Description: 

Deciding how to address objections to what libraries offer is viscerally understood by those working in school, university, and public libraries. It became personal for one award-winning author—Marc Tyler Nobleman, who wrote Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman—when, in addressing students in an elementary school in Georgia, he mentioned that “the son of Batman co-creator Bill Finger was gay: “The batshit,” he recalls, “immediately hit the fan…my host, the librarian, expressed concern due to the intolerant history of the community.” Nobleman suggested that she invite the school principle to the second talk he was delivering that day, and things did not go well: “Midway through my presentation he handed me this note: ‘Please only share the appropriate parts of the story for our elementary students.’”

How he responded and the media attention he received for that and for similar presentations in school libraries and other school settings offers all of us another set of examples of how we can best serve as advocates for our school and public libraries and the communities they serve.

Join us for this free, 90-minute session online workshop (via Zoom) under the auspices of the California Library Association Ursula Meyer Library Advocacy Training project, to hear Nobleman’s description of what he faced and what he did, and to explore, with Nobleman, what we can learn and apply from his experiences.

Goal:

Participants will further hone their skills in finding positive, productive ways to respond to challenges in their efforts to advocate on behalf of libraries and the communities they serve.

Objectives

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

• Summarize a case study that offers encouragement when facing challenges to what libraries provide
• Describe at least three positive, productive steps you can take to address challenges to what libraries provides
• Cite at least three resources you can use to further hone your ability to respond to book and program challenges

Presenter:  

Marc Tyler Nobleman is an award-winning author of books for young people. His nonfiction picture book Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman changedhistory, inspiring the unprecedented documentary Batman & Bill. He has spoken at schools, conferences, and other venues in 30+ states and almost 20 countries.

About the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series

This program is part of an ongoing series of monthly online sessions organized offered through the Ursula Meyer Advocacy Fund Training Series; sessions are generally held online on the second Wednesday of each month, beginning at 10 am PT. The series honors the memory of Ursula Meyer, 1977-78 CLA President, California Library Hall of Fame inductee, longtime director of the Stockton-San Joaquin Public Library, and fierce advocate for library services and intellectual freedom. The Ursula Meyer Fund was established to provide for the training of librarians in all stages of their careers, and library supporters, in political advocacy and political action, in honor of Ursula’s belief that librarians need effective political skills to advocate for library support at all levels of government. Archived recordings of previous sessions are available on the California Library Association YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@californialibraryassociati2705/videos.

To support the series though a donation, please visit the CLA website at https://www.cla-net.org/donations/fund.asp?id=23440.