SNL NEWSLETTER
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SNL consistently advocates on behalf of school libraries to the Elected Trustees, Board of Managers, elected officials, administration, library staff, and you, their community of stakeholders. Published monthly during the school year. |
Welcome back! School has started and the HISD Takeover continues to wreak havoc. There are fewer and fewer libraries, leaving way too many HISD students without access to a wide selection of pleasure reading to cement their literacy skills and love of learning. CVPE continues to lead all kinds of pushback against the state takeover, and every one of us can help them. Speak at a Board meeting. Block walk for candidates. GET OUT THE VOTE in any way you can. The fastest way to end the takeover is to vote for change in Texas leadership. Themes today:
 SNL reports that 161 HISD campuses had no library services as of May 2026. We have been using 274 as the total number of schools in the district, but 12 have closed, leaving 262 in fall 2026. We do not know what count the district is using, with all the charters of various types. We also do not know yet for this new school year how many schools have designated library staff of any kind. As 2025-26 ended, we counted 22 certified staff, leaving 91 with some indication from campus office staff that a person is named as assigned to the library. However, that assignment does not necessarily mean they are doing library functions. It’s a sad state of affairs.  FOHL is already working to support the remaining HISD libraries. They are working with HASL (Houston Association of School Librarians) to plan the best supports for HISD library staff this 26-27 school year. Follow https://www.friendsofhisdlibraries.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/HISDFriends/  CVPE Candidate Endorsements (August 11, 2026) Clearly, the ballot is much longer, but these are the strategically selected candidates endorsed by CVPE because each of them supports the end of the HISD takeover and takeovers more broadly. I attended this meeting and membership vote because it is another way to support the voting process.
Please be active in this election! Borrowing from Melissa McDonough’s newsletter (TX CD38, Aug 17, 2027, p.2): “Voting isn’t just about the high profile top of the ticket.” You'll have local judges, county commissioners, and smaller state-wide races like the new 15th Court of Appeals. “Every single one of these choices directly impacts your local infrastructure, taxation, public safety and daily life. Leaving half of your ballot blank hands your voice over to someone else.” … “Every line [on every ballot] matters.” Do your homework. Use your voting voice.  CVPE blog: A Higher Rating Means Little if Students are Learning Less (Aug 14, 2026) This can help you to be better informed. A longtime principal friend said if you do something that helps kids and helps the school ratings, do that thing. But if it helps the ratings and harms kids, do not do that thing. But HISD keeps doing that thing that is not best for students. Read the whole blog. And now, back to LIBRARIES! We’ll start with censorship and understanding the First Amendment.  James and the Giant Ban (ACLU, Know Your Rights University) This video series is perfect to explain the First Amendment to middle grade students – and even adults. James and the Giant Ban is 6 minutes focused specifically on book bans, but the series offers a broad introduction in short, cleverly presented clips. Share these with your kids and neighbors! Book bans and censorship are in the news. Students - and their adults - need to understand what it means.  Texas is right. Everyone should read ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Jonathan Zimmerman. (Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2026; this should be a gift link) True story: The state that has led the nation in book bans is requiring all high school students to read the most famous literary attack on book banning. It’s stranger than fiction. I’m talking about Texas, where state laws barring “indecent or profane content” and diversity, equity and inclusion programming have led to the purging of over 1,700 books from public schools. But Texas has also promulgated a list of texts that every student has to read, including Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” Moving on, why do LIBRARIES MATTER? Access to a wide variety of resources builds literacy skills, fluency and curiosity!  Finding the Right Book is Not Enough (Madison’s Library, April 27, 2026) …I don’t believe finding the right book is the only key. It’s not enough and it’s not the magic bullet we hope it is. So, I’ve started to adjust my saying. Because this saying silences the perspective of all those out there that really struggle to read. That struggle to keep the lines still on the page, to decode sounds, to use word recognition to turn letters into pictures inside their heads. Because, yes, the right book helps, but if you can’t read or read well, the perfect book is still unreadable. … …to help take some of that pressure off, to start to make visible and recognize those struggles, … I also suggest they may not have found the right format (ebooks, audiobooks, books with coloured pages and dyslexia font, graphic novels, poetry), and they may face challenges that make reading hard and might need extra help, or they may need to work through some of the things they’ve been told that are not true (like they are not a good reader, or that they shouldn’t read audiobooks).  NOTE: I [DH] posted this KQ piece to the SNL FB page (July 1, 2026) with this bit of explanation: “Why Student Choice Matters in School Libraries” may be the subtitle of the [next] post, but it is the bit that held my attention as we Texans realize how little choice students will have about their reading in school now that we will be held to a statewide curriculum. Every student has the capacity to become a reader when they are given access, choice, and permission to find what speaks to them. If only the TX SBOE understood that. Or the state legislature that could (in a more perfect world) mandate school librarians for every campus! Please read up on the Bluebonnet curriculum and the new mandated required reading list.  You Don’t Have to Love Every Book: Why Student Choice Matters in School Libraries by Nicole Hogan. (AASL KQ, June 4, 2026) Reading is not only about decoding words on a page. It is about engagement, identity, confidence, and connection. When students have ownership over what they read, they are more likely to feel invested in the experience. Student choice helps students:
The reality is, there is not one perfect book for every student. But there is a book, format, topic, character, series, or story that can help each student feel like reading might be for them after all.  The Curious Thing About Doubt: How to Switch On a Love of Learning by Andy J. Pizza (AASL KQ, June 15, 2026) HISD kids NEED curiosity to be successful learners and students. This “not knowing” is what unlocked my [author Andy Pizza] curiosity when I read that pop-quantum physics article that my friend gave me. It wasn’t discovering the wild stuff we knew, it was being introduced to the paradoxical nature of knowledge itself—and how “the more we know, the more we realize we don’t know.” … According to research, curiosity may not be what we thought it was. It’s not just a basic human drive for knowledge that we can assume is pre-installed and active in every human being big and small. It’s something that needs to be switched on. So what switches curiosity on? Doubt. Doubt arises when we realize we don’t know as much as we think we do. And we must mention AI – it is everywhere. And each of these links underlines the need for every K-12 student to have a fully stocked school library and a certified school librarian to teach them how to navigate research with the right questions.  The Conversation Shapes the Answer by Elissa Malespina. (The AI School Librarians Newsletter, July 7, 2026) Part 1 of 6 in the series The AI Conversation Check. Students [and their adults] aren’t simply using artificial intelligence to find information anymore. They’re participating in conversations that help shape the information AI gives back to them. When students search a library catalog, read a book, explore a database, or evaluate a website, the information already exists. Their job is to determine whether it is accurate, credible, relevant, and complete. The questions they ask help them discover information, but they don’t change the source itself. Generative AI works differently. Every prompt, every follow-up question, every clarification, and every assumption becomes part of an ongoing conversation. That conversation influences the response students receive. The answer isn’t simply retrieved. It’s generated within the context of the interaction. In other words, students aren’t just consuming information. They’re helping shape it. Ms. Malespina offers this handy framework to help us all. You can download it from the post. The framework isn’t designed to tell students whether they should trust or distrust AI. Instead, it encourages them to pause before accepting the first answer they receive and reflect on the conversation that shaped it.  "The internet cannot report. It can only repeat. And as AI (or rather “AI”) enters the picture, it will not even repeat what people once reported – it will invent what people want to hear.” Thank you, Timothy Snyder. (On Freedom, p. 186. Crown, 2024)  When the White House Rewrites Jan 6: Why librarians can no longer treat official timelines as historical fact by Elissa Malespina. (AI School Librarian, Jan 8, 2026 revisited on Aug 10, 2026) “How do we teach students to evaluate information when even official sources require verification? Information literacy is no longer just about finding reliable sources. It is about understanding authority, recognizing framing, comparing evidence, and teaching students that trust should be earned through verification, not assumed because of where information is published.”  Summer’s over – well, except the heat. This issue offers six themes to get you back to school:
