Why the Freedom to Read Matters

Librarians experience many daily joys in serving a school community: adding silly voices when reading to elementary students, connecting with parents about their children’s needs and interests, matching students with just-right books to inspire or feed their love of reading, and acquiring resources to help teachers do their best work with kids.

The librarian is a school’s “utility player.” She is there to support and assist as needed. When the library has a healthy budget, she can fulfill the dreams of a multitude of patrons. She can find a book for every community member that provides a mirror of their own life, opens a window into other lives, or scratches the curiosity itch and teaches a child about the world around them.

To accomplish this amazing feat, librarians must include diverse books in the library’s collection. When a library includes something for everyone, inevitably someone in the community will dislike some of the books in the collection. While one family values hunting and their child wants to read books about hunting and firearms, another family disapproves of guns and therefore of those books. While one family is led by two moms and their child appreciates reading about families like theirs, another parent disapproves of LGBTQ representation in the library’s books.

Today, some community members are pushing to ban books they disapprove of. National groups have put together lists of books that they encourage local community members to target, and within local communities, activists have organized to attend school board meetings to fight against those books. Most of the books on these lists are about race, gender, and/or the LGBTQ experience. School boards in districts such as Lake Travis and Round Rock have enacted book bans and formed parent committees to supervise the work of librarians.

These committees may not share the same goal as librarians: providing the right book for every patron. Often, their goal is to limit the books to ones that match their own family’s values.

Another approach is for families to communicate their values and wishes directly with their school librarian. If a parent wishes for their child not to check out books about hunting and firearms, LGBTQ books, graphic novels, scary books, or anything else, they can reach out to the librarian and request that access be limited for their child.

Meanwhile, librarians have many tricks up their sleeves to help funnel children to the books that are best suited for them. That work is part of thoughtful collection management—not a one-size-fits-all restriction on what an entire community may read.

At Magellan International School, the library serves students in preschool through high school. The preschool library is in its own building, but the remainder of the school community shares one library. Books are cataloged and shelved by level—elementary, middle school, high school, and professional—and students are provided access only to the sections of the library that are age-appropriate for them. Parents who wish to grant their children access to the level above them are able to do so. This approach protects children from content that is mature beyond their years while providing access and flexibility.

Book bans are not necessary, even in a world where diverse books are available to students. Librarians organize information to meet the needs of the communities they serve, while families retain an important role in guiding what is appropriate for their own children. When concerns arise, a conversation with the school’s “utility player” can often provide a more individualized solution.