It is happening here in Michigan.  There are several groups and the one that seems to be most prominent is called Moms for Liberty.  They are passing around lists of books to bring up at board meetings.  Some of the people are the same people who came into board meetings about masking, then CRT, now school library books.  I think next on the list will be misunderstandings about SEL (social, emotional, learning programs).  There is a lot of language about how schools are brainwashing students with leftist, communist propaganda and pornography.  I have a few school librarian friends who are currently going through this.  I just don't want to name them in a public forum without their consent.  They can jump in if they want.

I think that there are some school libraries that have been operating without librarians and budgets for years....they do not have the newer books listed on the "sheet".  I also think that if the books are somehow in an unstaffed library, an administrator can just walk in and take anything off the shelf.  No one would ever know.

But we are already at breaking points in schools.  Everyone is subbing or schools are going virtual because of staff shortages.  To add book challenges to this list that consist of not just one book, but hundreds, is completely overwhelming to have to think about or deal with.  :(  It's not good.

Klaudia

Klaudia Janek, MLIS

School Librarian

IB Extended Essay Coordinator

Michigan Association for Media in Education - 2018 Past President

2019-2020 AASL Presidential Task Force - Equity, Diversity & Inclusion


248 341 5925

https://libresbooksmi.blogspot.com/











On Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 11:52 AM Maria Williams via Michlib-l <michlib-l@mcls.org> wrote:
Jim & TLN-

There was also a brief article in TIME earlier this week that addressed increasingly frequent challenges at school libraries:


M.

Maria Williams
Assistant Director
Northville District Library
212 W. Cady Street
Northville,  MI 48167
248-349-3020, ext. 208
mwilliams@northvillelibrary.org

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From: "Jim Flury" <jflury@tln.lib.mi.us>
To: "all-tln" <all-tln@lists.tln.org>, "directors" <directors@lists.tln.org>, "partnerscda" <partnerscda@lists.tln.org>, "michlib-l" <michlib-l@mcls.org>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2021 8:50:51 AM
Subject: [all-tln] Challenged/Banned Books

Good Morning,

Thought I would share this PW article that discusses what appears to be an increasingly organized, possibly national trend to challenge and/or ban books. I am not on the "front lines" as nearly all of you are, so just wondering if we are seeing this trend in Michigan as well. If not, then the increased number of challenges/ban efforts that are taking place in other states might be something to keep in mind.


Jim

Jim Flury
Technical Services Manager
The Library Network
41365 Vincenti Court
Novi, MI 48375
248-536-3100, ext 133
Fax 248-536-3098
jflury@tln.lib.mi.us

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