*SNL Report & Friends of HISD Libraries *Getting ready to vote in November *The Impacts of the HISD Takeover *Censorship *Why school libraries matter *Impacts of AI on all of us, especially K-12 students
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 The Mission of FOHL is to advocate for HISD libraries as essential centers of student learning. Students Need Libraries in HISD (SNL) is a separate group that works to keep our members informed about HISD libraries, about support they receive from FOHL, and about issues that affect school libraries more broadly. The group that spoke at the Board meeting were advocating for stronger libraries for all HISD students by recognizing the excellence that a few HISD students experience in their campus libraries.  Five speakers attended the May 14 meeting of the appointed Board. We spoke to honor two HISD librarians who won statewide awards, and we spoke to remind the BOM and the community about why school libraries matter, why every HISD student should have access to the excellence that could win state awards in other years.  Sarah Miller spoke on Zoom. I’m a parent at a school with a library staffed by an educator. Our PTO just approved a significant investment in our library to update the collection. PTOs are important partners in our schools. Despite the fact that the district has deprioritized libraries, our school has made this a focus. We have had volunteers throughout the year helping in the space because we want our children to become lifelong learners, not just short term testers. We want them to have choice in their learning. HISD just announced an initiative where every child will be reading at grade level by 2nd grade. In their announcement, the district said, “Strong reading skills open the door to success in every subject and in life.” If the district truly believes this, then why are you shuttering libraries?  Cheryl Hensley introduced Brooke Corso. I’m here today to recognize Brooke Corso as this year’s Texas Librarian of the Year, an honor bestowed by the Texas Library Association, representing approximately 5,000 members across all types of libraries. For the past eight years, Brooke has served as the librarian at Pin Oak Middle School. The library is known as “The Living Library” because of its continual balance of reflection and innovation. Her students are passionate, expressive, and eager to be heard — and the library is a place where every voice matters. At Pin Oak Library, every type of reader is welcomed, and every kind of book has a place. With its genrefied “Barnes & Noble style,” the library inspires creativity, curiosity, collaboration, and discovery. All HISD schools deserve a librarian like Ms. Corso and a library like Pin Oak’s. Please join me in congratulating the Texas “Librarian of the Year,” Brooke Corso of Pin Oak Middle School. NOTE: Ric Campo applauded. It can happen.  Brooke Corso spoke about her library. I’m very honored to receive the award of Librarian of the Year for 2026 from the Texas Library Association and to represent Pin Oak and HISD on state and national stage. The diversity of our wonderful community and our school district is one of our greatest strengths. And the POMS (Pin Oak Middle School) Library is called a Living Library as it’s structure and composition reflect the voices, cultures, curricular needs and interests of its students. I am so excited for next year and the fresh ideas that will engage my students so that everyone, regardless of background or fluency level, is an active part of a dynamic library program. I welcome you to visit our research-based, student-centered, award-winning library anytime. Thank you.  Suzanne Lyons In addition to Brooke Corso, Texas Library Association’s Librarian of the Year, I am also pleased to recognize librarian Jennifer Moore from Travis Elementary who won the Shirley Igo award. This award honors outstanding collaboration between the PTO and school library, highlighting the impact of parent support. The Friends of HISD Libraries awarded conference scholarships to 11 HISD Library staff. Many, if not all of these staff would never have had the opportunity to attend, as HISD places little emphasis on fostering professional growth. Improving library programs relies on using the latest trends, including responsible use of AI as well as many other technology innovations. This turns a good library into a great one. With less than 30 certified librarians [for 270 schools], few students experience a “good” library and the majority do not even experience an open library. Thank goodness for librarians like Jennifer and Brooke. Please join me in recognizing and congratulating Jennifer Moore on her achievement. Jennifer Moore, Travis Elementary, was present but did not speak. The Board did applaud our honorees. We can only hope they will someday change their actions towards libraries.  Dorcas Hand referred to this infographic which she supplied to the Board on paper: Students Reach Greater Heights with School Librarians Thanks to ongoing mismanagement of HISD funds since the takeover and before, libraries are seen as an expense without adequate return on the investment. Libraries are NOT a distraction. They are an expander of minds, a catalyst to broad learning and further curiosity, and a strong contributor to excellent teaching of the curriculum. Oh, wait. The NES curriculum does not encourage curiosity – only regurgitation on multiple choice tests. Without the libraries you have dismantled at great taxpayer expense, Houston will have a generation of students not as well prepared for their future as they should be. Test scores are only the tiniest glimmer of a student’s potential success.  FOHL Celebration On May 19, FOHL hosted HISD library staff to celebrate their work this year. Yes, we honored the two award winners again - but we also invited and welcomed all library staff from HISD schools. And many came. We appreciated the Dandelion Cafe (5405 Bellaire Blvd) for welcoming us - if you need breakfast or lunch in that area, stop in. The Houston Assn of School Librarians (HASL), the official organization for HISD library staff, attended and their incoming leadership offered thoughts on what’s in store for the next year. We had books to give away, and door prizes for all plus light bites after a busy workday. Friends has hosted this May event for three years now. The organization thinks it important to honor our hard working library staff.  Suzanne Lyons offers a few more thoughts: Recently, this FB post from a city council meeting (The Fussy Librarian, May 21) referencing public library funding in a town not identified: "Bad libraries build collections. Good libraries build services. Great libraries build communities.” That quote from a recent city council meeting regarding proposed budget cuts stuck with me. Libraries are not just shelves of books. They are safe spaces, gathering places, learning centers, internet access points, job resources, children’s programs, support systems, and one of the few places that truly welcomes everyone. Proposed budget cuts don’t just reduce hours or programs — they impact the heart of a community. Today and every day, we support libraries because strong libraries help build strong communities. “ Here at SNL, we know that ALL libraries circulate books and build collections as they have funds and space. Good libraries do that AND build programs that are interesting and accessible to students. Great libraries do all of this and build communities. Not funding school libraries either through personnel or materials budget doesn’t just impact a handful of students… It impacts the heart of the community by denying those students independent access to books that satisfy their curiosity about the world and sooth their souls. We would like to know what YOU think about HISD libraries. Please take a few minutes (2-3) to complete this survey to help us keep working for you. Recent Articles of Note School library books find new life through redistribution (Smartbrief.com, 18 May 2026) “Hundreds of library books from several closed Salt Lake City schools are being redistributed to students as part of an effort to keep children reading over the summer and improve literacy rates.” As HISD looks to close 12 campuses over the summer, campuses that have not had active libraries in some time thanks to the NES focus on drill and kill methods over broad