Katie's parents never told her "no" when she asked for a book, which was the start of most of her problems. She has an MLIS from the University of Illinois and works full time as a Circulation & Reference Manager in Illinois. She has a deep-rooted love of all things disturbing, twisted, and terrifying and takes enormous pleasure in creeping out her coworkers. When she's not at work, she's at home watching the Cubs with her cats and her cardigan collection. Other hobbies include scrapbooking, introducing more readers to the Church of Tana French, and convincing her husband that she can, in fact, fit more books onto her shelves.
Twitter: @kt_librarylady
It feels like every week when I sit down to write my latest posts, something has happened in the wider world that has a significant impact on libraries, and…you know…general life. In this case, I’m writing this the week after the ALA conference in Philadelphia, which was sandwiched in between the Supreme Court’s slate of detrimental opinions and the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, which among other things, looks to defund IMLS. (Although there’s still a bit of time to contact your reps and fight to save it!) Anyway, I’m going to try to keep this post succinct for the sake of my word count, but just know that a lot has happened and will continue to happen.
Catching Up on ALA 2025
If you missed it, here’s a brief round-up of some of the sessions at the ALA conference, the theme of which was librarians pushing ahead amid existential threats. One particular standout was former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden’s interview with Kwame Alexander, where she talked about how she draws hope from seeing so many library professionals gathered in solidarity. (I was lucky enough to attend this session, and it was wonderful to see.)
The Pointy Edges of Soft Censorship
This was another great session at ALA, where a school librarian talked about her experiences dealing with censorship in her district. One of the big takeaways from this presentation was a list of elements that a strong book challenge policy needs to have, and a list of elements that a strong policy needs to avoid.
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Parents Can Opt Out of LGBTQ+ Lessons in School
One of the major opinions issued by the Supreme Court is that parents can “opt out” of positively-affirming LGBTQ+ public school lessons. But despite what a number of headlines say, this isn’t a case about book banning. As Kelly Jensen explains, “The core is the responsibility United States public schools must take in parental notification and opt-out options for topics that might be against the religious beliefs of parents when it comes to positively affirming gender and sexuality. This is important because the decision impacts where and how public schools may need to alter policy and decision-making related to LGBTQ+ books, content, lessons, and more.”
The State of Ohio Libraries
Ohio librarians asked the governor to veto a budget proposal that would require public libraries to cordon off any books that deal with sexual orientation or gender identity. The good news is that this proposal ended up being cut from the overall budget. The bad news is that libraries are still facing significant budget cuts.
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