Hi all,
I'm a member of a coalition that is working to draft a bill that would protect access to information in schools and libraries, which also protects the librarians themselves. I know many states have already passed these types of laws and in the effort of learning from you all, I wanted to reach out with some questions:
For those of you that have passed laws requiring credentialed or certified librarians to be the decision makers with collection development in libraries, how has this been applied for very small, rural libraries? Some employees in these small libraries have never worked in a library before, so they presumably don't have the experience or the training to make intellectual freedom-driven decisions. Did your bills include a training program to certify and support these individuals? If so, what did that program look like? Was a financial element added to the bill?
For those of you that passed bills supporting access to information and learning about diversity in our populations, I am curious how challengers have tried to get around this language, since I'm certain challenges are still happening . It would be helpful to know of any discovered loopholes or potential workarounds so we can be proactive and cover our bases from the beginning with our bill language.
Thank you all for your responses! I look forward to hearing and learning about your experiences.
Emily
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Emily O'Neal
Technical Services Manager
Deschutes Public Library
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