Julie Edwards: And I'm going to let everyone in. Thank you so much.
Julie Edwards: Hello, everyone. I see you starting to join us.
Julie Edwards: Welcome, welcome! Feel free to head over to the chat if you would like, and say, Hi, let us know where you're from. If you want, we do publish the Chat Transcript. because there's often so much good information that flows back and forth in the chat. So if you don't want to
Julie Edwards: use the chat, you don't have to. But if you would like to please feel very free to pop over there
Julie Edwards: and say, Hi, Oh, Canadians, Canadians be everybody today, hey? British Columbia! Welcome welcome. Hey! Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, hey? Nebraska.
Julie Edwards: New York, North Dakota, representing, Hello.
Julie Edwards: Hello, North Carolina, Indiana. This is my favorite part. Those of you who have not done a webinar with me yet. I love this because it's like the the license. Play game only for librarians in a big nerdy way. So this makes me so happy. Hey, Alaska!
Julie Edwards: Hey, Peabody! That was my library. That's where I started. Oh, Hi, Peabody, I love that library.
Julie Edwards: that library. Pvy, mass, for those of you who are joining us, hey? More Canadians.
Julie Edwards: hey! North Carolina! Hi! Utah.
Julie Edwards: New York, Texas, Rhode Island. Wow! I got to go back through this. I we've got a lot of states represented here today.
Julie Edwards: Anybody from Wyoming, did I? Miss Wyoming.
Julie Edwards: Oklahoma, Oregon, hey? California. hey? Hey? Brad? From the Connecticut State Library. Nice to see you here. hey? Georgia. Gainesville, Florida.
Julie Edwards: Alaska State Library, fantastic. Long Island.
Julie Edwards: This is great. hey? New Mexico! One of my favorite places
Julie Edwards: more Canadians so happy to see so many people joining us today.
Julie Edwards: Already there are over 400 of us here.
Julie Edwards: expect that to keep growing more Texans, Ohio. Colorado, hey, Colorado!
Julie Edwards: Nice nice to see everybody. So we are right. Delaware, even. Wow. We got even the small States today. Awesome. Well, this is such a huge topic. We are going to jump right in and get started. So let me
Julie Edwards: bring up my notes here. You think I know by now, my little script, but I am Julie Edwards, and I want to welcome you to this webinar, the fight against book bands. How do we move forward. I am so happy that so many of you are here today.
Julie Edwards: I'm a librarian myself, and an instructional designer with Niche Academy
Julie Edwards: and we're going to go ahead and get started. I would like to introduce Niche Academy really quickly. We are an easy to use all in one learning platform that helps libraries create and deliver effective training and measure learner success. So our platform is the perfect tool for libraries looking to increase the resource usage move programming, including your story times online and deliver and track training for staff development.
Julie Edwards: If you're interested in finding out more about our platform chatting with a member of our team. Hearing what your colleagues have to say, I'll drop a link in the chat and You can connect with us to learn more
Julie Edwards: few things about this webinar. We are recording this, and I will make the recording, the slides, the Chat Transcript and the audio transcript available to everybody after the presentation. It usually takes us a few days to prepare that. So I will email you all, probably by Friday with all of that information. So you can just sit back and absorb today's information.
Julie Edwards: You're welcome to turn on closed captioning at the bottom of your screen. If you would like to do that
Julie Edwards: chat is open. I'm so glad to see so many of you here. We're way up over 500 now. Please feel free to chat with each other
Julie Edwards: But if you have a question for the presenter, we put that in the Q. A. Box. with all all of us here, things get lost in the chat, and so,
Julie Edwards: you're more likely to have your question answered. If it's in the Q. And A. Box, I will do my best to moderate the Q. And A at the end of the Webinar.
Julie Edwards: This Webinar series is part of our commitment at Niche Academy to solving bigger problems together and providing continuing education in the library world, I will drop a link to our future webinars, including more on intellectual freedom, issues in the chat. So you can see that as well.
Julie Edwards: So without further ado, our presenter today is Shannon. Altman Shannon is an associate professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky.
Julie Edwards: Her research interests include information, ethics, censorship, intellectual freedom, public libraries, privacy and qualitative research methods. She's the past editor of journal of intellectual freedom and Privacy, and the associate editor of Library Quarterly.
Julie Edwards: She recently published a book practicing Intellectual freedom in Libraries, and her most recent book, The Fight against Book bands, perspectives from the field is going to be released, I think. Later this month
Julie Edwards: she obtained her Phd. From Indiana University, and her work has been funded by the American Library Association and the Institute of Museum and Library Studies. I'm thrilled to have Shannon with us today, and I will turn the webinar over to her.
Shannon Oltmann: Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for joining us today. As Julie said, my name is Shannon Altman. Feel free to call me Shannon in the chatter in the Q. A.
Shannon Oltmann: and we will get started.
Shannon Oltmann: So I thought I'd start with a little bit about me. I saw a few familiar names in the chat as they were flying by. But in case you don't know me as Julie said, associate professor at the University of Kentucky. I teach in the library science program.
Shannon Oltmann: I've been there about a decade, and I've spent that decade
Shannon Oltmann: teaching about and researching on intellectual freedom and censorship. That's really been my focus. actually, since I started my dissertation so
Shannon Oltmann: long time in this area. I've given dozens of talks on these issues. more recently, as you might imagine.
Shannon Oltmann: and I love listening to librarians helping librarians. not only do I do these big talks with hundreds of people in the virtual room. But I've done talks to half a dozen
Shannon Oltmann: people on your board of trustees or
Shannon Oltmann: the staff at a library system. big or small. I just love talking about these issues and really helping librarians
Shannon Oltmann: navigate through the these tricky areas and figure out some practical ways to protect intellectual freedom and fight censorship.
Shannon Oltmann: These are the 2 books that Julie mentioned. the fight against book bands comes out at the end of the month.