access to literature, this article from the Salt Lake City (UT) School District illustrates a very different attitude about access to books. Some of the HISD campuses with closed libraries still have some books on the former library’s shelves, hidden under dust. Books from libraries on campuses where the library became a TEAM Center may have few books left, and the district has not tracked at all what happened to the investment in literacy made by previous HISD leadership. Young readers need access to books! “Why Should I Care About Book Bans?” By Bonnie Lewis and Laura H. Darolia (Social Education (Nat’l Council for Social Studies), 86:6, 2022) As our students head to summer – and hopefully some summer reading – parents and librarians may want to consider asking them to think about books in different ways. Why are they reading the books they are choosing? Do some books reflect who they are now, or who they hope to be? Do some books let them experience places and cultures they cannot visit directly? Do they teach us new things, or help us think in new ways about things we already knew? Do they entertain us? These questions apply to ANY book students consider. Why do they choose NOT to read a specific book? It’s fine. None of us reads every book available, and we have individual reasons why. That’s the point. This article is, yes, a lesson plan. But we librarians and parents can adapt the ideas to broader applications. Our students might want to think about why some books are being challenged and banned. Who is challenging these titles? If any student reader wants to push back against a ban – or banning as a practice - how might they do that? In Houston ISD, specific titles have not often been attacked because there are not enough libraries offering access to broad collections. Our neighboring districts are not so lucky. What are youth in those districts doing and thinking about limits being placed on their reading? Books are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. (Rudine Sims Bishop, 1990) They let us see into other worlds, to see our own world through other eyes, and sometimes we can experience another world in the words of a skilled author. Book challenges limit our students’ access to understanding the world they will lead. Let’s help them learn how to lead well with a comprehensive understanding of the world now and in the past, an understanding grounded in access to many stories and points of view. Help them think critically about the books they choose to read this summer and looking ahead.  SPEAK OUT! An Excellent Example of Public Library Leadership Advocating for School Libraries (Book Riot, 26 May 2026) This is a great blog to follow, and this post is important. Every reader of this SNL newsletter should be worrying about both federal bills HR7661 and HR 2616. If passed into law, these will directly impact school libraries first but all libraries before long. Our students need access to diverse ideas as they grow into active citizens of our democracy. Teton Public Library (WY) is wise to educate their community - and ours.
 Forward into SUMMER!
Thanks for sticking with us all year. This newsletter will be back in the fall. Feel free to share this issue, and look at past issues which are all available on our website. Just scroll down. SNL will be looking at the survey results throughout the summer as we plan next steps for 2026-27. Please respond to it. Insights from the responses will be published in the fall. Now, relax - but keep in touch. We need your voices all year round.
Summer may be almost here - the heat is already beginning. But first, let's celebrate the work of libraries in HISD. There may not be very many these days, but the few there are work very hard to support their students and school curricula. Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) Grants Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) funded 11 HISD library staff to attend the full Texas Library Assn conference in early March. If not for this grant opportunity many, if not all, of these recipients would not have been able to attend this conference which was held this year right here in Houston. Professional development is the cornerstone for improving practice. There are limited opportunities HISD offers library staff to continue to grow in their roles. FOHL was delighted to provide funding for this event. We asked the recipients to tell us what they learned and these are some of their comments. In the same way that every library and campus are different, every library staff person has a different focus when looking for new and better ways to engage their students. Every one of their students is different as well, which is why the library experience matters so much! If only every HISD student across all 274 schools had access to these library programs as they exert curiosity about our world.  FOHL Grantees and Board members GRANTEE COMMENTS about their TLA Experience Elementary
Middle School
High School
 AI is Everywhere Three of our grantees focused on AI as it impacts schools and libraries, including the TLA Librarian of the Year Brooke Corso of Pin Oak MS. I have also been collecting articles about AI in schools that may be of interest to readers of this newsletter. Here are three different perspectives on AI as it impacts our schools and students, plus example images of how HISD is using AI to the detriment of our kids. FYI, "AI" is not even intelligent. It is a conglomeration of all the data that has been given to it, then searched by various algorithms. It's answers are somewhat random and remain unreliable.  How Accurate Are Google's A.I. Overviews? "The company's A.I.-generated answers look authoritative, but they draw on an array of sources from trustworthy sites to Facebook posts." You’ve all noticed the omnipresent AI Overviews that now appear at the top of every Google search. These are BUYER BEWARE temptations. This NYT article tells readers that Google AI Overviews are correct over 9 of 10 times - which also means they are wrong tens of millions of times every hour. They link to websites that don’t really say what the Overview indicates, or otherwise adjust the finding to make sense in their AI perspective on reality. All of us who use Google are advised to double-check our finding; this advice is increasingly hard to follow. Read the article for more detail.  The screen she is reading says, " Bananas can help remove splinters." It also includes a word that does not exist. The AI School Librarian substack offers “When Search Stops Teaching,” which suggests that “The issue is not just that AI gets things wrong. It is that it changes how people decide what is true.” The article goes on to discuss how schools and libraries need to teach students new ways to vet the information they get through Google or any other search tool. They cannot just accept that AI Overview that shows at the top of the page - and we all know how much we want to take the easy path. “When the first answer becomes the only answer, access is not equal. This is not just a literacy issue. It is an access issue.” Students need to learn not to accept pre-processed answers. They need to analyze the sources so that they are not getting AI hallucinations - that’s a new technical term for the info AI sometimes invents. They need school librarians to help them learn these skills. Read the article.  Why Librarians Matter in Curating Collections AI and Libraries: Why Librarians May Become Arbiters of Reality (20 April 2026) Lastly, “Librarians are not working in the realm of “what if” when it comes to AI; they’re managing the real-world effects right now.“ While yes, AI can help librarians accomplish some aspects of their jobs better, AI is the death of peer review for scholarly articles and even for books for K-12. The two articles above mention how AI reworks content to make an answer that may not be correct. How can that tool correctly determine if scientific research has been managed ethically or if a book is well-written literature for children? Human voices need to be involved. Librarians are becoming “arbiters of reality” even as some school districts in Texas are using AI to find book titles to remove. Librarians matter! And HISD students do not have them in too many schools. IMAGE SOURCE: https://the-digital-librarian.com/2023/01/23/artificial-intelligence-in-the-library/ Returning the AI lens to HISD, remember that many of the lessons required in NES schools are designed by AI. Here are two images from HISD lessons in recent months. I’ve put them in full size so you can see the hash they make of truth and reality.  The first illustration is intended to show the Harlem Renaissance. Rather than choose an actual piece of art from the era, HISD chose to let AI provide a mash up that includes Picasso-esque faces and bodies wearing different clothes at the same time. What other bizarre bits can you see??? The next one is a biology illustration of organs in the human body. Please note the confusion where the LUNGS should be, and the caption “Mungs”. I have no idea what mungs are either. And there is a vertebra labeled on the top slice that cannot be right! These are excerpted from actual papers students brought home from HISD schools.  AI, like every tool in history, can be used for good and for ill.
