over censorship, book challenges and book bans.īook challenges are an attempt to remove a title from circulation, and bans mean the actual removal of a book from library shelves. They are defending the rights of readers and writers in the battles raging across the U.S. They are experts in classification, pedagogy, data science, social media, disinformation, health sciences, music, art, media literacy and, yes, storytelling.Īnd right now, librarians are taking on an old role.
Despite misconceptions and stereotypes – ranging from what librarians Gretchen Keer and Andrew Carlos have described as the “middle-aged, bun-wearing, comfortably shod, shushing librarian” to the “sexy librarian … and the hipster or tattooed librarian” – library professionals are more than book jockeys, and they do more than read at story time.
