[LM_NET] on Lucky and Librarians

[Sara Darling <sdarling@SAA-SDS.ORG>]

Well,

It looks like Librarian bashing is full on all over the country. What  
really concerns me is the fact that our discussions on this listserv,  
discussions which are fully within our freedom of speech, are being  
focused on in this whole ordeal. I VALUE LM_NET as a place to  
converse with all of the colleagues I am unable to see and perhaps  
will never meet. Out of 16,000 (?) members, how many actually said in  
a post "I am banning this book"? How many actual libraries have the  
reporters visited to see if the book is being "banned" there? Aren't  
our conversations on this list a place where we can share ideas,  
agree to disagree, and ultimately connect with other librarians about  
the important issues in our field? Personally I have enjoyed the  
discussion and I know that when I get my copy of Lucky I will most  
likely pay more attention to what I am reading and the value of the  
book as a whole. In this professional setting we should be able to  
voice our opinions and discuss with one another without worrying  
about how our words are going to be used by outsiders to portray our  
profession.

For those who are so vehemently criticizing school librarians...I  
would like to invite them to take a look at our profession as whole,  
see what we do on a daily basis, and then report on us in the  
newspapers. I can imagine that the picture they paint then would be  
far different. Every day we foster a love of reading in our students.  
Every day we introduce them to all sorts of new and wonderful  
literature, and in some way, every day we touch lives. Through our  
programming (including in many schools a display of "banned books"  
and a discussion of freedom of speech and reading during banned books  
week), collection development, and presence in schools we are  
constant champions of books and literacy.

That is my two cents....

Sara Darling
Lower School Librarian
St. Agnes Academy - St. Dominic School
sdarling@saa-sds.org




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