Chilliwack – In light of the recent controversy over “book banning” and what is considered appropriate vis-a-vis religeuos beliefs, Christopher Hunt, Teacher-Librarian posted an opinion piece to social media and shared it with FVN.
His opinions are his own.
Here’s the thing: Teacher-Librarians are experts on books (and I don’t think you are, are you?). We have training and knowledge about children’s, middle grade, and young adult literature that you almost certainly do not (for if you did, you wouldn’t be listing these books as inappropriate). For example, besides a degree studying literature and history, I (and all the other T-Ls) have a teaching certificate with a deep knowledge of curriculum for various ages, many years of teaching experience, plus extra training and certification to become a Teacher-Librarian. Librarians are also voracious readers and know their collections well. I, for instance, read every single picture book I buy for the library, virtually every graphic novel I bring in, just about every nonfiction title, and about 75% of the novels (usually only one of the long-running series rather than all of them). So, I know the collection extremely well. We also do regular weeding and formal or informal diversity audits of the collection so that we examine and evaluate the offerings further. In addition, as Teacher-Librarians, we collaborate with all the grades in our schools so we tend to know all of the curricular content for those age levels. Then, there are all the professional development workshops we attend throughout the years on appointed days, and on the side on our own time. We are well aware of the philosophical tenets of public, secular education and the inclusivity requirements of the B.C. Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We also spend quite a lot of personal time reading multitudes of book reviews and consulting literature awards lists. We meet regularly as a local professional association and liaise with our provincial specialist association. Most of us participate in broader online and social media professional learning networks where we learn and share information, too. Also, I’m constantly browsing any bookstore I come across for new items, or sometimes borrowing books from the public library, in order to preview them before buying them. Thus, everything in the collection is thoroughly vetted in many different ways.
So, when it comes to the books on our school library shelves, your opinions and mine do not carry the same weight.
Book banner opinions on books are ill-informed, rarely include cover-to-cover readings, and are fuelled by things like general bigotry, or specific homophobia, transphobia, or racism, with elements of religious zealotry and deliberate misinformation. People with such thinking should play no part whatsoever in modern, secular, public education decisions.
Christopher Hunt, Teacher-Librarian
