Tag Archives: filtering

Resources for Building A High School Library Program That Meets the Needs of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, or Questioning Students: Part 1

Posted on by
1

PLEASE NOTE: For a much expanded and updated version of this information, please go to Becoming and Being:Reflections on Teacher-Librarianship, pages 192-205.

This is Part One in a series of three posts on this topic. Part Two looks at research literature; Part Three is a full literature review.

Part One: Professional Literature 

How can a high school teacher-librarian ensure that the library is a student-centred safe haven that meets the needs of GLBTQ students?

Introduction

Imagine searching your school library for books about teachers, and finding that there were none.  When you ask the librarian for a book on this topic, she gives you a dirty look, telling you that she doesn’t purchase “those books.” Students who overhear you talking to the librarian laugh at you, saying, “Wow, you want stuff about teachers.  You must be one!”  Soon the word spreads around the library, and everyone is looking at you, laughing, and making rude remarks.  Then you use a library computer to search for information about teachers, but all of the sites are blocked, and you get in trouble for repeatedly trying to access banned sites.   You leave the library with no information, no school network access, and the certainty that you are marked for more harassment.  Welcome to the world of many GLBTQ teens.

If this picture hits too close to home for you, there is help at hand.   First, you can hear the real-life experiences, both good and bad, of GLBTQ teens in their high school libraries.  Then you can review why and how the library should be the center of social change in schools.  Recently there have been many examples in the media of bullying, harassment, and suicide of GLBTQ teens, and the professional literature provides a variety of suggestions on how to reach out to those you serve in your school, and how to make your library safer for them.  In addition, there are many resources available to help you select appropriate print and non-print resources, and to determine what library services GLBTQ teens require to enable them to use these materials effectively.  By implementing suggestions from the professional literature, every teacher-librarian can ensure that GLBTQ students have access to the information they need in their own school libraries.

Themes

Voices of GLBTQ Teens

Anderson, S. B. (2005). What it means to be extreme: Understanding non-traditional teens: Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens. In Extreme teens: Library services to nontraditional young adults (pp. 45-48). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Kenney, B. (2006). Do the right thing. School Library Journal, 52(1), 11.

Flecker, M., & Gutteridge, L. (2008). Gay positive literature in libraries could save lives: The leadership role for teacher-librarians in social justice issues. Teaching Librarian, 15(2), 38-39.

Levithan, D. (2004). Supporting gay teen literature. School Library Journal, 50(10), 44-45.

Limited shelf life. (2010). School Library Journal, 56(7), 15-15.

Whelan, D. L. (2006). Out and ignored: Why are so many school libraries reluctant to embrace gay teens? School Library Journal, 52(1), 46.

Social Justice and GLBTQ Teens

Alexander, L. B, & Miselis, S.  D. (2009). Hear the silent pleas of our gay youth. In G. Bush (Ed.), Best of KQ Series: School library media programs in action: Civic engagement, social justice, and equity (pp. 31-33). Chicago, IL: American Association of School Librarians.

Bush, G. (2006). Social action learning. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 22(7), 38-41.

Flecker, M., & Gutteridge, L. (2008). Gay positive literature in libraries could save lives: The leadership role for teacher-librarians in social justice issues. Teaching Librarian, 15(2), 38-39.

Levithan, D. (2004). Supporting gay teen literature. School Library Journal, 50(10), 44-45.

Martin, H. J., & Murdock, J. R. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Rauch, E. W. (2010). GLBTQ collections are for every library serving teens! Voice of Youth Advocates, 33(3), 216-218.

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2007). Challenging silence, challenging censorship: Inclusive resources, strategies and policy directives for addressing bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans-identified and two-spirited realities in school and public libraries. Ottawa: Canadian Teachers’ Federation.

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2005). Queer perspectives on social responsibility in Canadian schools and libraries: Analysis and resources. School Libraries in Canada (17108535), 24(4), 12-45.  

Reaching out to GLBTQ Teens

Gardes, T. (2008). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning teens in your library media center. CSLA Journal, 32(1), 23-24. Retrieved from http://www.csla.net/pub/journal.htm

Jones, J. (2004). Beyond the straight and narrow: Librarians can give gay teens the support they need. School Library Journal, 50(5), 45.