It is our job as librarians, parents, elected officials and even K-12 students to be ever vigilant that we are using it for good and not losing our own skills of discrimination and truth-seeking. This newsletter uses old-school methods to protest the Takeover. Well, email is pretty old school after 30 years. But we also work to keep you up to speed on new tech as it impacts libraries and K-12 education. Please continue to speak out about the need for strong school libraries in all HISD schools – even in a budget crisis. The crisis of undereducated students will be worse when our city cannot run properly.
SNL focuses locally, because we live here in Houston and continue to obsess about the lack of libraries in most HISD schools. But we also pay attention to the broader landscape of education and library access, always in search of new ideas to help us have more impact here at home. Today, I offer you a range from local news to why reading aloud matters (a favorite topic for us) to the need for international awareness in our book choices at all ages. And I can’t leave out Civics Education or censorship either. Our collaboration across Houston is so important as we continue to work in behalf of all HISD students. Easter, Passover and other spring holidays offer us a new beginning on these uber-important fronts. The challenges are real and ongoing. We hope these resources will help you speak wisely and often.  Texas Library Association Conference in Houston As we mentioned in February, Friends of HISD Libraries (FOHL) has provided grants to 11 HISD library staff to attend on March 29-30-31. SNL and some FOHL leaders will be presenting at the conference. Grantees will be asked to offer reflections on new ideas they bring back from this exciting local opportunity which is not in Houston every year. Stay tuned for further info as we hear those reflections.  Allie Conejo of Harlingen ISD named SLJ School Librarian of the Year. (School Library Journal) Why can’t Houston students enjoy this level of library access? Allie is the third winner from Texas. Too many Houston students miss out on this professional staffing that enables campus library programs to function at superior levels. With such intense focus on decoding skills, HISD students are not allowed to access personal book selections to build fluency of literacy skills and insights. "[Allie] uses her personal experience as a model, guiding a school community with a majority Hispanic population, many of whom are seeking to be first-generation college students, providing the foundation for their research and technology in future science careers, and offering a welcoming space for a break and a little fun. She instructs students and staff on the ethical use of AI to support—not replace—tasks, and trains district library staff to meet legislative collection restrictions while curating a collection that still gives their students the stories they need to reflect their lives and open their worlds to others. She is an avid collaborator whose lessons and programming change each year to meet the needs of her students, the curriculum, and the times."  “...children’s listening comprehension exceeds their reading comprehension through age 13, on average.” Wexler, Natalie. “How Can You Tell If a Curriculum Truly Builds Knowledge?” (Mind the Gap blog, 22 Mar 2026) I love this blog. Wexler constantly offers me insights into current trends in K-12 pedagogy. The specific point I want to discuss today is in my title. Wexler states, “But when children are still learning to decode—and really, until they become proficient readers—it’s far more efficient to build knowledge of a new topic by having teachers read aloud from texts that are more complex than those students can read on their own.” (emphasis mine) In her footnote, she cites “Speaking and Listening in Content Area Learning” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (Reading Rockets). The authors remind us that “Decades of research, not to mention personal experiences, confirm that listening comprehension outpaces reading comprehension from early childhood through at least middle school.” I suggest that readers of this newsletter add this rallying cry to our collective calls to restore libraries as core supports of improved literacy skills across HISD. Currently, Miles’ NES curriculum disallows reading aloud at any age, regardless of demonstrated benefits. IMAGE SOURCE: literacyhive.org/a-read-aloud-recipe/  Defaultism in Picture Books Boukarim, Leila. (KQ blog, 24 Feb 2026) As we face a widening war in the Middle East, remembering to offer children AND THEIR ADULTS a wide array of stories that reflect a wide world of cultures and experiences. Boukarim offers lovely insights: “I never think of myself reading an international book for children; I am simply reading a story, one that can teach me something I didn’t know, that can expand my world view, that can offer me a window into another world, regardless of whom the story is about or where it’s taking place.” “Children, as well as their grown-ups, absolutely need to read books that offer them stories they didn’t know, about people they didn’t know. Because if we ever hope to live in a world that is more just and compassionate, where everyone is treated with the respect and dignity they deserve, this, I feel, is the only way to make that happen.” Here is one example booklist of Immigration Stories: Books for Young Children.  Civic Education In other work I’m doing to support libraries beyond HISD, I find I need to raise awareness of the need for civic education. Even adults who were exposed to strong Civics courses in HS are now many years later in their lives and foggy on some details. Libraries have the opportunity to play a role - but so do all citizens who care. That's us. You and I. Every day. I’d like to offer a couple of nonpartisan resources we can all refer to: + Civics for Life (Sandra Day O’Connor Inst.) + https://www.cybercivics.com/ Digital Civics Curriculum 4-12 We also need to remind ourselves and our communities about the threat of misinformation and “truthiness” to everyone’s understanding of current events.  What the Library Is For and Why “Just Buy the Book” Gets It Exactly Backwards (22 Jan 2026) The national Freedom to Read Project offered this post which reminds us how important libraries are, and why they should be easy to access by any and every one, including on EVERY K-12 campus. FTRF also offers this Turning the Page Guide. In the midst of HISD turmoil, we likely want to remember the broader efforts across Texas and more broadly to limit the topics and genres of literature and factual content available in libraries. The national Freedom to Read Project offers this Guide to resisting censorship efforts locally and statewide.  Here in Texas, we also have the Texas Freedom to Read Project which "seeks to connect, support & mobilize parent led groups fighting to protect students' right to read throughout the state.  Talking to Your Friends About Book Censorship: Why It Matters and How to Do It FTRP also offers this helpful list of tips. Every one of us needs to be reminding our neighbors who haven’t been paying attention how much the loss of books and other content from libraries matters to how our country moves forward. And we note that Monday, April 20 (2026) is National Right to Read Day. It’s a very good day to celebrate school libraries as well as HPL and HCPL. Closed school libraries are blatant examples of book banning by a different name.  Remember to keep supporting CVPE. Attend HISD Board meetings and keep your neighbors informed. CVPE remains a leader across the state as other districts face state takeovers. 
