Censorship and Banned Books: Tactics for Defending Intellectual Freedom: On-Demand Course

After you attend this course, you’ll be able to:

• Advocate for your programs, curricula, collections, and services.
  


• Conduct a policy audit and ensure your protections are up to date and comprehensive.
  


• Make a plan to find allies and build coalitions to support you.
  


• Access resources and communities dealing with similar challenges.
  


• Develop and refer to talking points and best practices for speaking at school board meetings and connecting with stakeholders and community members.
  


• Create a plan for how to cope and take care of yourself in the midst of challenges.
  

On-Demand Program

Session 1
Proactive Resistance: Policies, Procedures, and Protocols
Whether you’re preparing for challenges or you’re already dealing with them, this session will give you the practical tools you need to manage censorship. You will learn innovative policy ideas to reduce and resist censorship in your area, as well as strategies for auditing your current practices to ensure they will adequately defend intellectual freedom in your area. You will leave this session with new ideas for streamlined procedures and protocols that you can establish in your library to help you resist book bans and defend the right to read.

Speaker:

Lori Fisher , State Librarian, Maine

Session 2
Stronger Together: Building Community, Coalitions, and Allies
Defending intellectual freedom can’t be the job of just one person. This session will teach you how to find allies inside and outside of your library or school, build coalitions, gain local legislative support, and work as a community to combat censorship challenges. You will leave with shared resources and tools for how to connect with others to drive change in your community.

Speaker:

Lisa R. Varga, MLS (she, her) Executive Director at Virginia Library Association; 2024 Librarian of the Year, Library Journal

Session 3
How to Create and Advocate for Inclusivity Despite Censorship
Book challenges and censorship disproportionately target and affect books by and about LBGTQIA+, BIPOC, and other marginalized identities. As a librarian, how can you continue to create and advocate for inclusive programs and collections even and especially when your organization is facing censorship? Hear from a panel of librarians and join the discussion during a facilitated Q&A.

Speakers:

Hal Patnott , Rainbow Services Librarian

Cicely Lewis , 2020 SLJ School Librarian of the Year, is the media specialist at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, GA

Session 4
External Communications: How to Become FOIA and Media Ready
One challenge of censorship issues is knowing when and how to craft external communications. This session will help you know how to address the media as well as how to create systems in your library to ensure you’re ready to address FOIA requests efficiently and effectively.

Speakers:

Julie M. Milavec , (she, her hers) Library Director, Downers Grove Public Library

Cindy Khatri , Marketing & Communications Manager, Downers Grove Public Library

Session 5
How to Talk about Censorship: Effective Messaging and Rhetoric
Learn how to talk about censorship with patrons and your community in a rhetorically and politically effective way. This session will discuss how best to communicate the value of libraries and frame the conversation around censorship in a way that brings people together in common ground.

Speaker:

Rory Steele , Executive Director, Freedom to Learn Advocates

Session 6
Protecting Yourself Amid Censorship and Defamation Attacks
Too often, librarians and educators are being publicly targeted by people attempting to advance censorship. This session will teach you how to protect yourself online from doxxing and other harassment. You will also learn strategies for setting and maintaining boundaries, advocating for yourself in the workplace, and prioritizing wellness through rest and connection to others through affinity groups.

Speaker:

Amanda Jones , Teacher-Librarian, 2021 SLJ Co-Librarian of the Year, a 2021 LJ Mover and Shaker, and the 2020 Louisiana School Librarian of the Year

Session 7
Proactive Governance: How to Prepare for and Handle Problems in Your Board Meetings
Learn tangible tools you can use and actions you can take to help manage disruptions to your board meetings. Whether you’re facing internal challenges, external challenges, or both, you will leave this session prepared with best practices to keep your governance on track.

Speaker:

Amanda Vazquez , Library Director, Dubuque County Library District

Who should take this course

Any librarian or educator who needs support preparing for or dealing with current book bans and curriculum challenges. This course will include takeaways for all levels of library personnel.

This is an on-demand course made up of recorded instructional presentations. The course includes:

• Recorded Sessions: Guest speaker presentations by leaders in their field. (All session recordings have on-demand access for six months.)
  
  
• Early access on-demand resources:  Access to a series of past live session archives from Library Journal and School Library Journal courses to explore at your own pace.
  
  
• Online Classroom: The virtual learning platform holds all course content and is accessible for six months after the course ends.

Expected time commitment

If you watch all session recordings, you'll spend approximately 4 hours on this course. You'll earn 4 hours of PD credit and a Library Journal certificate of completion.

On-demand access

All live guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on-demand for six months following the initial broadcast as a part of your purchase.

Certificate of completion

Complete the course and earn 15 professional development credit hours. We provide a certificate that is emailed to you.

Accessibility

All guest speaker sessions feature auto captioning and are made available on demand after the initial broadcast. Please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration if you require any special accommodations and we will make our best efforts to facilitate them.

Support

For support with online courses, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com .

Discounted rates are available for a limited time only. Secure your tickets now to lock in the best price.

Group Rates

We offer discounts for groups of 3 or more.

For larger groups of 15 or more, we offer the option to apply group rates across multiple courses to receive significant discounts. For more information, select “Bulk Course Credits Packages” in the form below.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

For support with group purchases, please contact groupsales@libraryjournal.com.