Nov 4, 2023
Thank you to our speakers today, local public and school librarians, Jean Gritter, Dana Zachary, April Spisak, and Christine Troetschel, who talked about what’s happening locally and in Oregon regarding book challenges. Here’s a great resource they shared: How to Support Diverse Books During a Book Ban.
Did you know?
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- Oregon doesn’t require certified librarians in public schools. And most schools don’t have one. Resources shared included: A comparison of School librarians in Oregon.
- Another resource is PDSAL (Parents Defending Schools and Libraries). PDSAL is a non-profit that serves as an early warning and alert system for parents, students and their allies nationwide when books are banned and classrooms censored.
- You might be surprised that the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) does not have a Library Media Educational Specialist in the Office of Teaching and Learning even though there are Educational Specialists on staff at ODE for every other school subject. This is a legislative issue for OASL (Oregon Association of School Libraries).
- You’ll see on the website for OASL that Jean Gritter, District Librarian for Greater Albany Public Schools, was awarded the 2023 Secondary Teacher-Librarian of the Year. We are proud to have Jean working in our community!
Book challenges and book banning has become the hot political topic this election season. However, it is more than just political fodder, book ban attempts nearly doubled in 2022, after a sharp increase in 2021, according to early numbers from the American Library Association.
Now, the number of books challenged or banned in public schools is the highest it has been in 20 years. More than 2,500 unique titles were targeted for censorship last year, marking a 38 percent increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted in 2021.