Shannon Oltmann: And it is an ended book, meaning that each chapter is written by a different person. some are library faculty, some are advocates, and some are many are actual librarians. talking about how they fought against book bands.
how they enhance intellectual freedom in their particular libraries or communities.
Shannon Oltmann: so hopefully, it's inspirational. it builds one's courage, and it gives us some ideas on how to really challenge censorship and move forward.
Shannon Oltmann: One other note, I thought, Julie explained the chat and the Q. A. Really well, I just want to emphasize that for this hour while we're together. We're a community
Shannon Oltmann: and like us to practice being good neighbors, good citizens. So let's
Shannon Oltmann: work on good faith. Assume that people are here with good intentions. be kind to one another, be respectful to one another, and so on. usually. That's those are, you know, moot points in a librarian crowd. But given the contentious nature of this topic. I just thought
Shannon Oltmann: good to sort of set the baseline
Shannon Oltmann: so as Most of you probably know, book bands and challenges have been on the rise over the past few years.
These numbers all come from the American Library Association or Pen America.
Shannon Oltmann: basically in 2,020 The Ala recorded 273 challenges to books.
Shannon Oltmann: The following year they recorded almost 1,600 challenges. So it was an incredible spike
Shannon Oltmann: the following year, in 2,022,
Shannon Oltmann: almost 1,700 books challenge their ban. And that's actually only the first 8 months. So we can see, we're on well on track to set another unfortunate record in 2,022, and these trends are continuing in 2,023 as well.
Shannon Oltmann: There are a few reasons for this. I think perhaps the biggest reason is in 2,020,
Shannon Oltmann: and parts of 2,021 students were at home. People were
Shannon Oltmann: doing school online. parents learned a lot about what their kids were doing things they may not have realized before.
Shannon Oltmann: And they saw the curriculum in the libraries firsthand, and then in 2,021 and 2,022. You have kids going back into the library. both public and school libraries.
Shannon Oltmann: and all of a sudden there's a lot more engagement with the library and the offerings that libraries have. I think that is a big part of this.
Shannon Oltmann: I also really want to note that
Shannon Oltmann: book. Bans and book challenges occur in all 50 States. Sometimes we think this is a Red State blue State issue, but it's really not
Shannon Oltmann: When I was recruiting and authors for my latest book. I wrote to the State Library Association in every State.
Shannon Oltmann: and said, If you have people who you think
Shannon Oltmann: could be potential authors. If you have librarians engaged in these issues, let me know. Please share my information.
Shannon Oltmann: All 50 states that information along. None of them said, oh, this isn't the problem here. Oh, I don't know what you're talking about.
Shannon Oltmann: So that's just a little piece of evidence to say, this really does happen everywhere. it happens in rural areas, yes, but also in urban and suburban areas. Some of the most contentious fights, in fact, in the past
Shannon Oltmann: 2 years have been in suburban areas.
Shannon Oltmann: so you know, I want to really challenge the assumption that this is a problem in rural areas only, or in red States. Only.
it's a lot more complicated than that. And it's a lot more widespread than that. Also.
Shannon Oltmann: in addition to the book challenges, which is what makes the news and what most of us are most familiar with. there are other problems going on, too, we see challenges to programming displays and other resources.
Shannon Oltmann: there have been an increase in challenges to movies and music that your library may carry to databases like epsil
Shannon Oltmann: to programming, whether it's something that
Shannon Oltmann: maybe controversial, like dread cream story time all the way to programming like
Shannon Oltmann: book club in Oklahoma. They had a a book club that was reading romance nobles, and they had to shut it down
Shannon Oltmann: according to some of the laws that were being considered, some of the bills that were being considered.
and then, of course, displays we're in the month of June. It's pride month.
Shannon Oltmann: and many libraries are finding that pride displays are especially contentious. This year. displays for black History month, native American month.
Shannon Oltmann: Women's history month.
Shannon Oltmann: Just any average display can be suddenly contentious.
Shannon Oltmann: As a result of all of these challenges and all of these difficulties, I guess some librarians have lost their jobs. They've been let go
Shannon Oltmann: either by the organization they work for work for or by the parent organization. Like the School Board, the principal the City Council, the County
Commissioners, and so on.
Shannon Oltmann: Other librarians have felt compelled to quit
Shannon Oltmann: some librarians when faced with a choice like Ban. All these books. or don't work in the library anymore. So my variance choose to not work in this library anymore.
Shannon Oltmann: Not an easy choice ever. And
Shannon Oltmann: I'm impressed with the courage and the bravery of some librarians who took a really strong stand for intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: We also have some libraries that have been forced to close.
Shannon Oltmann: and a number of States. There are one or 2 libraries
Shannon Oltmann: where
Shannon Oltmann: people objected so strongly to having Lgbtq material in the line Public Library, that they said we would rather defund the library. We would rather cut off the library's funding than have these materials.
Shannon Oltmann: That sounds like it would be an empty threat.
Shannon Oltmann: but in at least half a dozen cases it has not been an empty threat. The libraries have close, at at least temporarily.
Shannon Oltmann: I'm really confident that this is a temporary situation. I'm really hopeful that it it would be temporary.
Shannon Oltmann: So again, I want to complicate the narrative a bit. Right? not only are we seeing a rise in book challenges and book bands. But we're seeing
Shannon Oltmann: a lot of other passage to this issue as well.
Shannon Oltmann: In addition, there are a lot of similarities. Across these challenges.
Shannon Oltmann: we see the same books being challenged across a number of cities, towns, communities, public library, school libraries.
Shannon Oltmann: Oh. even academic special libraries.
Shannon Oltmann: So we see the same books challenge using the same language, the same objections.
Shannon Oltmann: across really vast geographical areas.
Shannon Oltmann: in my book one Librarian said.
Shannon Oltmann: You know, when these books were challenged, I went online to look at information about them, and I saw they had been challenged 2 weeks before in another state, using the exact same language. Somebody just copy and pasted those complaints and found those filed the same language in my library.
