Action Item: Support Calvert Libraries!
Calvert County Libraries need your help! There are proposed changes to library policy that will be discussed at the next Calvert County Board of Education meeting at 3:30pm on JUNE 15, 2023. These changes would allow censorships of books, especially those focused on LGBTQ+, race, and gender identity. Please read the below call to action from a local Calvert County librarian, as they lay out the impact these changes would have, and most importantly, we need YOU to MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. We have compiled a quick way to email each member of the the Calvert County Board of Education as well as CCPS Superintendent Andrae Townsel to let them know Calvert County opposes this censorship. We also ask you to submit public comment prior to the next Board of Education meeting which will be held on June 15, and please make a plan to attend that meeting if you’re able. This is an imperative action item to defend our libraries against this dangerous censorship.
From a Calvert County Librarian:
One of the proposed changes to policy 2305 would change the way that librarians curate our school collections by requiring that every book be read in full before being added to the library collection. On the surface, this proposal may seem reasonable. However, our school library collections include thousands of books, and our libraries add hundreds of new titles each year. Our school library collection includes over 16,000 books. Unless each librarian reads at least six complete books each school day, it would not be possible to read all of our new books. Our library is a very busy place where we are teaching, creating, problem solving, and learning. Students are learning about research tools, coding, digital citizenship, and how to choose a "good fit" book. We are certainly not sitting silently while I read books to myself.
You may wonder, how do we decide which books to add with the current policy? Our selection is based on multiple criteria, from awards won, professional reviews from publications such as School Library Journal and Kirkus reviews, recommendations from publishers, and Wilson’s Core Collection database, known as the gold standard of library collection development. Books are not chosen on a whim, and even donations and student requests must meet the same criteria before they are added to the collection.
Our collection policies mirror those of every other school district in our state and meet the standards of the American Association of School Librarians and the American Library Association. School libraries must be able to remain flexible and in a constant state of growth to meet the needs and interests of our school community. The proposed changes, if passed, would amount to a freeze on new books in our school libraries.
The proposed policy changes would also create four new committees to oversee our library collection development. These would include a Library Materials Curation and Management Committee, a School Based Reconsideration Committee, a District Based Reconsideration Committee, and a Family Life and Human Sexuality Committee. Each committee would “be comprised of qualified librarians, licensed/trained educators, a diverse group of community members.” Our CCPS librarians are fully capable of selecting titles that meet the needs of our schools and our students, yet each of these new committees would weigh the expertise of one librarian against the opinions of unspecified educators and unknown community members. Would you seek medical opinions from a team of doctors or community members? Would you seek legal advice from a team of lawyers or community members? Finally, if you wanted the best education for your child, would you trust an assortment of community members or trained and licensed educators?
Just two years ago, the school librarians of Calvert County won the National School Library of the Year award presented by the American Association of School Librarian. The school librarians of CCPS were recognized for their hard work and expertise in curating collections that were inclusive to all students in Calvert County, for providing instruction in library skills and processes, and for being champions for young people in our district.
Among the CCPS school librarians, there are the incoming president of the state school library association, multiple state library association board members, two members of the Black-Eyed Susan state reading award committee, authors, national presenters, keynote speakers, Fulbright winners, multiple teachers of the year for their buildings and more. Many of us are parents of current CCPS students and/or CCPS graduates. I myself have been published and have presented to state and national audiences on the topic of diversity in collection development and am the mom of two CCPS students. Our librarians are more than fully qualified to do the job that they have been hired to do.
Families have every right to decide which books are appropriate for their own children, but they do not have the right to decide which books are appropriate for everyone else’s children. It is up to families to have these discussions with their children, their teachers, and school librarians. A book that may be considered inappropriate to one family may literally be lifesaving to another. A book that may be boring to one student may be just the thing that sparks a love of reading in another. A book that seems completely foreign to one student may feel like home to another. A good book allows readers to step into the lives of those who are similar and those who are different. This is how we learn and grow.
Many of us see what is happening in other states. We shake our heads as school libraries and classroom libraries are boxed up or decimated by controversial book lists. Elementary picture books and chapter books that celebrate imagination, empathy, community, friendship, families, and respect are being pulled from shelves and removed from students’ hands. We may hear more about these drastic movements, but these changes aren’t limited to other states. They are moving in slow motion throughout our country, including right here in our own county.
Please speak up for our libraries, our books, and our students. You can attend the next BOE meeting at 3:30pm, June 15th to show your support or submit your thoughts in writing to BOEMeetingFacilitator@calvertnet.k12.md.us.
Thank you for your time and support.
