@Book Bans - What if They Aren't Terrible? spoiler: they are

[fancynewbeesly]

So I am an elementary school librarian--K to 5.

It is TOUGH. We are spread super thin. I am in two schools, and teach 40 minute media/tech classes (usually six a day). So in addition to preparing and lesson planning, we also deal with ALL the Chromebook issues; shelving and maintaining the library, and incorporating STEM classes when we can.

That is pretty much all of my duties before even thinking about the library collection. We do book ordering in spring, so I tend to have an on going list all year. The problem I find is my two schools are VERY different. One is the smallest school in the district and one is the largest. And because the budget is tied to how many students you have, the library that completely NEEDS updating barely gets a budget. It may be 500 dollars when all said and done of money to go towards books. (The other portion goes to supplies, book tape, etc) And sometimes they take lamination out of our budget. 500 doesn't go far when the entire library truthfully needs an overhaul. I try to focus on different sections every year---so one year it may be easy non fiction animals. Or biographies. I do try to get popular books that are high interest for the students as well (Piggie and Elephant, Dog Man, etc). We try to get hardcover books too because of wear and tear, which is also costly. We may get a total of 50-60 new books a year when all is said and done. It isn't alot.

In the biggest school, we have an amazing collection with many many diverse books. But our budget is a lot more doable--usually about 3500-4000 a year--which when all is said and done is getting us about 200-300 new books a year. I do tend to section it off and update sections. So one year 80% was spent on diverse stories, another year a good portion was spent on state books and updating that section. As we update the collection, I purge books that are not read (I can check the history of the books, so I can meaningful purge books). Or outdated information/illustration--such as an animal book that was printed in 1960s. Even if the information is still relevant, with no color photos it may be taking up valuable retail on the shelves. I also purge collections where we have so many multiple copies of the SAME book-so Magic TreeHouse, we may have 10 copies of the first book, and we need more room on the shelves.

But again we are spread so thin. There are no media secretaries, and dealing with Chromebook issues tends to take a huge portion of the energy .

[mala]

Well, board of ed met last night and banned the whole list. But not the Bible, because that would be unconstituional.

Fuck. All. That. Crap.

[taratru]

This is where you end up with this kind of thing - removing dictionaries pending review. Dictionaries, people.

pen.org/escambia-county-florida-banned-books-list/

[dontlook]

I volunteer at my kid’s elementary school library. The library has an amazing collection, has a librarian, a librarian assistant (para), and a tech specialist. I’m less involved at the MS, but I assume they have a similar setup and I trust them to make smart choices. Having said that, I’ve definitely had moments of clutching my pearls when my kid’s ask to read certain books. My 7th grader saw me reading Fourth Wing and asked to read it. It gave me pause, but I handed it over when I was done. I glanced at where she was occasionally and told her I’m around if she has any questions about what she’s reading. She quit before she got to the sex scenes.

She recently read Ice Breaker which I’m not familiar with. There was a sex scene and she had questions but decided to google instead of ask me but ended up asking me because she still didn’t understand. That was fun!

Anyways, parenting is hard lol.

[wawa]

Jan 11, 2024 6:28:17 GMT -5 mala said:

Well, board of ed met last night and banned the whole list. But not the Bible, because that would be unconstituional.

Fuck. All. That. Crap.

what the fuck!  that's not what they said they were doing at all.  What's the election cycle on the crazy ass fuckers you got saddled with?  

[mala]

Jan 11, 2024 10:34:12 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jan 11, 2024 6:28:17 GMT -5 mala said:

Well, board of ed met last night and banned the whole list. But not the Bible, because that would be unconstituional.

Fuck. All. That. Crap.

what the fuck!  that's not what they said they were doing at all.  What's the election cycle on the crazy ass fuckers you got saddled with?  

They voted to "ban sexually explicit material" without clarifying what that material is (with the exception of materials for health class). Even Dorsey voted for it, which is surprising. So it sounds like they banned the books on the list without actually banning the specific books on the list, thus getting around their "oh we're going to review it!" argument. This is so much worse than a specific list since it can apply to any fucking book with even a hit of sexual material that they want to.



www.wmar2news.com/local/carroll-county-school-board-oks-change-prohibiting-sexually-explicit-content

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/moms-for-liberty-carroll-county-book-policy-YZ4LKA76GFEW7BVBIIN4QY7RGU/

[wawa]

Thank you so much nsl and fancynewbeesly for all that info!

[basilosaurus]

I somehow have a number of school librarians in my friends, so I hear about this a lot across the country.

I can't be the only kid who read the medical dictionary in my teen curiosity. Are we going to ban that now?

I also read clan of the cave bears in my teens, given to me by my aunt.

Yes, I remember quite a few things. Rape with the clan and later digital and oral sex with cro magnon or whatever they called it at time. I also remember caged bird rape incest description which horrified me which is good imo. I should be horrified. I should know this happens to people. Reading about it didn't corrupt but rather have empathy.

Empathy is what these assholes don't want

[Bernadine]

Jan 11, 2024 10:34:12 GMT -5 wawa said:

Jan 11, 2024 6:28:17 GMT -5 mala said:

Well, board of ed met last night and banned the whole list. But not the Bible, because that would be unconstituional.

Fuck. All. That. Crap.

what the fuck!  that's not what they said they were doing at all.  What's the election cycle on the crazy ass fuckers you got saddled with?  

Two seats are up this year, and we have two INCREDIBLE candidates, and two M4L candidates.

Last cycle, we had three amazing candidates for three open positions. One won, but the other two seats went to M4L candidates.

It’s incredibly frustrating, and makes me want to move, but also makes me want to stay and keep fighting.

[mala]

Jan 12, 2024 9:13:22 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Jan 11, 2024 10:34:12 GMT -5 wawa said:

what the fuck!  that's not what they said they were doing at all.  What's the election cycle on the crazy ass fuckers you got saddled with?  

Two seats are up this year, and we have two INCREDIBLE candidates, and two M4L candidates.

Last cycle, we had three amazing candidates for three open positions. One won, but the other two seats went to M4L candidates.

It’s incredibly frustrating, and makes me want to move, but also makes me want to stay and keep fighting.

Amanda with the last name I'm going to misspell is running again, yes? And is the second person the same guy who ran last time? I voted for both (and Dorsey) and I was SO MAD M4L won. And Whisler (Whistler?) is a dick.

[Bernadine]

Jan 12, 2024 10:16:16 GMT -5 mala said:

Jan 12, 2024 9:13:22 GMT -5 Bernadine said:

Two seats are up this year, and we have two INCREDIBLE candidates, and two M4L candidates.

Last cycle, we had three amazing candidates for three open positions. One won, but the other two seats went to M4L candidates.

It’s incredibly frustrating, and makes me want to move, but also makes me want to stay and keep fighting.

Amanda with the last name I'm going to misspell is running again, yes? And is the second person the same guy who ran last time? I voted for both (and Dorsey) and I was SO MAD M4L won. And Whisler (Whistler?) is a dick.

Yes, Amanda has formed a slate with Muri Dueppen, Slate for Student Success. Muri is a long-time education advocate.