Shannon Oltmann: So this really is happening.
Shannon Oltmann: And we, we often see these objections taking images or phrases out of context.
Shannon Oltmann: of course, a classic example. Here is All boys aren't blue. By George Johnson, and and another one is gender queer by Maya kobabi.
Shannon Oltmann: Both of these books
Shannon Oltmann: are probably 2, the most challenged books in the last 18 months. They both, dear, deal with Lgbtq issues.
Shannon Oltmann: and they both have small passages or one or 2 images taken out of context and use to
Shannon Oltmann: criticize the entire work.
Shannon Oltmann: Part of the reason that we're seeing these similarities across challenges is because there are new groups at work.
Shannon Oltmann: and these new groups bring new tactics
Shannon Oltmann: instead of the traditional way that we think of book bands.
Shannon Oltmann: They're they're working with new methods. So in the past. And if you've been a library school you might have learned that
Shannon Oltmann: a book challenge starts when a Patreon is upset they come into the library. They talk to the library director. They
Shannon Oltmann: they may or may not get resolved. We hand them paperwork, they go home thoughtfully, fill out the paperwork, bring it back, and then we go through our process of considering the book
Shannon Oltmann: frankly, that's the old way. That's not what is happening in most libraries these days. We see folks going to board meetings, city council meetings, school board meetings.
Shannon Oltmann: They're using social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram.
Shannon Oltmann: whether not any number of channels.
Shannon Oltmann: And this is really sort of an ambush approach right rather than coming and talking to the librarian. They're taking their concerns and their objections public, at a board meeting or on Facebook in a community group.
Shannon Oltmann: I also see a lot of misusing terminology and legal phrases.
Shannon Oltmann: For example, there have been a number of challenges that I've talked about
Shannon Oltmann: critical race theory and how it shouldn't be. in our elementary schools.
Shannon Oltmann: I'm going to tell you right now. There's no elementary school in the country that has a book on critical race theory.
Shannon Oltmann: It's this complicated
Shannon Oltmann: nuanced legal and philosophical argument about systemic racism. It doesn't belong in elements to elementary schools
Shannon Oltmann: and elementary school libraries don't have critical race theory texts
Shannon Oltmann: in their collections. What they do have is is books about black history.
Shannon Oltmann: black heroes,
Shannon Oltmann: books that discussed systemic racism and the indignities that people of color have faced in our country, and the way that those dignities are perpetuated even today.
Shannon Oltmann: Yes, they did have some books to discuss those issues.
Shannon Oltmann: That's not the same as critical race theory.
Shannon Oltmann: But actually, these groups who are misusing terminology
Shannon Oltmann: don't really care if they're misusing it. They've grabbed a phrase like critical race theory or absentee and pornography.
Shannon Oltmann: and they just use that phrase because it is contentious and inflammatory.
Shannon Oltmann: And, by the way, things like absentee and pornography have strict legal definitions. but again, they they don't care. That's not where their focus is.
Shannon Oltmann: Their focus is on using inflammatory language. Taking passages out of context.
Shannon Oltmann: They might go to these board meetings or city council meetings with props, with posters.
Shannon Oltmann: and often. Unfortunately, there's a lot of angry yelling that goes on, and these
meetings and confrontations.
Shannon Oltmann: Now, if you
Shannon Oltmann: face around these situations in your own community, whether you're a school librarian, public librarian, or other type of librarian.
Shannon Oltmann: it might feel like a really grassroots movement within your community. a grassroots movement is organic. It starts from a few citizens and sort of bubbles up
Shannon Oltmann: it from the bottom.
Shannon Oltmann: And this political activity is independent of influence from elites.
Shannon Oltmann: It's really just a few citizens here and there who are concerned, who are upset, who start to raise issues.
Shannon Oltmann: And again, these new censorship challenges can seem like they are grassroots.
Shannon Oltmann: but actually they're Astroturfing
Shannon Oltmann: and Astroturfing comes from sports leagues like football who put down artificial turf that mimics grass.
Shannon Oltmann: but is not grass
Shannon Oltmann: like the image here.
Shannon Oltmann: And so when we talk about Astroturfing in a political context, what we're talking about is the use of grassroots, aesthetics. It looks like a grassroots movement, but it's actually organized at a national level. There are political elites,
Shannon Oltmann: sort of operating behind the scenes. maybe funneling money into these organizations, providing technical support, providing political guidance.
Shannon Oltmann: So the it creates this illusion of organic popular support which can feel very real in the moment.
Shannon Oltmann: when you're fighting with somebody from moms for liberty, parents defending education and so on.
Shannon Oltmann: But I think it's helpful to know that
Shannon Oltmann: facing these censorship challenges is not a matter of facing dozens of
Shannon Oltmann: concerned citizens in your community.
Shannon Oltmann: It's citizens in your community who have been influenced by a national campaign, and that makes it a little bit different. Right?
Shannon Oltmann: So so far, I've talked about
Shannon Oltmann: what's going on nationally and probably locally, in your communities.
Shannon Oltmann: I've talked about how complex it is. and some of the new tactics that are being used.
Shannon Oltmann: and this can all seem pretty daunting right.
Shannon Oltmann: But what we need to remember. is the principle of intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: This quote on my slide is taken from the American Library Association. They define intellectual freedom as the right of every individual to seek and receive information from all points of view.
Shannon Oltmann: Intellectual freedom provides for free access to all expressions of ideas
Shannon Oltmann: through which any and all signs of a question. Cause or movement can be explored
Shannon Oltmann: just with that definition for a second or 2. That's that's pretty profound, right?
Shannon Oltmann: That's really deep and really
Shannon Oltmann: extensive.
Shannon Oltmann: and I would argue that
Shannon Oltmann: intellectual freedom is really a foundation of librarianship.
Shannon Oltmann: It's really the basis for most of what librarians do.
Shannon Oltmann: If you think about librarianship. It's mostly about providing access to information.