 Friends of HISD Libraries Funded 11 Grants for TLA Attendance The Texas Library Association Annual Conference is in Houston this year, March 29-30-31. This conference is famous across the US for being big, fun and power-packed with information for all kinds of librarians. FOHL has a mission to support excellence in HISD Libraries and librarians. What better opportunity than this conference here in Houston. The grantees are expected to share with other HISD Library staff things they learn, so that all our existing libraries can benefit.  Write Your Legislators! OFTEN Every Texan lives in a school district. Every Texan is a taxpayer. And everyone has a stake in strong public school libraries - regardless of whether you are a parent, a school librarian, or work in another type of library. That's why we're asking all of you to take a few minutes to contact their local school board members and encourage them to keep school libraries in mind as they discuss budgets, legislative and planning priorities. This is the opening of instructions for sending a template letter you can personalize and send to your appointed HISD Board of Managers as well as our ELECTED school board. You can copy City Council and the Mayor as well, if that is your style. HISD is in a mess, yes. But we who care about school libraries need to treat the BOM et al as if they can hear reality. We need to keep reminding them why school libraries matter when how they could improve literacy across HISD. We have not chosen an easy path, but it’s truth will win out eventually. We cannot give up. BOM addresses; Elected School Board addresses  When School Stops Feeling Safe: Librarians Supporting Immigrant Students in Real Time [title is live linked] What Minnesota librarians are doing right now, and what every school can put in place this week. (The AI School Librarian, 23 Jan 2026 – this newsletter helps school librarians not get lost in the AI wormhole.) This comes from Stand with Minnesota and offers 6 specific ways to support students in the face of ICE threats. Rumor control. Privacy. Calm, respectful responses to reasonable questions from kids.  AI Hallucinations Few of us reading this newsletter spend our days looking at bibliographies in support of graduate researchers. But this article is eye-opening and useful in broader understanding of how the AI which is daily in all of our faces actually affects us. “ChatGPT doesn’t lie, exactly. It patterns matches. When you ask for a “cited article about remote work productivity,” it knows what citations look like. Author name, year, compelling title, respectable journal. It assembles these patterns into something that feels right. Like a dream where everything makes sense until you wake up.” How to Spot AI Hallucinations Like a Reference Librarian IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.wsj.com/tech/hallucination-when-chatbots-and-people-see-what-isnt-there-91c6c88b  Strength in Numbers
January and February have been whirlwinds. We are all struggling to keep up with the pace of developments in HISD and beyond. CVPE would love your voice at school board meetings. This week we learned of school closures not on the BOM agenda. :( The Primary Election opens in a few days. We will stand together for strength. And keep raising our voices in behalf of school libraries for all HISD students. Be sure to tell the candidates to remember school libraries. Every candidate remains a community leader even if they don't prevail in the election; they remain a potential voice for our cause. Keep them engaged in our work. WRITE YOUR LEGISLATORS! About education and libraries - and anything else that concerns you. We elected them. They WORK FOR US! JANUARY 2026Welcome, SNL members. (Join our mailing list here.) Share with your friends so they can join as well. We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go. Reach out with questions/suggestions: [email protected]  Newly Elected Board Members Sworn In On January 8, 2026, our new elected school Board members were sworn in. HISD held the event in the Overflow Room for the Board meetings, in indication of the status they give this important group of representatives of the people. Maria Benzon (D5), Felicity Pereyra (D1), Mike McDonough (D6), Myrna Guidry (D9) and Bridget Wade(D7) now have an official role to speak for us about campus libraries and all the other details of the District which are currently being so abused. Please reach out to these Elected Board members to voice your thoughts. Pat Allen (D4)and Placido Gomez (D8) are continuing Electeds who attended the swearing in. Other continuing members are Dani Hernandez (D3) and Savant Moore (D2).  “Mike Miles says the 'science of reading' justifies limiting books in HISD. Experts say no.” Lisa Falkenberg wrote in our Houston Chronicle on Nov 21, 2025 about why Miles is wrong to limit HISD students’ access to books in class and from campus libraries. "But I've come to believe that Miles is misreading the science — and that his takeover experiment in Houston risks a whole new mistake: pushing aside the very books and stories that help kids like Zoe fall in love with reading in the first place."  “…reading volume is one of the most powerful predictors of achievement.” This article by Danielle Dennis of the University of Rhode Island, “Access denied: How banning books reduces reading volume and achievement” asks “Is book banning contributing to declining literacy rates?” She says yes. “To help children succeed at reading, they need opportunities to read at high volumes.”  Don't Forget to Elaborate According to Natalie Wexler in her Jan. 4 Mind the Gap blog, “explicit instruction and retrieval practice are fundamental components of learning, but students need more than that to acquire deep knowledge.” Elaboration requires readers to apply new understandings in their own context. "Deep learning is complex—far more complex than retrieval practice—and there’s no simple universal formula. ...Elaboration simply means adding something to information you’ve absorbed. That could consist of making a connection between different texts or between a text and a student’s pre-existing knowledge or opinions. It could be answering questions like how, why, or what’s an example. (Answering those kinds of questions is sometimes called “elaborative interrogation.”)"  Sanctuary Stories In this season of ICE mayhem, immigrant children are likely experiencing much fear, especially if close family or friends have been detained or deported. I’m Your Neighbor Books is offering Sanctuary Stories & Family Safety which sends age appropriate books to families via an ally’s address. No identifying info about the family is collected.