Martin, H. J., & Murdock, J. R. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Whelan, D. L. (2006). Out and ignored: Why are so many school libraries reluctant to embrace gay teens? School Library Journal, 52(1), 46.

Building GLBTQ Collections

Alexander, L. B., & Miselis, S. D. (2007). Barriers to GLBTQ collection development and strategies for overcoming them. Young Adult Library Services, 5(3), 43-49.

Alexander, L. B, & Miselis, S.  D. (2009). Hear the silent pleas of our gay youth. In G. Bush (Ed.), Best of KQ Series: School library media programs in action: Civic engagement, social justice, and equity (pp. 31-33). Chicago, IL: American Association of School Librarians.

Martin, H. J., & Murdock, J. R. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Rauch, E. W. (2010). GLBTQ collections are for every library serving teens! Voice of Youth Advocates, 33(3), 216-218.

Rockefeller, E. I. (2009). Selection, inclusion, evaluation and defense of transgender-inclusive fiction for young adults: A resource guide. Journal of LGBT Youth, 6(2), 288-309. doi:10.1080/19361650902962641

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2007). Challenging silence, challenging censorship: Inclusive resources, strategies and policy directives for addressing bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans-identified and two-spirited realities in school and public libraries. Ottawa: Canadian Teachers’ Federation.

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2005). Queer perspectives on social responsibility in Canadian schools and libraries: Analysis and resources. School Libraries in Canada (17108535), 24(4), 12-45.  

Library Services for GLBTQ Teens

Alexander, L., & Miselis, S. (2009). Hear the silent pleas of our gay youth. In G. Bush (Ed.), Best of KQ Series: School library media programs in action: Civic engagement, social justice, and equity (pp. 31-33). Chicago, IL: American Association of School Librarians.

Anderson, S. B. (2005). Outside the mainstream: Service to extreme teens – out and proud: Serving gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens. In Extreme teens: Library services to nontraditional young adults (pp. 89-90). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Gardes, T. (2008). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning teens in your library media center. CSLA Journal, 32(1), 23-24.

Martin, H. J., & Murdock, J. R. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2005). Queer perspectives on social responsibility in Canadian schools and libraries: Analysis and resources. School Libraries in Canada (17108535), 24(4), 12-45. Retrieved from http://www.clatoolbox.ca/casl/slic

Whelan, D. L. (2006). Out and ignored: Why are so many school libraries reluctant to embrace gay teens? School Library Journal, 52(1), 46.  

Recommended Articles

Levithan, D. (2004). Supporting gay teen literature. School Library Journal, 50(10), 44-45.

David Levithan draws on his experiences as a gay man, editor, and author of young adult gay fiction to urge teacher-librarians to include LGBTQ literature in collections.  He applauds teacher-librarians who brave controversy and stand up for intellectual freedom so that students can safely sign out the resources they need, and includes specific examples of  how to take a stand.  The article includes examples of the power that the right book at the right time can have for those who too often feel isolated and vulnerable.

Gardes, T. (2008). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning teens in your library media center. CSLA Journal, 32(1), 23-24.

Tim Gardes, a California district librarian, provides some disturbing research statistics that show why LGBTQ teens are less likely to graduate from high school.  Gardes then points out that schools are legally required to improve conditions for these students.  Since school libraries have traditionally served other minority groups well, they are certainly able to better the treatment of LGBTQ students.   Gardes provides specific procedures to implement change, and stresses the positive effect on school climate that establishing a Gay Straight Alliance club had at one of his schools.

Martin, H. J., & Murdock, J. R. (2007). Serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens: A how-to-do-it manual for librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman.

This manual is an extensive guide that offers a wealth of material on issues, programming, services, and collections for LGBTQ teens. The authors include statistics from various studies that detail the shocking physical, emotional, and intellectual risks faced by these teens, and ways to help make libraries safe spaces for them.  In addition to offering strategies for library staff to deal with possible challenges to LGBTQ content or programming, the manual details ways for librarians to connect with and actively involve LGBTQ teens in the library in visible, positive ways.  In addition, the authors differentiate between strategies best suited to school libraries as opposed to public libraries.