Shannon Oltmann: that's why we catalog things so that people can find information easier and access it. Get the information they're looking for. That's why we do technical things like providing an Internet
Shannon Oltmann: and
Shannon Oltmann: creating, you know, local area networks and those things so that people can access the information online, find what they're looking for.
Shannon Oltmann: That's what we. That is why we provide access to databases and online books and movies and journal journals and magazines.
Shannon Oltmann: It's why we answer reference questions. And do readers advisory, do programming and story time. All of these are different facets of providing access to information.
Shannon Oltmann: And that's just another way of saying intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: just like you can't build a house unless you have a good foundation.
Shannon Oltmann: We can't practice good librarianship without a foundation of intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: So let's break it down. What is intellectual freedom? Where does it
Shannon Oltmann: originate from? How did we get here in terms of intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: The in the Us. The basis of intellectual freedom is really the first amendment which I have a copy of here. and over time over through numerous court cases. The Supreme Court has said that
Shannon Oltmann: the freedom of speech encompasses both, expressing yourself and also seeking out information or receiving information. Most of us think of the first amendment as protecting our right to say something right.
Shannon Oltmann: but it also protects our right to seek information, to go find information.
Shannon Oltmann: So what information is protected by the First Amendment?
Shannon Oltmann: Nearly everything in the United States, the First Amendment and the protection for freedom of speech is incredibly broad.
Shannon Oltmann: There are a few exceptions. One exception is fighting words. Now this comes from the 17 hundreds, and the thought back then was that
Shannon Oltmann: somebody could say something to you that was so offensive. It was so over the line that you would immediately start fighting and punch them in the face.
Shannon Oltmann: We've really
Shannon Oltmann: evolved as a society since then, and our understanding of how people work has evolved a lot since then as well. And that's that's not really how humans work. You still have
Shannon Oltmann: to make a decision to punch someone right? You still have
Shannon Oltmann: the responsibility to not act physically. And so fighting words has really fallen out of date.
Shannon Oltmann: it's fallen sort of off the books. Technically, it it's still an exception, but nobody's used it in a long, long time.
Shannon Oltmann: I just like to mention it, to demonstrate that
Shannon Oltmann: it's no longer considered a valid defense for
Shannon Oltmann: without exception to the first amendment.
Shannon Oltmann: things like slander and libel are exceptions to the first amendment. You can't speak falsely of someone knowingly, falsely, of someone.
Shannon Oltmann: It's protected a little bit. If the person is a public figure like a celebrity it to get a little more complicated. Things like child pornography and obscenity are clearly not protected by the first amendment.
Shannon Oltmann: but other than these exceptions, everything else is protected.
Shannon Oltmann: There are a few other philosophical foundations of intellectual freedom that are worth mentioning. One comes from a guy named John Stewart Mill.
Shannon Oltmann: he said, you can only restrict someone's freedom to prevent harm to others
Shannon Oltmann: other than that freedom should win the day.
Shannon Oltmann: Now that's a really expansive understanding of freedom. and Mill explicitly applied it to freedom of speech as well.
Shannon Oltmann: Of course, the tricky part there is
Shannon Oltmann: what constitutes harm. How are we defining harm?
Shannon Oltmann: Another important foundation comes from Oliver Wendell Holmes, who was on the Supreme Court.
Shannon Oltmann: and in 1,919 he wrote a
Shannon Oltmann: argument about the marketplace of ideas. He disagreed with the majority of the justices, but in his descent he said, we have a marketplace of ideas, this active, rich.
Shannon Oltmann: challenging arena in which ideas go back and forth.
Shannon Oltmann: and the best idea, the most truthful idea, will win out in the end.
Shannon Oltmann: And we still use these ideas and concepts today when we talk about freedom of speech.
Shannon Oltmann: So let's go back to the definition of intellectual freedom for a minute. I have it here.
pre access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all signs of a question may be explored.
Shannon Oltmann: What does this mean to you?
Shannon Oltmann: Does it really include all points of view? do you have in your libraries things that explain climate change, global warming
Shannon Oltmann: and the
Shannon Oltmann: scientific consensus that it's man that's caused by humans.
Shannon Oltmann: Do you have things in your library that argue climate change is a hoax. It's not happening, or it's not caused by humans?
Shannon Oltmann: Do you have things in your library that counter the claims of hoax?
Shannon Oltmann: again, all points of view. Are you gonna have all perspectives
Shannon Oltmann: in your library. This will vary somewhat, depending on the type of library and the community of patrons that you are serving.
Shannon Oltmann: Granted, but I encourage us to think really broadly about intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: here are basically the steps to defending intellectual freedom. things to do before a challenge.
Shannon Oltmann: your include making sure you have up to date policies. making sure those policies are consistent and understood by everybody who works there.
Shannon Oltmann: maybe doing some role play with the policies, some role play of what you might do. Make sure you have a diverse collection that is serving all members of your community.
Shannon Oltmann: if a challenge occurs, you want to really pay attention to your demeanor and your initial response.
Shannon Oltmann: It's easy to feel a defensive or to get upset.
Shannon Oltmann: but if you can stay calm and kind and respectful sometimes that goes along ways.
Shannon Oltmann: Third step to defend the intellectual freedom
Shannon Oltmann: involves reporting. If you face a challenge.
Shannon Oltmann: no matter whether it's formal or informal. You should talk to your State Library Association and the Ala about it.
Shannon Oltmann: reported up to chain
Shannon Oltmann: because these organizations are tracking challenges to intellectual freedom, and knowing the numbers helps us.
Shannon Oltmann: create arguments in favor of increased funding, increased training, and that sort of thing.
Shannon Oltmann: I encourage you to look for support as well. Again, from your State Library Association. Regional groups, groups like the Public Library Association or a Asl.
Shannon Oltmann: Oh.
Shannon Oltmann: your fellow librarians! Maybe the library librarians in the next county over would meet you for lunch, and you could share and get some support.
