Jenni Gaisbauer, the CML Foundation Executive Director, extended a “heartfelt welcome” to the New Americans in her opening remarks at the ceremony. The Foundation funded this special event. Gaisbauer reflected further after the event, noting that it was one of the most “…rewarding experiences I’ve had working at the library. There were no empty seats and few dry eyes in the room.”

The goal of hosting the ceremony in the library was to bring international families to the library to show them firsthand just how welcome they are, to expose them to the free programs, materials, and resources the library has available (an unfamiliar concept in many other countries), and of course, hope they will share their experiences at the library with their families and friends, furthering the library’s connection with international populations throughout Charlotte.

As a first for CML, associated print pieces such as the program, copies of speeches, and photos, were archived by Sydney Carroll, Archivist. She shared that “the Archive and Special Collections Department’s mission is to preserve and share the experiences of new and underrepresented communities in the archive. What better way to achieve this than to give these naturalization materials a permanent home in our collection?”

Charlotte is a fast growing and densely populated metropolis, with over 113 people moving to Charlotte every single day. It is also proud to be the only Certified Welcoming city in the state of North Carolina. In response to this, CML supports newcomers to Charlotte through a dedicated onboarding strategy called WelcomeCLT. This strategy is in direct support of the library’s mission to be a welcoming place to all and was also enacted as part of the effort to address Child and Family Stability in Charlotte, NC. Led by a diverse team of library staff, this initiative supports those new to the Queen City (with an emphasis on international newcomers) by providing information and resources about the Charlotte metro area. WelcomeCLT includes dedicated kiosks/citizenship corners, dedicated programming, and an online portal.

As CML moves into the next phase of WelcomeCLT, the team is excited to incorporate this important initiative into the blueprint for our new Main Library, projected to be finished in 2025. The new Main Library will be a major destination in Uptown Charlotte; a free, open, and accessible information hub for Mecklenburg County long timers, newcomers, and those just stopping through.

References

1. https://www.cmlibrary.org
2. https://www.welcomeclt.org
3. https://www.welcomingamerica.org
4. https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/07/25/clt-alliance-113-daily-movers-population-growth.html

The post First Naturalization Ceremony Hosted at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

What are Book Résumés?

Book Résumés  started with an initial group of sixty-three publishers who met with the Office of Intellectual Freedom and Unite Against Book Bans to create defense resources for the most frequently challenged book titles. Each book résumé contains a book synopsis, reviews, awards, media, and recommended age ranges. “It originally launched with 175 books and new books are being added every 4-8 weeks,” said Mavian. Each book résumé is uploaded to the site as a PDF, which can easily be printed and distributed at board meetings. This resource was created in response to the increase in censorship of titles, especially those with themes around people of color and/or LGBTQIA+, which have historically been underrepresented in print and on library shelves. Mavian shared her personal favorite frequently challenged title  Are You Their God, It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Check out it’s book  résumé here.

Why are Book Résumés needed?

This resource is designed for use by schools, libraries, the staff members that work in those institutions and the community members they serve. Mavian pointed out, “Typically when a book is being challenged, the entity or organization must respond to the challenge in a very open way. It takes a lot of work. In a big system like Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, we are lucky to have a whole Access Services department with a team of people who take on this work. At smaller systems, they may just have one person to do everything.” Mavian shared that the best defense for why we want to keep a book on our shelves is to show why it was written, who the intended audience is, and what awards it has won. She emphasizes, “…to gather all that information can be very time consuming.”

What else do we need to know?

The number of people challenging titles and the numbers of items being challenged by each individual person is increasing. Mavian explains, “It’s not just one book that is getting challenged. It is one person bringing a list of 200 titles. To consider responding to each individual title can be a lot and that’s why this resource will make a real positive impact in our schools and libraries.” In response to this change, the American Library Association has changed the way they report statistics to differentiate between how many challenges we’ve had and how many individual titles have been challenged. In 2022, 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 32% increase from the previous year.

An exhaustive list of publishers, organizations and individuals who contributed to the creation of Book Résumés can be found on the acknowledgements  section of the website. This includes many big names such as Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Harper Collins, and more. Mavian shared that the idea originated within the publishing world out of a desire to prevent these important works from being banned. On the Unite Against Book Bans website, there is a call to action inviting those interested to sign up to receive news and updates to help defend the freedom to read.

Further Information

1. https://bookresumes.uniteagainstbookbans.org/
2. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/by-the-numbers

The post Book Résumés: A Tool for Defending the Right to Read first appeared on Public Libraries Online.