucial advice such as making certain that you know the content of the books that are listed on circulating lists. He also discusses the incredible importance of having ready-made scripts and sound bytes for dealing with the tactics and shock-tools employed by the banning groups. If you have not reviewed the most recent resources from ALA’S Challenge Support update, this also contains a wealth of information, https://www.ala.org/tools/node/513/.

Finally, this is a time when you will want to mobilize your civic and intellectual freedom supporters. They to assist you and mobilizing them with the best tools will yield more favorable results for you regardless of the outcome: United Against Book Bans https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/UABB-Toolkit-4-19-2022.pdf. Freedom to Read Foundation https://www.ftrf.org/? ALA, Fight Censorship https://www.ala.org/advocacy/fight-censorship

Please know that we want to hear from you and to learn of your circumstances. We may be able to offer insight, resources and support and develop your network. Do not hesitate to reach out to me personally by email so that we may communicate more intentionally. And know that you have a network of supporters who are navigating these same issues at this time.