Shannon Oltmann: The next step involves preparing a response. Typically this involves reading the work in question. Looking at reviews, looking at professional sites and determining if the item meets your collection development standards.
Shannon Oltmann: But the exact way that you prepare, a response will be determined by the policies that you have, which is why it's important to ensure that your policies are really solid and up to date.
Shannon Oltmann: next, you'll be communicating with your community, sharing the information about the resource and in question. and sharing the decision that she reached about it.
Shannon Oltmann: Finally, post challenge is also important to consider. you want to make sure to build in some support for your staff some reflection time. What with, well, what could be improved upon?
Shannon Oltmann: and take some time to really? thank your staff
Shannon Oltmann: and thank community members.
Shannon Oltmann: this is a really brief overview of how you defend intellectual freedom and how you prepare for a challenge. because it's not the focus of my talk today. But if anybody wants more information about these steps. post a question, and I won't circle back to it.
Shannon Oltmann: So that's the standard
Shannon Oltmann: approach to responding to intellectual freedom challenges. But I have some additional suggestions.
One is to avoid arguments about semantics.
Shannon Oltmann: Remember earlier, when I was talking about critical race theory or obscenity pornography most of the time. The folks who are challenging an item in your collection
Shannon Oltmann: don't care about the legal definition of of obscenity right? It doesn't matter to them.
Shannon Oltmann: What they're upset about is that their child or their community member saw something in a book, read something in a book, so on.
Shannon Oltmann: so arguing about whether or not this is a technically
Shannon Oltmann: a pornographic item.
Shannon Oltmann: it's probably not going to get you very far.
I really urge folks to remain calm and professional.
Shannon Oltmann: even if there are, there is name calling or personal attacks.
Shannon Oltmann: We've all seen instances where
Shannon Oltmann: there's a conflict, and one side is really out of control, angry and yelling, and the other side remains calm and
Shannon Oltmann: and professional and respectful. and that makes an impression on people. Right
people can see those differences, those different approaches.
Shannon Oltmann: Empathy and kindness can sometimes go a long way.
Shannon Oltmann: I always encourage folks to say I understand you're upset about this book, and that you didn't want so and so to come across it. What were you looking for? Let's see if we can find something else that would better suit you.
It's a type of reference interview. Right? You can redirect people sometimes.
Shannon Oltmann: I also encourage you to avoid social media, if possible. If there is a conflict going on in your community. well, it can be helpful to know what's going on.
Shannon Oltmann: I think we all, many of us have experience with social media.
Shannon Oltmann: They are getting out of control. Right?
Shannon Oltmann: people post inflammatory things. They pile on some people troll and just look for a reaction. It's hard to have a nuanced, thoughtful conversation on social media.
Shannon Oltmann: And and I say that as somebody who loves social media myself.
Shannon Oltmann: but
Shannon Oltmann: it is really hard to have a complex discussion. especially if folks are riled up
Shannon Oltmann: Another thing you can do is to call on friends, advocates, and library fans
Shannon Oltmann: If.
Shannon Oltmann: for example, if there is a big conflict at a Public Library board meeting. Maybe. Some people who are friends of the library, or who are just
Shannon Oltmann: big fans of the library can come to the next meeting and speak in favor of the library.
Shannon Oltmann: And then I just want to reiterate, to follow your process and make it as transparent as you can explain all the steps, explain the reasons for the steps.
Shannon Oltmann: explain what you have completed each step, and so on.
Shannon Oltmann: So in this book that's coming out into the months. we have 5 sections. The first section talks about the rise and book challenges across the nation. And then we talk about how challenges and bands affect librarians. So that section has librarians telling their personal stories of going through challenges and coming out on the other side and how they felt going through it.
Shannon Oltmann: There's a section that talks about external support for librarians.
Shannon Oltmann: and in that section, for example, the Texas Library Association has a chapter or individuals from that association has a chapter where they lay out how they've compiled resources, how to access them, how to how they provide support to their
Shannon Oltmann: library and members, and so on.
Shannon Oltmann: We have a whole section about how to face challenges and vans, how to respond to them, and then we close with advice from librarians again. This is people sort of on the ground in the front trenches. providing some guidance on how to go through things that they've been through
Shannon Oltmann: some key points from the book. It's important to stay aware of national local trends.
Shannon Oltmann: for example, if you are aware that gender queer is the most challenged book across the nation. Right now. You might check your collection and see if you have gender queer in it
Shannon Oltmann: not to pull the book.
Shannon Oltmann: not to put it behind the desk, but just to be prepared. You might go and pull some of the
Shannon Oltmann: professional reviews of that, and just have them on hand. You might look at what some people are
Shannon Oltmann: saying when they challenge the book and think through what your responses would be if you heard similar language in your library. Okay.
you can also
Shannon Oltmann: stay aware of national local trends
Shannon Oltmann: as a way of providing support to other librarians. Let's say you're in a great community, and there's no challenges going on. But you know, somebody in the next county over, or the the school district near bias is facing a challenge.
Shannon Oltmann: Maybe you can reach out to them with some support and some encouragement.
Shannon Oltmann: It's also nice to reach out to national, Regional and State associations for help and support. Again, just some words of encouragement and guidance can go a long way right.
Shannon Oltmann: Many people who contributed to the book made a point of of saying that you should avoid getting drawn to personal arguments and name calling.
No.
Shannon Oltmann: I will acknowledge it's really difficult when people are calling you
Shannon Oltmann: names that are offensive.
Shannon Oltmann: those
Shannon Oltmann: statements are designed to be and be inflammatory and to make you angry, and to get a get conflict stirred up right?
Shannon Oltmann: So to the extent that we can avoid responding. we've prevent the conflict from escalating.
Shannon Oltmann: It's also really important to find external support from your colleagues, your peers, your friends. and practice your hobbies and routines.
