TIME is NOW to SPEAK! Majority of Americans in all parties oppose censorship in libraries. Your school board needs to hear LOUD and CLEAR! Toolkits are available - write your school and library boards, newspaper editor, and share on your social media. Forsyth and Columbia Counties have responded - will your community also act? Does that make sense?
They need you, allies in the local community, to share your beliefs about the importance of children's reading choices being managed by only their own families, not by families of other children.
New reports are posted daily about the coordinated efforts of several pro-censorship groups to remove reading choices from our youth in school and public libraries based on their personal partisan and doctrinal beliefs. We know from the results of a 2022 American Library Association survey that the majority of Americans don't believe this is a good practice.
If you agree with the majority of Americans in supporting intellectual freedom, PLEASE act now! Let your local school and library boards hear from you that you believe that libraries should have materials and programs to meet the needs of all of their communities. Our youth need to find characters like themselves in books as well as insights into others' lives, as well as vetted, current informational resources, to develop as global citizens. An email from you doesn't need to be long, but it should be personalized and heartfelt!
Articles like this BookRiot one provide templates for sending emails and speaking at board meetings in opposition to censorship. Websites such as Get Ready Stay Ready and Unite Against Book Bans provide more extensive community action toolkits. Two Georgia school districts (Cobb and Forsyth Counties) have been in state and national news for removing books from library shelves without following their established review policies. The Forsyth Coalition for Education offers insights into how censorship can be addressed in an effective, ongoing effort. Columbia County Advocates for Public Education is another Georgia group also fighting book bans.
Expressing your opinions to your school board NOW is critically important, in support of their continued adherence to policy on materials and programming OR to express expectations that they not bypass existing policy on challenges. Please write your school board immediately and then consider what other actions you may want to take in the future to share your beliefs in intellectual freedom and reading choices for our youth.
Sincerely,
Georgia Library Media Association Advocacy
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