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I received an MLIS and became a middle school librarian 20 years ago. Our school board recently expressed no confidence in librarians and teachers to make book selection decisions. I [...]

I'm a retired public librarian who just moved from another city. I volunteer with the Friends of the Library book sale at the public library. I was recently sorting books [...]

You see a lot of censorship cases and hear from a lot of frustrated librarians and teachers. How do you stay hopeful? Free speech advocacy groups across the nation are [...]

I have been the librarian at my elementary school for 22 years. I never felt intimidated by a parent or an administrator until this year. My principal told the faculty [...]

The director of the public library where I serve as children's librarian recently pulled a number of books that deal with sex and sexuality. The mother of an eight-year-old requested [...]

I am the library media specialist at a K-8 private school. A parent of a kindergartner doesn't want her son to borrow any books that contain violence. Should I censor [...]

The mother of a fourth grader complained to my principal that I gave her son a book she finds offensive. The principal reprimanded me and told me that because of [...]

I work in a small district with four schools: two elementary, one middle, and one high school. The four librarians meet monthly to discuss issues affecting library services to students. [...]

I'm a librarian in an elementary school with a diverse student body. Last year a parent asked the school board to remove informational books about Christmas celebrations in other countries [...]

How do you give children the books they want without getting in trouble with parents? Let children take the books they want. If a parent doesn't like what a child [...]

I'm a middle school librarian, and my son is a high school junior. We don't live in Florida, where there has been so much outrage about All Boys Aren't Blue [...]

I'm a first-year librarian in a school serving grades 5-12. The entire library collection has been available to all students. When a parent complained that her fifth grader checked out [...]

I'm an elementary school librarian and feel unprepared for materials challenges. The only library school course I took dealing with intellectual freedom was taught by a nonlibrarian with textbook knowledge [...]

Many librarians and educators in my district recommend Common Sense Media (CSM) as a book review source. Can you provide updated guidance about why CSM is problematic for librarians and [...]

For 20 years I've taught language arts at the only middle school In a small midwestern town. Now I'm the librarian In the same school. The biography section is old [...]

I'm not a trained children's librarian, but I'm responsible for children's services in an active branch library. We have a waiting list for books like the 'Junie B. Jones,' 'Captain [...]

I'm the children's librarian in a small public library. We are in the process of evaluating our collection, but the library doesn't have a policy that guides the staff in [...]

In conversation with other school librarians about the middle grade book Don't Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, one librarian [...]

My high school serves students who are economically challenged. This creates unique hurdles. Foremost, we lose a large number of materials each year. With our budget, we can't sustain these [...]

I've heard that virtual story times are bringing more book challenges. Nothing has been challenged in my school, but how do we deal with this issue? Kudos to libraries offering [...]

I am a children's and teen librarian at a small public library. We have been closed for programming due to COVID-19 and have used this time to address issues that [...]

There is clearly a misunderstanding of the First Amendment by many of our nation's citizens. It isn't that they weren't taught the United States Constitution in school; it's simply that [...]

I'm a librarian at the only elementary school in my town. All students are issued laptops, and teachers and librarians have been instructed to make plans for e-learning this fall. [...]

The middle and high school English teachers in my school district are adamant about a summer reading program. They feel it's especially important this year because students have missed so [...]

I am the chair of the program planning committee for our state library conference next year. My committee would like to have at least one program that deals with intellectual [...]

How common is it for someone to challenge all library materials on a topic? This hasn't happened in the public library where I work, but local churches are urging members [...]

An eighth grade language arts teacher recently came to me for advice. A student had recommended a novel to her, and when she read the book, she felt it was [...]

I am the teen librarian for a public library system with five branches, and we are experiencing problems with tween patrons. They borrow books that the staffers feel are inappropriate [...]

Early on the morning of January 27, painter, printmaker, and bookmaker Eric Rohmann was awakened at his Chicago home by an unexpected phone message: My Friend Rabbit (Roaring Brook), his [...]

Author, screenwriter, and playwright Paul Zindel has almost total recall of his childhood. It will come as no surprise to Zindel's many readers that those memories are dark--filled with recollections [...]

My third grade son participated in the summer reading program at the local public library. One book he borrowed came with a verbal warning from the librarian. I'm a middle [...]

A seventh-grade social studies teacher in my school used I Am Malala when her class was studying Pakistan. A parent complained that she didn't want her daughter reading anything about [...]

This question has been bothering me for a few years. Where do we librarians draw the line between sensitivity and censorship? Several bloggers and library professionals argue that books containing [...]

The article offers pieces of advice on various issues and concerns related to book censorship. These include the insistence of a volunteer with the Friends of the Library book sale to put all LGBTQIA+ books on a shelf labeled "controversial," how to respond to an elementary school reading teacher who worries about her students selecting a book their parents may find unacceptable and avoids the library, and the decision by a principal to shut down the celebration of Banned Books Week.

I'm the children's librarian in a small public library. A mother of a four-year-old has voiced concern that the collection has no books to help young children understand transgender issues. [...]

The social studies teachers in my middle school have always required students to bring in an article about a current event. Some parents have complained because the assignment encourages political [...]

I read with interest a question posed on the ALSC list about 'outdated language' in Caldecott books. Kindergarteners in the librarian's area are required to read 40 Caldecott books. A [...]

I need encouragement and advice. I earned an MLS 15 years ago, but I never used the degree because my husband's job required that we move every two years. We [...]

I'm in a K-12 library. The books are shelved by high school, early elementary, and upper elementary, but in a room with no physical barriers. I have elementary students wanting [...]

A fourth grade teacher in my school loves Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach and wants to read it aloud to her students. She asked my advice about using [...]

A parent who helps me in my middle school library asked me why bookstores were putting the picture books I Am Jazz (Penguin, 2014) and Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine [...]

The libraries in my district frequently share books through interlibrary loan. My fifth and sixth grade students are asking to borrow YA books from the high school that I don't [...]

The art teacher at my middle school wants to introduce her students to the works of famous artists. The library has excellent art resources, but the teacher wants assurance that [...]

Our high school students are very concerned about the police brutality in some cities in the nation. They are interested in marching with Black Lives Matter, but our principal doesn't [...]

HEINS, Marjorie. Not in Front of the Children: 'Indecency,' Censorship, and the Innocence of Youth. 402p. photos. reprods. index. notes. Web sites. CIP. Hill & Wang. 2001. Tr $30. ISBN [...]

Richard Jackson has discovered some of the biggest names in children's literature. But he's as hungry as ever to find the next new voice RICHARD JACKSON HAS BEEN EDITING CHILDREN'S [...]

REID, Louann, ed. Rationales for Teaching Young Adult Literature. 216p. bibliog. index. CIP. Calendar Islands. 1999. pap. $22.50. ISBN 1-893056-04-X. LC 9932781. This volume emphasizes the importance of teaching young [...]

The principal of my high school told the social studies teachers that the school couldn't hold a mock presidential election this year. He fears complaints because of the vitriolic rhetoric [...]

I will finish my library degree this summer and would like to work in a school library. I've interviewed with three principals. I asked about the school district's selection policy, [...]