Shannon Oltmann: I didn't say self care, because self care is kind of become an overuse phrase, but
Shannon Oltmann: it's really important to figure out the things that
Shannon Oltmann: fill your cup up, the things that make you feel better
Shannon Oltmann: and make sure you're doing those. If you're going through a challenge
Shannon Oltmann: that might be going for long heights that might be talking to your sibling once a week on the phone. That might be
Shannon Oltmann: you know, painting or writing poetry or doing yard work. The number of people who guard it is incredible, right? So find some external hobbies and routines that don't involve the library, that
Shannon Oltmann: I you feel better, and be conscious about practicing those and taking care of yourself
Shannon Oltmann: likewise. You should also take care of the entire library staff.
Shannon Oltmann: People on the front lines, desk workers, circulation folds.
Shannon Oltmann: maybe faces the brunt of PE of the conflict as people come in the library angry
Shannon Oltmann: sometimes. Administrators don't always hear about the angry patrons right?
Shannon Oltmann: But a conflict like this, if it's royal in your community, will be affecting all library workers at all levels. So we need to find ways to take care of them. Some people have brought in therapists
Shannon Oltmann: or counseling support. Some people have said, let's have an afternoon where the libraries close. T can come in and and and share and draw support from one another. There are a variety of things you can do here, but it is important to remember to take care of everyone in the library.
Shannon Oltmann: I want to emphasize that if any intellectual freedom is defending the freedom of speech.
Shannon Oltmann: If any intellectual freedom is doing the right thing
Shannon Oltmann: when we defend intellectual freedom, we're standing up for the core values of librarianship. things like access, democracy.
Shannon Oltmann: even privacy.
Some of these core values are really wrapped up in intellectual freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: And so we're doing the right thing when we stand up for books or other resources that are being challenged.
Shannon Oltmann: We're also standing up for the core values of America
Shannon Oltmann: when we different intellectual freedom, and that's something that we should take pride in this something that should resonate with you.
Shannon Oltmann: Sometimes, as librarians, we have to be brave, and this is one of those times.
Shannon Oltmann: Courage is not absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear.
Shannon Oltmann: As librarians, we have the opportunity to bring new things to our community. Right? New perspectives, new books, new movies, new information. And there's a joy in opening people's eyes opening new doors.
Shannon Oltmann: There's also a joy in helping someone helping someone find just the information they needed.
Shannon Oltmann: Even if you don't always know that you're helping someone just by having diverse resources available.
Shannon Oltmann: you are creating more possibilities that somebody will find the information they want.
And of course, as librarians were about building better community creating more opportunities and more freedom.
Shannon Oltmann: Those are things worth being brave for
Shannon Oltmann: so a few final thoughts. And then I want to leave plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Shannon Oltmann: I think we'll see continued book challenges for at least a few more years. I don't think we're done with this wave yet.
Shannon Oltmann: but I think we're also going to see push back against these challenges.
Shannon Oltmann: different States are developing groups for readers, rights for a reader, for people who support libraries and support diverse resources.
Shannon Oltmann: Illinois just passed a law Banning, book. Bans and other States are considering similar laws.
Shannon Oltmann: We also see a group called Unite against book bands. This was formed by the Ala and some of their
Shannon Oltmann: collaborators, and this is a group that sort of is trying to consolidate information about how to
Shannon Oltmann: push back against challenges and provide resources for pushing back against challenges.
Shannon Oltmann: We know 71% of voters, at least 71% opposed efforts to remove books from public libraries.
Shannon Oltmann: almost that many opposed removal from school libraries. Those are big numbers.
Shannon Oltmann: That means the majority of your community. It's probably on the side of the library. Whether your community is the school or the public library, or whatever
Shannon Oltmann: the majority of your patients are probably on the library side. We just have to find a way to get them more active, more vocal.
Shannon Oltmann: So how do we move forward from continued book challenges and push back against challenges. One thing to do is to provide support for public and school libraries, because they are the ones facing the brunt of the challenges.
Shannon Oltmann: So if you're not a public or a school librarian. consider volunteering to be on their board. Consider just writing a note to the library, telling them you appreciate their efforts and keep up the good fighting.
Shannon Oltmann: if you are a librarian of any sort.
Shannon Oltmann: perhaps the most effective thing we can do is just start small conversations. When you're in the grocery store, when you're at your kids baseball game.
Shannon Oltmann: when you're at your place of worship. you can talk about the value that the library has the value in diverse resources. I'll share a story with you. One time I was at a restaurant, and they're doing a fundraiser
Shannon Oltmann: for a drag Queen group that wanted to do a story hour out in the community.
Shannon Oltmann: and as I was waiting for a table
Shannon Oltmann: and some other folks came up and they were like track, queen, story time! What is that? That sounds terrible. And so I I gathered my courage, and I stood up, and I explained what a drag Queen story time was, and that it wasn't sexual, and it wasn't offensive.
Shannon Oltmann: I talked about dressing up in imagination and how kids love to play.
Shannon Oltmann: I think. By the
Shannon Oltmann: by, the you know, end of my spiel, I think they started to see it now. I don't know if I if I convince them of anything in that 5 or 2 min.
Shannon Oltmann: But maybe I started them thinking. maybe I gave them something to consider they hadn't thought of before. and that's what I'm asking us to do
Shannon Oltmann: is to be brave, open our
Shannon Oltmann: parts in mind and talk to our neighbors and our fellow community members about the value of the library. I think this is one of the most important things we can do. In fact.
Shannon Oltmann: I want to close by thinking niche Academy for having me in this presentation.
Shannon Oltmann: and I also want to thank ABC. Cleo, for publishing my 2 books. one final push for them.
Shannon Oltmann: you can find either one of them by just googling the title. I think we'll also drop links to the books in the chat.
Finally, I also want to post my email address. It's right here
Shannon Oltmann: now. You can find me really easily, by Googly. My name, Shannon Altman. there's not a lot of us.
Shannon Oltmann: shan it all in Kentucky usually will bring you right to me, but feel free to write down my email address now. I love. I really love helping librarians work through these issues and face challenges.
