Learn tangible ways to handle censorship, find allies, and ensure your library policies are up to date.  

Course Description 

The last few years have seen a drastic uptick in book bans and curriculum challenges. As a librarian, teacher, administrator, or trustee, it can be difficult to know your options for managing these challenges and advocating for intellectual freedom and diverse educational materials. This crash course will focus on proactive preparation to ensure you are set up for success. Live sessions will be available on-demand.
 
In this 2.5-hour online crash course, you will learn tangible ways to handle censorship, including tips for finding allies and building coalitions, tactics for school board meetings, and strategies to  ensure your library policies are up to date and will appropriately defend intellectual freedom. We’ll discuss best practices for engaging and educating stakeholders in your organization to ensure everyone is equipped with appropriate responses and prepared when challenges arise. 

The live sessions run on Thursday,  March 2, 2023 from approximately 2:00-4:30 pm ET (recorded for on-demand viewing). Don’t miss this opportunity!

Learning Outcomes

After you attend this crash 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

Who should take this course 

Any librarian or educator who needs support preparing for or dealing with current book bans and curriculum challenges. Whether you’re a frontline staff member or teacher, or a director or school administrator, this course will include proactive information that will give you tactical tools to defend intellectual freedom. 

Live sessions are also available on demand 

Can’t make a live session? All guest speaker sessions are recorded and available on demand following the initial broadcast. Asynchronous workshops allow you to complete assignments and receive feedback from experts.

Certificate of completion provided 

2 professional development credit hours

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co

Accessibility

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

Course Curriculum Advisors

	Lori Fisher, State Librarian, Maine		Erika Long, (she, her)  School Library Consultant

Group Rates

Have a team attend and increase your impact!

Discounted registration fees are available for groups of 3 or more. When you register your team for our online courses, they will be placed in the same small workshop group, where discussions and project-based assignments receive feedback from an experienced librarian.

Send us a request for a quote.

If your group prefers to work separately, just let us know.

By registering for this event you confirm that you have read and agree to our Code of Conduct.

For support with online courses, please contact libraryjournal@edmaker.co.

Thursday, March 2, 2023

Session 1 | 2:00-2:40 pm ET

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 | 2:40-2:50 pm ET

Informational Session about LJ/SLJ Professional Development

Interested in what’s next or how to go even deeper? This session will provide more information about our spring courses, including our 3-week course, How to Build and Defend Inclusive Collections, which will expand what you learned here. Take this opportunity to ask questions about our full roster of courses, gain transparency into our process, and give your feedback about what you’d like us to do next.

Break | 2:50-3:00 pm ET

Session 3 | 3:00-3:50 pm ET

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, 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.

Speakers: 

Session 4 | 3:50-4:30 pm ET

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: 

Online Course Preview

A preview of how we build your library skills and bring inspiration to your projects with our online learning experience.

Course Format

Inspiring Live Guest Speakers 

Live session with Andrea Blackman and Tasneem Ansariyah Grace	Live Guest Speakers Each Week Engage with presenters via live video stream, visual presentations, and chats

Online Course Features

Recordings of guest speakers

Recordings Available After The Live Session Real-time guest speakers and conversation via live video stream (with recordings available afterward)

Early Access On Demand Resources

Early Access and Ongoing Resources To Support Learning Supporting resources (articles, videos, worksheets) in the online classroom to provide a foundation for your work Access all course content for six months after the course ends Bonus: Register early and get immediate access to archival video recordings from related courses and other bonus content