When Governor Brad Little vetoed Idaho House Bill 314, Erin Downey, the Boise School District’s liaison for school librarians, knew the debate was far from over. In fact, it became quite personal recently.
“I didn't realize how much, until I was trying to lead a meeting last week and had to stop,” said Downey. “I could not stop crying in the middle of this meeting. It's been weighing on us all, I think a lot more than any of us really admit.”
Downey visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about events of the past several months, next steps and separating rhetoric from reality.
“It was hard enough … But then when suddenly it feels like your community doesn't believe in you or doesn't believe in what you do or thinks that you're actively trying to harm children, that's really, really disheartening.”Erin Downey
Read the transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. I'm George Prentice. Good morning. Libraries. School libraries. Those words…they conjure all things good from our own experiences as kids or students. But somehow, we find ourselves in 2023 to find the words school libraries in the center of heated discussion, in particular at state legislatures and especially at the Idaho legislature. So, we're going to spend some time this morning with someone who supports libraries for a living, in particular across the Boise School district. Let's say good morning to Erin Downey. Erin, good morning.
ERIN DOWNEY: Good morning, George.
PRENTICE: I see in your official communication it says district consulting librarian. But don't honestly, honestly don't know what that means. How do you spend your days?
DOWNEY: Well, what I do is support all of our school-based librarians. So, I have an office at Boise School District Central Office. But what I spend most of my time doing is creating professional development, helping with some of our purchasing and adding books to our collections, bringing in speakers, connecting my folks with the resources that they need, and helping teachers to best use their library and their librarian.
PRENTICE: Well, to be sure, the last several months, I'm guessing, have been difficult for librarians to weather, considering the rhetoric about what is or isn't true about libraries. What's your sense about how librarians are doing in this climate?
DOWNEY: Oh goodness. If you know a librarian, you should hug them. We are really struggling right now. It was hard enough showing up for work every day and having to explain what it is that a library does and what you do and that you're more than just a room full of books. But no, eBooks are not making all of your books go away. That's tiring enough. But then when suddenly it feels like your community doesn't believe in you or doesn't believe in what you do or thinks that you're actively trying to harm children, that's really, really disheartening. It's been an exhausting year for a lot of us. I didn't realize how much until I was trying to lead a meeting last week and had to stop. I could not stop crying in the middle of this meeting. It's been weighing on us all, I think a lot more than any of us really admit. We hold ourselves together. We know that we're working for students and we're working for teachers and we're working for schools in our communities. And getting that feedback of the work that we're doing might actually be deliberately harming people is just it's tiring and exhausting.
PRENTICE: Well, okay, let's take this opportunity then. Let's set the record straight about what is or is not in school libraries.
DOWNEY: Great.
PRENTICE: What's the truth?
DOWNEY: So, we exist in the school community in order to further what's going on in the classroom and really to serve the school as a community. We guide students in selecting books that are right for them and for their interests. We maintain a collection that exists just to reinforce and to add to the classroom curriculum. We are educated in the things that we choose for our shelves. We're not out to make a point or political stance or to make people think a certain way. We're here to provide all sorts of age-appropriate resources, viewpoints, opinions and stories so that students and children can find the ones that they need.
PRENTICE: Can I assume that there are procedures or best practices as far as guidance, depending on age or grade?
DOWNEY: Absolutely. Yes. At the Boise School District, we have very robust policies that dictate what kinds of purchases that we make and then how we reevaluate those. So we're constantly reevaluating our collections and deselecting or removing items that are dated or no longer factually correct or no longer of appeal to our communities. So the policies and procedures that we have in place have served us very, very well throughout our history. I've been in this position for 14 years now, and we've had one formal challenge in that entire time. So that says to me that our collection development policies and the things that we're putting into our school libraries are the correct and appropriate materials.
PRENTICE: But is it your sense that this climate might find more testing of those waters? And therefore, I'm going to guess that you also have policy on what to do about a book that is challenged?
DOWNEY: Oh, absolutely. Our favorite way to respond to parent concerns is by trying to address them at the school level. We absolutely support learning by providing free choice materials. And so, what we try to do is help students make the choices about their own reading that their parents approve of. If that is an issue. So when a parent is unhappy with something in our school library, we really try to work with that parent to help them guide their own children in making the choices that they feel are appropriate for their family. Once we start making decisions that affect other people, that's when we really have to rely on policy. We've got a really great challenge and reconsideration policy in the district. But first, before we even go through that and we call our committees and we, you know, do the things that are part of that process, we're able to solve most of these problems by just having a conversation between the librarian and the parent, letting them know that our library catalog is completely available online, and that way they can model the choosing behavior with their child that they would like them to have in the library.
PRENTICE: Do you think it is a bit more challenging to have more diverse content in libraries right now?
DOWNEY: It's starting to feel like it with some pushback to diverse stories and diverse representation, and that's disheartening. We really one of our goals is to represent the full spectrum of our community members in our libraries. We know, particularly for kiddos from marginalized backgrounds, that being able to see other people who come from that family structure, who come from that ethnic background or that particular religious background or have shared those experiences with them, we know that that's incredibly important and validating as an experience for young children. So, wherever we can provide those, it's absolutely critical.
PRENTICE: When I was a kid, it was not uncommon for me and my friends to say, “I want to be a librarian when I grow up.” And I know it had everything to do with the librarians in my life, whether the kiddos that you speak of, you know, elementary level or whether it's high schoolers, what can you say to the next generation of librarians and how indeed, this is a great, great job.
DOWNEY: Our school librarians are absolutely critical for making our students feel seen and heard and valued. I understand that we're doing wonderful things in educating students in our school district. We are graduating children that are really ready to go out and take on the world and be great citizens and can contribute to their communities. I believe that the school librarian is actually as critical to that process. We provide a safe meeting space. We give students access to ideas that maybe they haven't encountered in the classrooms or for ideas that they have encountered. We can give them more and more information and really let them choose to explore information and explore ways of being that they might not have considered before. And I think we… it is nice to hear about the impression that your librarians left on you, George. I think that's a really lovely thing. And I'm sure you have librarian friends who would love to hear you say that.
PRENTICE: Erin Downey is a district consulting librarian with the instructional support team at the Boise School District. Erin, to you and your colleagues across the district, thank you for what you do and thanks for giving us some time this morning.
DOWNEY: Thanks so much, George.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
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