Communicate Better: What Happens to A Book That is Challenged But Not Removed in A High School Library via Book Riot

I talk at length about how bad we, as a profession are at communicating with the general pubic. I have a longer, more general post about that here. But I also have a tag for "communicate better" because whenever there is a big library issue, we DO NOT GET AHEAD OF IT and that hurts us.

This is absolutely true when it comes to the current book banning moment we have found ourselves in. Throughout my use of the communicate better tag, I have written about how instead of explaining how we build our collections, we hid our heads in the sand while nefarious actors were challenging our professional selections and convincing the public that we were trying to push an agenda.

Many thought that reason would win out so why draw more attention. But that was VERY wrong. And many more were just plain scared of people coming after them.

As a result, we have been playing catch-up while some library workers are fighting for their jobs defending intellectual freedom. We have been labeled groomers, sent bullets in the mail, been disparaged in the news. Sure many have rallied around us, but we are still putting out fires every single day. I mean, just this week I had to help a school library defend a challenge to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a book that is listed as a title in the core collections resource for high school libraries. 

But that leads me to another side of the book challenge coin-- what happens when a book is challenged but kept by a library?

This is an important part of the conversation, something we should be out there screaming from the rooftops to the public, especially those who agree with us. But again, we do not. Now some of it is because we are busy, but too often it is because we are scared. Scared to be honest about the process. Scared to share that the book is back. Even scared to attract more challenges. 

But as I said above, inaction due to fear does not work. What does work is what we literally have Masters Degrees in-- sharing information.

Thankfully, Book Riot has our back. They have done the leg work and compiled this excellent report, from the perspectives of a few libraries, on what happens when a book is challenged and not removed from a school library. 

These libraries have shared their real-world experiences, their processes (inducing tweaks that they have made as they went through them), and policies. This is not only a great resource for all of us, but it is also a way to communicate directly to their readers (who are also some of our fiercest supporters) how we do this important work. 

 Everyone working in any type of library with readers of all ages should read "What Happens to A Book That is Challenged But Not Removed in A High School Library."

And thank you to Book Riot for doing this work and setting the example of how we can communicate better.