Schrader, A. M., & Wells, K. (2007). Challenging silence, challenging censorship: Inclusive resources, strategies and policy directives for addressing bisexual, gay, lesbian, trans-identified and two-spirited realities in school and public libraries. Ottawa: Canadian Teachers’ Federation.

Alvin Schrader, Director of Research, University of Alberta Libraries, and Kristopher Wells, Chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Sub-Committee of the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s Diversity, Equity, and Human Rights Committee, present a two-part manual with a Canadian perspective.   Part I discusses the current situation regarding the lack of resources and services for GLBTQ youth, and provides “A Guide for Action in Library Policy and Practice” to help librarians improve collections and services.  Part II of the book provides lists of annotated resources, including elementary, young adult, and professional books, as well as videos.  Canadian titles are identified, and the authors intend to provide updated lists on the Canadian Teacher Federation web site.

Whelan, D. L. (2006). Out and ignored: Why are so many school libraries reluctant to embrace gay teens? School Library Journal, 52(1), 46.

Debra Whelan, School Library Journal’s senior editor for news and features, shares statistics about the challenges, including a lack of resources in their school libraries, faced by GLBTQ teens.  Whelan puts a human face on the statistics by interviewing students and librarians whose stories illustrate the issues.  Whelan points out that although many librarians censor materials because they fear controversy, or personally believe these materials inappropriate, they risk breaking the law in doing so.  She offers suggestions on how to build a GLBTQ collection, how to make these resources accessible to students, and how to network to enlist support.

Connect

Connect with our students

Internet Filtering – I’m Hopping Mad!

Posted on by
1
crossman

Scott McLeod - CC Attibution 2.0 Generic

Does this picture remind you of how your administration treats its teachers?

Do you see internet filtering as indiscriminate censorship and a challenge to intellectual freedom?

Yes? Then don’t just vent – understand the issues, get busy, and make change happen.

 Time to Act

When it comes to internet filtering in the district where I taught for 38 years, and where my grandson will attend school, “I’m Mad and I’m Not Gonna Take It Anymore,” to quote Mary Ann Bell. Internet filtering in my local school district does not work as it should. Bell  (2008) provides a clear call to action for those fed up with the problems filtering causes teachers and students. She says, “It is time to move past fear mongering and paranoia as guides to internet access in schools.”

Of course this isn’t just a local problem. Cathy Nelson says, “I think the biggest problem at hand is complacency among educators in general. This IS an issue of intellectual freedom. Rights are being infringed here.”

Buffy Hamilton agrees, “I get so frustrated when people complain about the filter issues but then take no constructive action to educate the decision makers about the resources we want unblocked.”

 Can we eliminate filters?

Finnish schools don’t have any; instead they teach responsible use of the internet. “Over there, thanks to solid teaching, the filters are in the students’ heads. Ultimately, that’s where we need to be too.” (Weinstock, 2008; Villano, 2008)

We are nowhere near that point in Alberta, where teacher librarians are almost extinct, teachers have to push students through curricula to pass provincial exams, and we have no mandated curriculum in internet literacy. We can’t get rid of filtering altogether.

Here I agree with Nancy Willard. “There are certainly some benefits from the use of filtering software — if, and only if, filtering companies are not blocking based on viewpoint discrimination, and if educators have the ability and authority to promptly override the filter to access and review any blocked site and to provide access to students when appropriate.”

What Makes Me Hopping Mad?

How about the deceit that internet filtering promotes or tacitly condones in students and some staff? To illustrate:

  • 2¢ Worth » Filters Work – “when [teachers are] asked about getting around the government-required filters, to conduct  . . . research required to find . . . resources, a frequent response is, “I have no idea.” The next most-common response: “I have no idea, but when I need to get to a blocked site, I ask a student for help.”
  • From Patrolling web 2.0: “despite the presence of an internet filtering solution, more than 150,000 attempted visits to MySpace were made.
  • To see just a small slice of the rampant bravado of the avoid-the-filter attitude, go to Google, YouTube, Facebook, or Wikihow and search “bypass internet filter.”

