Advocacy

For the past four years, EveryLibrary has been working to fight the book-banning movement. A large part of that fight is developing effective messaging against book bans, as well as conducting extensive message testing, surveys, and focus groups to understand the impact of messaging and determine which messages perform best.

During voter education week, public and academic libraries step up efforts to ensure voters have what they need before they go to the polls.

Visser's work on E-Rate policy and technology equity has been a game-changer for communities across the country, including in tribal libraries, where she helped improve access to broadband.

When Missouri’s Senate Bill 775 (SB 775) became law in 2022, calling for criminal penalties on educators who provide students with materials containing “explicit sexual material,” Melissa Corey recognized the severe implications for collection development and spearheaded a swift response to preserve compliant books in school libraries.

With a recent surge in book censorship efforts, Sarah DeMaria, cochair and president-elect of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association’s (PSLA) Advocacy Committee, hears from school librarians statewide who have faced public attacks, reassignments, and chosen resignation due to flawed policies.

Jensen, a librarian by trade, worked in a public library for several years before joining the Book Riot team in 2013, where she developed her passion about the right to read and access to books.

What do graphic novels, Grimace shakes, and Barbenheimer have in common? For 2022 Kentucky School Librarian of the Year Tim Jones, they can be tools for helping students develop media literacy.

Lucy Podmore became chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians at a key time, just as HB 900—the controversial state bill that would require vendors to rate books for explicit content before selling them to school libraries—was on its way to becoming law.

After working in school, academic, and museum libraries, Jennie Pu landed her first public library job as Hoboken Public Library (HPL) director two and a half years ago, and has already made her mark as a champion of intellectual freedom.