 Our StoryBridge Listens: Democracy & the Arts Listen to a 5 minute audio about why the First Amendment matters to us all. Dorcas Hand was asked to record this clip for Our StoryBridge Listens: “Choosing Your Own Book is a First Amendment Right.” Scroll down the page – maybe listen to other clips while you are there!  The Strainer Lesson - or Why Reading Matters “Teacher, I’ve read so many books… but I’ve forgotten most of them. So what’s the point of reading?” That was the question of a curious student. The teacher didn’t answer. He just looked at him in silence. A few days later, they were sitting by a river. Out of nowhere, the old man said: “I’m thirsty. Bring me some water… but use that old strainer lying there on the ground.” The student looked confused. It was a ridiculous request. How could anyone bring water in a strainer full of holes? But he didn’t dare argue. He picked up the strainer ... READ the full story as linked in The Strainer Lesson Thanks to Classic Literature on Facebook. It is dated Sept 11, 2023 but still circulating because I just found it.  Take time to understand our HISD situation more broadly: Recommended Reading to Understand the Takeover And remember to FOLLOW and support Community Voices for Public Education (CVPE).  January brings a new year, and with it hope for many successful projects. The links in this newsletter allow us to look back at 25 for wisdom to approach in 2026. So far, our year is full of challenging news all around - locally in HISD and across the world. But this Students Need Libraries in HISD community will stand strong together and with CVPE and other pro-public education organizations to continue our resistance to the Takeover. We will bring libraries back to HISD campuses - it's just taking way longer than we hoped.  DECEMBER 2025 Welcome, SNL members. (Join our mailing list here.) Share with your friends so they can join as well. We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go. Reach out with questions/suggestions: [email protected]  4 OUT OF 5 SNL ENDORSEMENTS WON their 2025 School Board Elections: D1 Felicity Pereyra (unopposed) ELECTED D5 Maria Benzon ELECTED D6 Mike McDonough ELECTED D7 Bridget Wade retained her seat. D9 Myrna Guidry (unopposed) ELECTED Supporters of strong public schools beyond the state takeover now have more strong voices speaking truth to power.  Culture of Reading “Eliminating school librarians is a form of book banning.” So true, and it is on full display in HISD - but not with the direct goal of banning ideas. Instead, district leadership under Mike Miles has determined that reading only needs test-length passages, that whole books and libraries are distraction to learning. And then we read new research that indicates the opposite: “Reading volume is one of the most powerful predictors of achievement.” And “...students who read for fun on a daily basis score significantly higher in reading assessments than those who rarely pick up a book.” “When reading volume declines due to restricted access, the consequences ripple across a child’s academic life.” These are powerful reasons we should continue to raise our voices. Dennis, Danielle V. 2025, . “Access Denied: How Banning Books Reduces Reading Volume and Achievement.” Rhody Today (University of Rhode Island). (Full article: International Literacy Association, Reading Today, October/November/December.  Houston Promise by Suzanne Lyons Make no mistake. HISD has been underperforming and managed in a problematic way for years. Multiple superintendents, multiple district initiatives, multiple calls for action. In its purest and most idealistic form, an overhaul through state control might have done the job - but it didn't. For years, campus administration has had unfettered power in staffing, budgeting and curriculum. In some instances (inside the Houston Arrow) things were going along well. In other areas, not so much. (Please continue reading here to see how Miles' idea of “Promise” excludes libraries.)  Your Brain on AI I recently heard a presentation by our own Len Bryan -- well, he’s not our own HISD Library Services Director any more but we do miss him. He spoke about the attention schools should be putting onto CURATING AI tools. And he was quite insistent that we NOT use the term AI - this machine manipulation of ideas absorbed from every content source it can access is NOT INTELLIGENT. He prefers to refer to it as a Large Language Model, or LLM. We hope (wish?) HISD is carefully considering which LLM tools to implement, and need to continue to ask questions about their choices. Readers of this newsletter are more concerned with how LLMs affect you directly, so I offer this blog by a friend from college: Writing and Your Brain (Melissa Ludtke, Let’s Row Together, Aug 22 2025). A writer herself, she is wondering about the impact of these LLMs on her life and our culture more broadly. She quotes from and discusses a podcast "Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Tasks." (WBUR Boston “On Point” Aug 11 2025). This paragraph you are reading has become a Russian doll of ideas, but it’s worth your consideration. COGNITIVE DEBT? When our students choose ChatGPT or similar as a way through the information minefield, they are cheating themselves and being cheated by the lack of direct engagement with ideas. That is “cognitive debt.” HISD students are seeing some of these issues in the quality of curriculum in the NES packets, but secondary students may be already using an LLM to help them “write better essays.” Consider please the original definition of “essay”: the French verb “essayer” means to try. Originally it meant a student would engage by pen and paper with ideas by writing about them until they understood them; it was not in the Middle Ages a 5-paragraph system to demonstrate comprehension. Please reflect on what reliance on machine intelligence is doing to thought - how it is the antithesis to current student brains actively wrestling with new ideas. Awareness and understanding of the impact LLMs are already having on students of all ages will support your own decisions about how to apply these much-touted tools in your own lives, and your students’.  Confronting the Crisis of Reading Among Children: What Can Librarians Do to Promote Literacy and Intellectual Curiosity? This ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table webinar last night offered a HANDOUT with books of interest at the elementary level to spark curiosity and empathy. Anyone interested can view the entire hour. In Part 2, other speakers will focus on Teens. As we enter the holiday season, empathy and gratitude seem important values to feature.   As we enter the holidays, I share this from Facebook. Full and effective Literacy is an exchange of information. A reader absorbs new ideas, digests them and offers the world new understandings from the combination of ideas read and heard. How sad it is to know that many students are not talking about their reading and learning outside the classroom - and in HISD, not so much in the classroom either. It is food for thought. Thanks to Ms Shawna Jent for posting. IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.keiro.org/features/intergenerational-connections (Worth a read.)  Civics Challenge from the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute Middle and High School Students! You are invited to take part in the Civics Challenge, a free, nationwide online competition designed to spark creativity and civic knowledge. Submit either a short video (2 minutes or less) or an original song exploring one of this year’s categories found here: OConnorInstitute.org/cc Five finalists in each division—middle school (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12)—will each receive a $500 cash award, totaling $5,000 in awards! DEADLINE is Feb 27 2026. Spread the word!!! While this is not strictly speaking library related, libraries have a huge role in supporting civic awareness and a knowledgeable citizenry. Encourage your students to engage in this challenge!  With Thanksgiving in a few days and December holidays just after, SNL takes this opportunity to tell you our followers how GRATEFUL we are for your ongoing support. We share a goal between us to regain school libraries on every campus in HISD. It won’t be as soon as we would like (yesterday?) or at all easy to accomplish, but together we will keep the pressure on both HISD administration and Texas Commissioner Mike Morath, not to mention our many legislators who continue to need to be educated. Thank you all for persisting with us here at Students Need Libraries in HISD.