This situation reminds me of what Admiral Mike Mullen said to the senate about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell American military policy. “No matter how I look at the issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens.”

Shouldn’t our policy makers be troubled by a policy that encourages or tacitly condones our teachers and students to break the rules? Don’t misunderstand me — I am not excusing their behaviour. But I agree with Doug Belshaw: “I want clear policies whereby both staff and students know where they stand when it comes to internet access and filtering. As far as I’m concerned, resources should be available for teaching and learning unless a clear case can be made otherwise.”

We need to find a way to protect students without interfering with our teachers’ right to teach and our students’ right to learn. And I don’t think internet filtering as it now exists is the solution. To echo Will Richardson, there is too much “don’t” and not enough “do” going on, and definitely not enough teaching about responsible internet use.

What’s broken?

I’ve identified issues from my own experience, from my reading, and from my conversation with some of my colleagues. Some of the fixes are self-evident. 

  • Teachers don’t know what the filtering policies are, who is in charge of them, or how to request blocking or unblocking of sites.
  • Students, especially at high school, have no input into internet filtering.
  • Filtering increases the divide between students who have access to computers at home, and those who don’t
  • So many sites have YouTube feeds that it is becoming an essential resource (Ross, email communication, 2010)
  • Poor acceptable use policies don’t support responsible use (Media Awareness Network)
  • No consistency in which sites are blocked in which schools on which day (Filters and other annoyances)
  • Lack of bypass rights (Bell, 2006)
  • Time taken to get sites unblocked (Bell, 2006, Filters and other annoyances)
  • No consistent provincial policy, like Nova Scotia has
  • Teachers don’t have time to teach internet skills (Pam’s comment)
  • Social networking sites are routinely blocked (Any interactive website is poison)
  • Sites are blocked because of their format, not content (Format Bigotry)
  • Sites are blocked due to social/political content, e.g., Gay, lesbian, pro-choice (Bell, 2006)
  • Inconsistent filtering makes teachers look inadequate, ill-informed (Bell, 2008).
  • Filtering gives false sense of security, so monitoring/educating don’t happen (Willard)
  • Need to discuss policies as a staff, review, update them regularly as circumstances change (Carla’s comment)
  • Teens need “bystander strategies” to provide effective peer guidance. (Willard)

So how do we effect change?

I urge you to view Buffy Hamilton’s slideshow below, and to visit Fighting the Filter. She provides some common sense ways for tls (and teachers) to assert our professionalism in filtering issues. After all, Hamilton says, “If our goal is for students to be information fluent learners, we must have access to the tools so that students can ultimately act as their own filter.” As a retired teacher librarian, I’m going to start asking questions, writing letters, and advocating for change.

By the time my grandson starts school I want all the “don’ts” of internet usage gone. I want his teachers (hopefully Pam, Carla, and Greg) to tell him, “Do use our network to collaborate with others to change the world in meaningful, positive ways.” (Richardson) Isn’t that what education is all about? 

Fighting the Filter: Tips for Delivering a Knockout Punch to Information Censorship

references

Internet Filters — I’m Seeking Input

Posted on by
3

I am planning a blog post about internet filtering in schools. Before I write the actual article, I have set up this post to collect some comments from teachers about how well (or not!) filtering works in their school. When I was a teacher librarian in a high school library two years ago, it seemed that filtering was unpredictable and restrictive, but perhaps that has changed. I’m hoping you have ideas to share. I’d be most grateful for your help.

Some possibilities:

  • A story about a time when a lesson was sabotaged because a link was blocked, or
  • When a link was blocked that worked before.
  • How you have been involved in the filtering process, such as being consulted about sites to block/unblock, or
  • Were asked to serve on a committee to make these decisions.
  • Whether or not you are clear on just how internet filtering works in your school or your school district as a whole.
  •  Whether or not (and why) we can do without internet filters.
  • Your thoughts on intellectual freedom/internet filters/safety and protection of children.
  • Any other ideas.

Your participation would be much appreciated.