MOLLY DETTMANN  CURRENT POSITION Teacher Librarian, Norman North High School, OK DEGREE MLIS, University of Oklahoma, 2016 FAST FACT When she was 10, Dettmann played a librarian in a summer theater camp production. FOLLOW instagram.com/normannorthlibrary Photo by Kyle Phillips, Norman Public Schools

AMANDA KORDELISKI  CURRENT POSITION Director of Libraries and Instructional Technology, Norman Public Schools, OK DEGREE University of Oklahoma, 2010 FAST FACT Kordeliski gets a shout-out in the author’s note of Printz Honor–winning author Lily Anderson’s Killer House Party. FOLLOW amandalibrarian.my.canva.site; linkedin.com/in/amanda-kordeliski Photo by Kyle Phillips, Norman Public Schools

CHERITY PENNINGTON  CURRENT POSITION Director of Library and Media Services, Shawnee Public Schools, OK DEGREE MLIS, University of Oklahoma, 2010 FAST FACT Pennington’s dogs are named Jango and Jyn after “Star Wars” characters. FOLLOW linkedin.com/in/cherity-pennington-7175197a Photo by Kyle Phillips, Norman Public Schools

Educating Legislators

Even facing fierce political winds, Oklahoma librarians and colleagues Molly Dettmann, Amanda Kordeliski, and Cherity Pennington have successfully defended school libraries, devoting their energies to educating communities and state leaders on libraries’ advantages and responsibilities.

“We learned many, many legislators don’t understand that libraries are more than just a place where you come check out a book,” says Kordeliski, who started working with the Oklahoma legislature as part of an Oklahoma Library Association (OLA) advocacy committee after the 2018 Oklahoma teacher walkout. In 2020–21, the Norman librarian became committee chair at the behest of Pennington, the incoming OLA president. In Oklahoma, she continues, school librarians are master teachers and must have a master’s degree.

Establishing bonds with legislators matters, Shawnee-based Pennington notes. In recent years, “We were able to use those relationships when we started to see a few members proposing legislation that would have hurt libraries, especially school libraries, and explain to them why it could harm us. We were able to defeat almost every bill that was proposed.”

Such work also allows librarians to be proactive, says Kordeliski. “We pair our teaching with a lot of empirical research that shows that students do better when they have a certified school librarian in their K–12 experience. We try to lean on that and not focus on the negative as much, because then all we’re doing is constantly defending.”

Indeed, says Pennington, librarians are not against all legislation. One bill required school library collections to reflect the community that they serve. “We thought that that was a good way to say what we did, that we do support our communities,” Kordeliski says.

Like Kordeliski, Dettmann—who is also from Norman—was a committee chair of the OLA. She’s focused her attention on the community level. “We’re giving more choice and voice to students and making [learning] exciting, but it takes building up relationships with teachers and showcasing our positions to the community,” she says, adding that librarians are not indoctrinators: “Nobody is forced to read a book.”

The three are hopeful that they can maintain their success. “My message to our legislators has been: If we want our kids to be better readers, then every kid needs access to a fully funded library and access to a certified librarian,” says Pennington. “We feel like they see the big picture and that they’re going to support us.”