School Libraries

With budgets mostly flat, book challenges and rising costs pose hurdles for school librarians.

The average book prices are produced annually by SLJ in partnership with Follett and Baker & Taylor.

Walnut Grove Elementary School librarian Holly Whitt and third grade classroom teacher Lori Alexander created their own professional development program to meet their students needs. The pair financed the program through a grant from Fund for Teachers.

The grant program provides funding to revitalize existing school libraries and create a sustainable model for the library to become an essential resource for the school.

Librarians cite flexibility, close attention, and other reasons for working with smaller bookstores. 

Parents in Pickens County, SC, along with the NAACP, are suing the district and charging that the removal of Stamped is a violation of their children's First Amendment rights; a Nebraska high school librarian resigns in protest over a new book policy; book banners threaten publishers and public library funding; and more.

Winning school libraries, representing 24 states, each received $700 to purchase Mathical Book Prize-winning titles in the fourth year of the grant program.

The Missouri House approves state budget that strips public libraries of funding, students protest in Oregon, a 100-year-old woman speaks out against censorship in Florida, a Utah parent challenges the Bible, and more in this week's censorship news.

Presenting the 2022 average book prices, produced annually by SLJ in partnership with Follett and Baker & Taylor.