Posted on by hildaweisburg

The Freedom To Read Is Also Freedom To Access

Guest Post – Rona Gofstein

This week is Banned Books Week and the theme for the year is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.” As you are aware, the need to protect that freedom remains very real. According to the American Library Association, 4,235 unique titles were challenged in 2025—the second-highest number ALA has ever documented. Of the titles targeted in school library collections, 98% were part of challenges involving multiple books. Those numbers should concern all of us.

But this week, I want to look beyond the books. Because the freedom to read connects to something even more fundamental: the freedom to access information. This coming Wednesday, October 7, AASL recognizes Banned Websites Awareness Day. The purpose is to raise awareness about overly restrictive filtering of legitimate educational websites and other useful online resources in schools and school libraries.

There is a place for schools to protect students. Internet filtering has an important purpose, and the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires schools and libraries receiving certain federal funding to have internet safety measures in place. But there is a difference between protecting students and preventing them from accessing legitimate information.

What happens when a student researching a health topic can’t access a reputable website? What happens when resources about history, identity, current events, or other potentially controversial subjects are blocked? What happens when a teacher plans a lesson only to discover students can’t reach the resources needed to complete it?

And perhaps most importantly: What are students learning when a filter makes those decisions for them?

Students need opportunities to develop the skills to evaluate information from multiple sources and formats. Filters can’t teach students how to determine whether information is accurate. They can’t teach bias, source evaluation, or critical thinking. School librarians can.

That’s where you come in.

If you discover that legitimate educational resources are being blocked in your school, ask questions. Find out who determines what is filtered and what the process is for requesting that a site be reviewed or unblocked. Talk with your teachers. What resources are they having difficulty accessing? How is filtering affecting instruction? Then talk with your administrator. Don’t make the conversation about eliminating safeguards. Make it about ensuring those safeguards support rather than interfere with learning.

Protecting the freedom to read doesn’t mean every book belongs in every library or is appropriate for every age. School librarians make professional collection-development decisions based on their students, curriculum, community, and established policies. But one person’s objection to a book should not automatically determine what everyone else’s children are permitted to read.

That’s why policies matter. That’s why reconsideration procedures matter. And that’s why trained school librarians matter. Banned Books Week gives us an opportunity to celebrate books that have been challenged and to remind our communities why intellectual freedom matters. Ask yourself: Are we teaching students how to navigate the world of information, or are we simply deciding which parts of it they are allowed to see?

The freedom to read must include the freedom to access. And you have an important role in protecting both.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Taking A Stand

You can order this poster from the ALA store

We can all agree that being a school librarian is a rewarding, challenging, and frequently exhausting job. We never think of it as scary until the day we are faced with a book challenge that threatens our mission, the integrity of our program and possibly our personal beliefs. How you react if and when it happens can be a defining moment for you as a librarian and a person.

The Library Bill of Rights clearly defines our responsibilities as librarians.  The seven articles spell out the beliefs of the profession, such as article III: “Libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.” ALA’s Code of Ethics states, “ We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.”

AASL further recognizes the importance of access to information in the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. It highlights our obligation to implement these values in the fifth of the Common Beliefs: “Intellectual freedom is every learner’s right.”

Of course, you support intellectual freedom and the access to information — but what happens when you are faced with a decision regarding it.  I know there are librarians who don’t buy books that may trigger a challenge.  Some of them live in communities where they would be pilloried for such purchases.  I can understand and respect their fear. A few of them acquire the books with their own money and keep them in the office, handing them to a student when it seems appropriate. Still dangerous, but less so. In the public library, there are several librarians who can stand by each other in support. You are alone.  And it can be scary.

Hopefully, you have a Board-approved policy dealing with this.  If you don’t, get started on writing one now and getting it approved.  You may never have a challenge.  Most librarians never face the issue in their entire career, but you never know.  Because it can happen, it’s best to be prepared.  To help you, ALA has a new Selection & Reconsideration Policy Toolkit for Public, School, & Academic Libraries.

Having a policy in place doesn’t mean all will go smoothly if someone challenges a book.  ALA offers help and a wealth of resources in Challenge Support  I also recommend reading How to Respond to Challenges and Concerns about Library Resources to get an idea of what it contains.  You can review it, if it becomes necessary.

There’s a specific story that sparked this week’s blog.  I’m not going to go into the details, but for the second time, I know a school librarian who had a book challenged.  Both courageously stood up for the principles of intellectual freedom, and it makes me proud to know they got a lot of support from the library community and from those in organizations that also strongly support the First Amendment.

In the most recent situation, there shouldn’t have been a problem.  There was a Board-approved selection and reconsideration policy. It was the principal who pulled the book.  When the librarian reminded him of the policy, he told her it didn’t apply since it wasn’t a challenge but rather an administrative decision. This put her in a particularly difficult dynamic.

What do you do when the censor is your administrator?  In this case, the librarian swung into action.  She reached out to high school librarians to see who owned the book without having problems. She contacted her state and county school library association, ALA, and AASL.  Those on the Board of the library association reached out to other library associations in the state. Soon advocates for intellectual freedom lined up including the National Coalition Against Censorship and the National Council of Teachers of English Intellectual Freedom Center.  Letters were sent to the Board of Education. Support was there when the Board met and the media covered the controversy.

Ultimately, the book was allowed back on the shelf. Or it was until a student checked it out.  The librarian kept detailed notes of the whole process.  She plans to share it with others who find themselves in a similar position.  Her next steps include working to mend her relationship with her principal and the administration who wanted to make this decision regardless of policy. Because even though the “fight” was won, she must continue to work in that environment and sustain and grow the success of her library program.

Judy Blume has said, “Librarians save lives: by handing the right book, at the right time, to a kid in need”. She’s long acknowledged the librarians and teachers who have put their jobs on the line to share her (often banned) books. It’s not something we want to face, but there are times it must be done. We are a strong community who fight for our beliefs. I salute all those librarians who have stood up for Intellectual Freedom. We are a vital part of our democracy.