Shannon Oltmann: If you want. If you're interested in having me speak
Shannon Oltmann: to your staff, to your Library board to your city council.
Shannon Oltmann: If you're from a State Library Association
Shannon Oltmann: when you're interested in having me speak to your librarians any of these things. I'm happy to do it. Or if you're just a librarian who's like a little confused or facing a challenge, and you want some support. You want some guidance. Drop me a line. any of these things. I'm happy to address.
Shannon Oltmann: I'm not on Twitter anymore. But you can reach out via email and find me. And again, I want to thank Julie and the Niche Academy for having me
Shannon Oltmann: Julie, do you want to
Shannon Oltmann: Bring up any questions in the Q. A.
Julie Edwards: Yeah, thank you so much. Shannon. First of all, this was wonderful. You're getting a lot of of thank yous in the chat, including a lot of people who were saying, Thank you so much for just validating what librarians are experiencing right now.
Julie Edwards: I want to remind everyone that I will be sharing Shannon slides, and this recording, and the audio and chat transcripts on the blog. So you'll have access to all of this great information. In just a few days we have had almost 2 dozen questions come in, so I'm going to do my best to get to as many of them as possible.
Julie Edwards: Several have come in
Julie Edwards: around the issue of maybe not outright. Banning books, quote unquote, moving them to another section of the library. Any suggestions for dealing with that issue.
Shannon Oltmann: Sure. So
Shannon Oltmann: The Ala would say that taking a book that belongs in in one section and moving it to another section is a form of censorship. I tend to agree with them.
Shannon Oltmann: And here's why, if you have a juvenile book and you put it in the team section. How many juveniles are going to the team section?
If you have a young adult book.
Shannon Oltmann: say, young ago, graphic novel. And you put it in adult nonfiction. How many teams are going to the adult non-fiction section to look for a book? Right? You've effectively hidden it from them
Shannon Oltmann: by relocating it. And then it's not accessible.
Shannon Oltmann: And, as I, you know, tried to argue, we're in the business of making information accessible. So
Shannon Oltmann: if I had was facing a patron who had this concern. What I would look, what I would do is look at the publisher's website to see the audience that a book is geared toward publishers almost always have this information. Reviews. Often professional reviews often have this information as well. You can say, look, this book is professionally recommended for 10 to 12 year olds. That's why we have it in the middle school.
Shannon Oltmann: you can say, you know, if you don't want your child reading it.
Shannon Oltmann: Please let's help guide them to something else. If you don't think this is appropriate for your team, let's find a different n, a different book that they might be interested in
Shannon Oltmann: But I think relocating gets pretty
Shannon Oltmann: tricky, because, as I said, it's often effectively limiting access. and the same goes for putting a book behind the desk
Shannon Oltmann: or
Shannon Oltmann: putting graphic novels off in the back corner of the library, where nobody goes right. These are subtle, but there are ways to reduce access, and I don't think that's something librarian should be trying to do.
Julie Edwards: Thank you.
Julie Edwards: There was quite an active chat and a question here about what? What about this? All sides argument quote unquote, for example, there are anti-science books that can be detrimental to public health. What do you advise in those situations. What are librarians? Ethical obligations?
Shannon Oltmann: Oh, gosh, yeah, this is A great question, a great
Shannon Oltmann: debate in librarianship, and I'm not sure I can clear it up perfectly for you.
Shannon Oltmann: I think. First, you have to look at your collection development policy and consider your type of library. so are you an academic library that has
Shannon Oltmann: you know.
Shannon Oltmann: but is serving students and has a wide range of views, and you want to represent the full political spectrum. the full spectrum of
Shannon Oltmann: theories on a particular scientific topic.
Shannon Oltmann: That library is going to collect different things than a public library, which is just gonna have some a general interest. Nonfiction, right?
Shannon Oltmann: But most of our collection development policies include things like accuracy. relevance currency. So you know, a book about climate change from the 19 eighties
Shannon Oltmann: may not be current and relevant and accurate anymore.
Shannon Oltmann: Maybe that needs to go. Maybe a book from 2,000 isn't accurate and relevant anymore. it. It depends on the topic. It depends on your library's mission.
Shannon Oltmann: I do think it's important to have a range of views. I spoke with the library
Shannon Oltmann: staff
Shannon Oltmann: about a year ago. Maybe. The staff was having conflict over we whether they should have this non-fiction book that essentially argued, people of color were less intelligent.
Shannon Oltmann: That was the essential gist of the book.
Shannon Oltmann: and some people said, it's intellectual freedom. We need to have this book. we need to represent all points of view, even those that are repulsive to us. Other people said.
Shannon Oltmann: Look, I find this offensive. I think it's perpetuating harm against people of color. I, personally will refuse to check this book out.
Shannon Oltmann: and so on. And so these were, you know, real people really wrestling with this dilemma I come down on the side of intellectual freedom. I'm a I'm a free speech, maximalist, I think. The more speech, the better, almost always.
Shannon Oltmann: And one of the arguments is, we don't know why somebody would check out a book like that. Is it because they believe that view? Is it because they just wanted to know that arguments so they know how to counter it. Are they reading it as part of a school project? Are they checking it out for their stupid uncle, and they don't have a choice in the matter right? There's lots of reasons that people check out books. We don't always know what those reasons are, and it's not our place to judge or assume.
Shannon Oltmann: So I come down on the side of more information, more access.
Shannon Oltmann: and doing really good readers, advisory and and reference guidance.
Shannon Oltmann: Thank you. Yeah.
Julie Edwards: Several questions have come in about what should the library do when a challenge comes in internally so from a board or from staff, who don't want to put a display up any advice there.
Shannon Oltmann: Yeah, I think.
Shannon Oltmann: Well, if it's from a board member. I think I would treat it like it's from a member of the community. go through the same process.
Shannon Oltmann: Consider the material, explain your procedures to the board member. explain why you're treating them like a member of the community because they are right. They're there to represent the community.
