Kathy Lester, current AASL president, offers her best practices for how to combat book challenges and censorship efforts.

  • Have a strong collection development and reconsideration policy, if possible. The ALA Selection and Reconsideration Policy Toolkit is an excellent resource for creating and updating policies.

  • Talk to school administrators to make sure that they are aware of policies. Let them know that you are willing to speak with individual parents about concerns with materials for their own child.

  • Be aware of the groups that are organizing to challenge books and the books they are targeting. Know which of the books on these lists are in your collection.

  • Know and develop your allies. Educate others about students’ need for a wide range of books and resources. Speak with colleagues and school community members about book challenge trends across the nation. These conversations will help determine who supports the freedom to read and who might be willing to speak up if challenges occur. Strengthen relationships with others who share the value of intellectual freedom such as your public librarians, local PFLAG or other LGBTQ+ groups, organizations supporting minorities, local independent bookstores, etc. Surveys have shown that most Americans oppose censorship We need to find and activate the community members who are against censorship to speak up when needed.

  • Join Unite Against Book Bans. Point supporters to the Unite Against Book Bans Toolkit for talking points and other resources.

    • Have a support group. Going through challenges can be very stressful for school librarians. Have a group of colleagues, friends, and/or family members whom you can talk to and lean on for support.

    • Stay connected with your state school library association—become a member if you are not a member now. Your state school library association will likely have resources to support you locally. Also, stay connected with AASL—become a member if you are not a member now. ALA/AASL will provide challenge support to any school librarian—even if they are not members; however, we are stronger when we all stand together. Our associations need a strong membership base in order to continue to fight against censorship and support the many librarians facing censorship.