Welcome, SNL members. (Join our mailing list here.) Share with your friends so they can join as well. We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go. Reach out with questions or suggestions: [email protected] OCTOBER 2025  SNL ENDORSES for the 2025 School Board Elections: D1 Felicity Pereyra (unopposed) D5 Maria Benzon D6 Mike McDonough D7 Audrey Nath D9 Myrna Guidry (unopposed) The Houston Chronicle reported that Harris County Democrats also endorsed all five "citing the “high stakes facing Houston’s schools in the wake of the state takeover.”" This election matters. We need strong voices speaking for our students.  The Librarians film showed on Sunday, October 12 to a sold out audience at the MFAH, sponsored by Houston’s Progressive Forum. From the film’s website, “Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.” Readers here and SNL followers may wonder why the film matters to us when HISD has not faced many challenges to specific titles. What we know is that "ELIMINATING SCHOOL LIBRARIANS IS A FORM OF BOOK BANNING." (Washington Library Assn tshirt) What we are experiencing is much worse than the slow drip of one title at a time, or even 100. Too many of our students in under-resourced neighborhoods are being denied access to ANY and ALL books, and any ideas not included in the NES scripted curriculum. Freedom to Read Week has just passed (October 5-11) but the fight for access to books and ideas continues all year. The film is showing at the River Oaks Theater October 17-23. Please show up in droves for an inspirational two hours. Opening (10/17) and closing (10/23) shows of the run include panel discussions with folks involved in making the film. How to help. SNL followers often ask us what actions they can take for our libraries. There is an ongoing need for speakers at HISD Board of Managers meetings, but there are other possibilities. Many of your neighbors remain unaware of the effects of the takeover, the loss of school libraries and everything else. Others don’t care because their own students aren’t directly affected. You can help change that. Keep talking to your neighbors and friends who are not yet outraged. This issue of Literary Activism is focused on censorship, but the same actions support rebuilding our HISD libraries.   Commission on the HISD Takeover There is a Commission to study the effects of the Takeover. Everyone is welcome to listen. Anyone is welcome to voice their experiences and observations. There is no recording allowed so that speakers feel safe. The group is chaired by Texas Senator Molly Cook and Texas Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons. The next meeting is Oct. 23 at Westbury United Methodist Church. Details on the website. There will also be a session for Spanish speakers. I have found both sessions so far to be powerful information for the members of the Commission, and for all of the audience. Check out the website: www.hisdtakeover.com  Relevant Graphic Novel Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel for middle grades and older, is not new - it was originally published in 2006. There is a lovely 2025 paperback edition. Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, is quoted on the cover: “Tan’s lovingly laid out and masterfully rendered tale about the immigrant experience is a documentary magically told.” From the title page on, no words are included or needed. In these fraught times where everyone needs to remember kindness, perhaps this book will be a good resource.  
Welcome, SNL members. (Join our mailing list here.) Share with your friends so they can join as well. We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go. Reach out with questions or suggestions: [email protected] AND Notice our new LOGO above! Many thanks to Lauren Singer, formerly of Houston, for her help with the design.  FOHL Event for HISD Library Staff Friends of HISD Libraries has invited all current HISD library staff to gather on September 13th to meet each other, choose from hundreds of giveaway books, hear updates on HISD libraries from an outside perspective, enjoy light bites, and win door prizes. They’re hoping for a good turnout.  The SNL website is updated with current library numbers. Only 70 HISD libraries have assigned staff as of August 25 - that number changes often, so we can only offer a snapshot. Each SB District has a page with details for that district by campus name.  Texas Senate Bill 13 (SB 13) – Giving more rights? Or Removing Them…., AKA SB 13 for Non-Librarians SNL asked Suzanne Lyons, retired Library Services Director and long time campus librarian, to break down this controversial bill for you, our SNL followers. “SB13 was passed and signed by Governor Abbott on 6/20/25 and is effective as of 9/1/25. This legislation deals only with library materials, not instructional/textbook materials. So what does this mean to you? …” Read the blog by clicking on the linked title. IMAGE SOURCE: https://tfn.org/back-door-book-ban-sb-13/ (May 2, before implementation guidance was issued.)  Kalyn Gensic from Abilene has given us permission to share her post. I pulled it from FB so as not to also share all the comments ( and commenters’ names). As you can see, she posted it on August 31 at 4:58 am. We are sharing the post here to help our readers understand the many facets of SB13 impacts that will limit learning for K-12 students in Texas.  ACLU Fact Sheet: SB13 and SB412 These bills seek to make it harder for Texan students to access books and information that reflect their realities and prepare them for their futures.  The Freedom to Read Foundation offers this poster free, as well as 6 small downloadable posters for schools and libraries to better understand the impact of the First Amendment on our daily lives, especially in libraries. Request a poster at ftrf.org/firstamendment. Key court cases are explained on the back. SB13 (schools) and SB412 (public libraries) come dangerously close to infringing on everyone's First Amendment rights, especially our PK-12 youth.  Constitution Day Sept 17, 2025 Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787, recognizing all who are born in the U.S. or by naturalization, have become citizens. Book recommendations: These books are already included in some HISD collections, and may also be available at Houston Public Library and Harris County Public:
 National Register to Vote Day Sept 16, 2025
BECAUSE (read next…)  School Board Elections are coming! Districts 1,5,6,7,9 SNL is sending information about the importance of school libraries to strong literacy and learning to every school board candidate as well as those seats that will not face election this year. There is an End the Takeover slate running to offer stronger voices against the Takeover than we have heard recently from the current HISD Electeds. (The remaining 4 districts will face election in 2027.) The slate is collaborating to help one another in all aspects of this important set of races. Please vote all the way down the ballot - and get out to blockwalks! Look at the SB Elections page on our website for maps of these five districts. SNL supports these candidates. District 1 - Felicity Pereyra (Unopposed) District 5 - Maria Benzon (Opposed by Robbie McDonough.) District 6 - Mike McDonough (Opposed by incumbent Kendall Baker, who supports the Takeover.) District 7 - Audrey Nath ()pposed by incumbent Bridget Wade who supports the Takeover.) District 9 - Myrna Guidry (Unopposed) Commission on the HISD Takeover If you are a parent, student or teacher who would like to speak at these hearings, or submit content privately, please sign up on the website. Comments will be welcome from anyone at every hearing, but the focus will be on Students or Teachers at the two announced thus far. They hope to offer a third hearing as well, so watch the website. They would love to hear how the lack of school libraries has impacted your students. Please share with anyone who may be interested.  As always, please share this newsletter with anyone who may be interested.