Shannon Oltmann: they shouldn't want special treatment. They should want to be treated like the rest of the community.
Shannon Oltmann: It was internally from a staff member. I think that's a little bit different. I think that involves the conversation.
Shannon Oltmann: I think that involves, you know, reflecting on their job duties. What isn't is is not necessary and appropriate for them to do.
Shannon Oltmann: and maybe some, you know, subtle, depending on who who's in charge But maybe some education about what intellectual freedom is, how it's the bedrock. Librarianship would be appropriate here as well.
Julie Edwards: Great. Thank you. You mentioned those numbers of people who support libraries, and several questions have come in about, how do we rally these people before we have an issue, any advice that you can give librarians?
Shannon Oltmann: Yeah, this is a great question. And I'm glad you said before, because that is, when you want to do it.
Shannon Oltmann: you can also do it as challenges are starting, or once a challenge comes up. But you know, let's say there's a family that comes in every week, and they're checking out a stack of books.
Shannon Oltmann: you might say, Hey, Mr. And Mrs. So and so I notice your big fans of the Public Library. Is that correct?
Shannon Oltmann: I don't know if you're aware. But there have been libraries facing a lot of challenges lately across the nation. If something like that
Shannon Oltmann: that comes up, would you maybe be willing to talk about the value of the library for your family?
Shannon Oltmann: or you know
Shannon Oltmann: hey?
Shannon Oltmann: Mrs. So and so I notice your child reads a lot in the school library. Do you think you could, you would be willing to share the importance of the school library for your kid or the importance of these books for your kid.
Shannon Oltmann: that's not the most refined language. This is coming off the top of my head, but I think there are some patrons you can have these conversations with you know, if you have a
Shannon Oltmann: if you have a pride event and you have a lot of family showing up. Maybe you say if some of you folks would be willing to talk about the value of having diverse resources. We'd love to see you at our next board meeting. It's at such and such time.
Shannon Oltmann: asking
Shannon Oltmann: for that sort of support can be tough for librarians, I get it. It's not something we were naturally trained to do, or naturally inclined to do, but I think it's
Shannon Oltmann: useful to have some of that in your back pocket.
Shannon Oltmann: And at the same token, if you're a library in that, and a public or school library. Maybe you can reach out to your librarians at those institutions and say, Hey.
Shannon Oltmann: if you ever need someone to
Shannon Oltmann: rallying for the school library, or speak up for the school library. Call on me.
Shannon Oltmann: I will be there for you.
Julie Edwards: Fantastic. Thank you. Several questions have come in about the Pr strategy behind this. So what happens when libraries are accused of stonewalling or dragging it out because we're actually following policies. What are your recommendations for engaging on social media. Should there be? What should Staff allowed be allowed to this? What? What do you think?
Shannon Oltmann: Yeah. Good questions again. I think you can take the position like we're taking you really seriously. And to take you really seriously, we need to spend some time responding to you.
We're not just going to fire off the. But we're going to really consider what you've said.
Shannon Oltmann: hopefully, that helps people understand the library's position. I think, having 1 point person on social media is all you need.
Shannon Oltmann: I have noticed on social media. If
Shannon Oltmann: you know there are 4 or 5 comments saying, a community Facebook page against the library. It doesn't take too long before some people start speaking up for the library.
Shannon Oltmann: I think sometimes that's more effective than having the librarians jump in and say, Hey, wait. plus, you know there's
Shannon Oltmann: it can be really hard to remain detached and calm on social media. As I said so, I think, having just 1 point person to explain things and
Shannon Oltmann: to respond. I also think a lot of times you don't have to respond.
Shannon Oltmann: we all
Shannon Oltmann: no. Who's the you know, who sounds a little
Shannon Oltmann: unbalanced? It sounds a little off the wall in our communities, right?
Shannon Oltmann: We all know those people? And if somebody is off ranting about the library, and there's no response, and nobody is engaging
Shannon Oltmann: that says something right to the rest of the community, like nobody else, is believing what this person is saying.
Julie Edwards: Excellent! Thank you. What time for one last question! Really quick, one, just off the top of your head. What are the top policies you recommend? Libraries have in place to support intellectual freedom?
Shannon Oltmann: Oh, super important a collection development policy that states what you collect, why, you collect
Shannon Oltmann: your criteria and for whom you collect second reconsideration policy. That says, this is what constitutes a challenge. This is how we'll address the challenge. This is how we'll respond. This is how we'll communicate our response.
Shannon Oltmann: And then third, a policy about harassing staff. what constitutes harassment.
Shannon Oltmann: In the library. At what point is it a behavioral problem that you're going to ask someone to leave? I think it's really important for your staff to know that you're going to stand up for them.
Shannon Oltmann: Thank you. And do you recommend, including as official library policies, for example, the board adopting the freedom to read statement or the Ala Bill of Rights. Yeah, absolutely. I think you want to get your board on board with intellectual freedom. So I think, adopting those statements and saying they're part of
Shannon Oltmann: our library's philosophy and guidance.
Shannon Oltmann: and that that brings up a great point of you should be training your board and intellectual freedom so that they can be representatives and advocates for your library, too.
Julie Edwards: Thank you so much, Shannon. This was an amazing webinar. We appreciate so much your time and your expertise and your experience with this.
Shannon Oltmann: It's been my pleasure. As I said, I really enjoyed talking about these things hopefully. I've given you folks some new ideas, some new perspectives, and some encouragement to keep up the good fight. Thank you very much for coming.
Julie Edwards: Thank you all so much for joining us. I will send the recording and the slides in a few days. You can check out your blog. This. I'm sorry our blog. There is such a need for for intellectual freedom information. We have 2 more webinars on tangential subjects, so please feel free to join us. Shannon has kicked us off just beautifully. we really appreciate you all coming today, and I will hopefully see you at the next webinar. Thanks. Everyone have a great afternoon.