Welcome, SNL members. (Join our mailing list here.) Share with your friends so they can join as well. We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go. Reach out with questions/suggestions: [email protected]
Students Need Libraries supported Friends of HISD Libraries and Houston Association of School Librarians (HASL, the organization for HISD Library staff) to celebrate all HISD Library staff with a focus on the Library Program of the Year Finalists and Winner. All current librarians and media specialists in HISD schools were invited, as well as friends and elected officials. Library Program of the Year (LPOY) winner Roslene West of Cornelius Elementary brought a large group of colleagues, friends and family including Board of Managers member Rolando Martinez, whose son attends Cornelius. She received a plaque, a lovely engraved glass recognition. a small trophy that lights up, and a huge basket of goodies to celebrate her work. LPOY Finalists Kersten Hunt (Oak Forest ES), Gretchen Silva (Condit ES), and Barbie Miller (Barbara Bush ES) were recognized with clever trophies that light up and gift cards to recognize their achievement. All four winners are certified school librarians, further illustrating that librarian certification contributes to strong library programs.  Debbie Hall recognized winners of Elenora Alexander stipends to support professional growth:
IMAGE SOURCE: https://www.ebay.com/itm/277003892012  Mary Chance recognized this year’s retirees from HISD Libraries, including
 Kaitlyn Carpenter, a previous winner of LPOY, talked about the benefits of TLA membership. The conference will be in Houston next April, and we hope to see lots of HISD attendees and presentations. Representatives from HISD attended. City Council Mario Castillo sent a staffer with a commendation for FOHL. Our state representatives and senators are busy in Austin, but Chrisina Morales and Gene Wu sent staff. Elected HISD Trustee Placido Gomez came. City Council Mario Castillo sent a staffer with a commendation for FOHL.  LPOY Winner Roslene West is a certified school librarian at Cornelius Elementary who has led a strong library program for many years thanks to her passion for the whole library and every student. During her interview as part of the selection process, Roslene stated that, “The library is the heart of the school from which everything else flows.” Her portfolio told us that [she] “believe[s] a good library program is constantly changing to meet the needs of its patrons.” Part of building a strong library program that supports student learning is collaboration with teachers; Ms West keeps aware of what students are studying in the classroom and confers with teachers whenever possible to let them know library resources that might support classroom units. Roslene has focused on professional development in order to stay current to offer her students the best she can. This led her to the NCTE Black Caucus model for her African-American Read-In day that featured members of the community coming to read aloud to classes books by and about African American lives and culture. Readers included city council members and parents among others; some chose their own favorite books, and some asked Ms. West to select something new to inspire listeners. She also hosted a similar Hispanic Read-In day. Both efforts have been happening at Cornelius for about 10 years and will continue. She also holds a Student Legacy collection of books written by former students. These books were written in collaboration with Write Brain Books, and published in hardback to stay on the library shelves for future students to enjoy. The library Legacy collection remains popular, but does depend on funding that is no longer consistently available. Another way she inspires students to read widely is her Read Around the Library program which encourages them to explore new genres to expand their awareness of new books of interest. This year, Ms. West led the students in an infographic project. Students researched a person of interest and designed a digital poster to share what they learned. This engagement with technology relied on research skills to learn about their chosen subjects, and on online access to Canva and Adobe tools to show their knowledge to others.  Our LPOY Winner and the three Finalists are ALL Certified School Librarians. It turns out there is something to the certification process that shows in the work of a career!  LPOY Finalist Kersten Hunt is a certified school librarian at Oak Forest Elementary. When asked what she would like to tell the Board of Managers about school libraries, she replied that they need to be more aware of the data that supports fully staffed and fully funded libraries for all K-12 students. The data illustrates that students who grow through schools with effective library programs have stronger test scores and are more successful in higher education settings. The Oak Forest library has for several years featured a free-range library bunny who loved the students and being petted by them. He recently enjoyed a retirement party as he aged out of so much activity. Kersten recently genrefied the collection, which means that books are sorted by genre to help students find their favorites more quickly. It also facilitates participation in the Read Around the Library program which encourages students to read in 1-2 specific new genres each month, and turn their list in at the month’s end for recognition. Parents contact her often asking for recommendations to help their children have more variety in their reading material. This challenge was a group effort to meet the needs of the community, in a way the kids found fun and engaging. In her efforts to offer a technology component in support of library skills and the schoolwide focus on writing, she led some coding projects that involved 3D printing as well as Bee-Bots and Kubo robots; after the coding was completed, students wrote a creative story about their robot or product. Ms Hunt has definitely created the “comfortable, welcoming environment where all Oak Forest Elementary community members can enjoy literature, learn through reading, and engage with technology” that her library philosophy specifies.  LPOY Finalist Barbie Miller, certified school librarian at Barbara Bush Elementary, sees the library as essential to literacy and life-long learning. “Libraries provide readers with the freedom of choice, an immersion into other worlds, and a gateway to information.” Ms Miller leads Genre Book Clubs after school. Students choose their own title, meet weekly for 6 weeks to discuss their book with others reading the same genre, and finish with a project about their book. The 6 week duration allows more students to participate during the year - and the clubs are always full. This year would have been the school’s namesake Barbara Bush’s 100th birthday. The library challenged classes to read 100 books each as a fun way to celebrate the Literacy Champion. The library also celebrates Go Texan Day, the Book Character Parade, and themed reading challenges.  LPOY Finalist Gretchen Silva, certified school librarian at Condit Elementary, loves the outdoors. Her library is closely identified with the school garden, where the students often go. Ms Silva also loves chickens, and oversees the incubator every spring. There is a chicken coop near the garden, where students love to assist. Ms Silva chooses books that explain chickens and other parts of the world; read aloud time might happen in the garden where the observation is simultaneous to the story. Condit is also a Leader in Me school, which means there are jobs the students apply for: Garden Gnomes, Chicken Care, and many others. The Condit Library is a Learning Commons, and exists without walls at the center of the school. Students cross through the Library throughout the day, and stop for a minute to hear part of a story being read to a class or investigate if the chicks have hatched yet. The 3D printer is always of interest, too. The Library includes a Makerspace as well. The 3D printer is only one element of this STEAM focus; Bee-Bots, Kubo robots, legos and even art supplies are others. As you see, these four exemplary and certified HISD librarians demonstrate what a strong school library can be as well as why EVERY HISD student should have these same opportunities. SNL is glad there is again some leadership from HISD Central Office to support the libraries that do serve our students. We hope those numbers will expand as district leadership is reminded how much impact library access can have, especially for students who have no books of their own at home.
 
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AuthorThis newsletter is primarily authored by Dorcas Hand, with support from others active in SNL. If you have an idea to share, please contact our email below. Dorcas is a retired school librarian who remains active in advocacy for HISD libraries and more. SNL supports increased access to school libraries across all HISD students and campuses. Archives
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