SPL's Elisa Murray on Access to All Books

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It won't come through. No,I don't hear it. That's great,
I don't hear it. Okay,all right, so the sound okay,
Oh yeah, it's all good.We're good, good, good. Aw.
I'm just trying. Did you putyour your job title? I'm sorry?
Oh sure, it's some communications strategistkind of a doesn't quite roll off

(00:24):
the tongue. That's okay, that'sokay. I gotta get a pen.
I'm so glad you send this story. Yeah, it's something we're really excited
about and really appreciate your interest.Oh yeah, it's perfect, It's just

(00:46):
perfect. Hey. Um question,I know that Seattle Public Library was the
first to join up with Brooklyn.Has anybody else joined up yet? Um?
Note that I know of, Imean just you know, announced our
partnership a week ago, so Idon't think anything's changed since then. I
do know that Brooklyn announced that it'sreached one hundred thousand checkouts. They did

(01:10):
that last week as well, whichis also very cool. Yeah, really
is okay, But we certainly hopemore libraries joined me too, more of
the better. Yeah, exactly,all right, here we go. I
haven't had nearly enough coffee, whichsucks. Oh I can relate to that.

(01:36):
All right, here we go.Hey, good morning everyone, welcome
to the public Affair show of yourfavorite iHeartRadio station right in Seattle, Washington.
On the phone with me, Ihave from the Seattle Public Library,
the communication special strategist Elsa Murray.Welcome to the show, Elisa, you
have big news, Hiley, greatto join you. Yes, absolutely,

(02:00):
the Seattle Public Library has joined theBrooklyn Public Library. Uh. It's the
Books Unbanned to Fight Censorship program andkids get a free card for young teens
and young adults, especially if you'reliving in a state that has been banning
some books. So let's talk aboutthis book ban in general and how it's

(02:25):
been. Well, it's been goingon since they for ages, But has
there been a lisa a bigger umpush for teachers and well parents to want
to ban books as of late?Is it raising its ugly head? Well?

(02:46):
Um, yeah, there has beenobviously, books and censorship at censorship
has been around probably for as longas we've had books. But in recent
years there has been a surge andan increasingly coordinated movement to band books and
challenge books, especially for young people. And I wouldn't say it's even necessarily

(03:10):
parents or educators. I think it'soften organized groups. So the American Library
Association and they've been tracking this sinceI think around nineteen ninety and they reported
in March that in twenty twenty two, there were a record number of demands
to censor library books and resources.More than twenty five hundred unique titles were

(03:31):
targeted. That's the thirty eight percentincrease since the year before, and fifty
eight percent targeted books and materials inschool libraries, classroom libraries, and school
curricula. And also concerning is thatthe majority of challenge books were written by
or about members of the lgbt QIAcommunity and people of color. Yeah,

(03:55):
it's just terrible and the combination ofsome books. So my question, my
question is, I mean, Iwas looking at how like you you send
an incredible amount of information, ButI did see that, and I maybe
have read it wrong, and I'lledit this, but I thought it was

(04:17):
parents that started it, um wantinglike how does it the process of getting
a book band? I thought Iread that it started with a parent um
which which span in particular. There'sbeen a lot of them, so I
guess I'm not totally sure going toYeah, that's okay, it was.
It was I wouldn't even know howto find it again has highlighted the Okay,

(04:40):
hold on one second. No,I don't know what I read that
from. Okay, So I'm justgonna leave that out. I'm gonna leave
that out. It's not it's notimportant. I can send some information on
that because ALA sent a lot ofapporting on that issue, and um and
just in that there's been a riseand challenging like groups of books rather than

(05:01):
a single one, and more organizedgroups. And it couldn't be that parents
are involved in these organized groups.But yeah, I can send you more
background on that. It's yeah,No, don't send anything. Don't send
any more. You got enough information? Yeah I do. I don't know
when I read that from. Butthat's interesting. It was on that thing
you sent out. Let's talk aboutif you don't mind specific titles, maybe

(05:27):
the thirteen most challenged books. Doyou have that in front of you?
Also? I don't, but Ican pull it up. Yeah, this
was. American Library Association just releasedthis last week. Um it. It
was a National Library week. Soon Monday they released list of the thirteen

(05:53):
most challenged books. Of twenty twentytwo. Um, do you want me
to review those or not? Becauseyou know, we're really focused on expanding
access to our entire collection. That'ssomething I want to be clear about.
Yeah, it's not just about youknow, encouraging kids to read band books.
That's just encouraging teens and young adultsto read widely and making our collections

(06:15):
available. And one thing that's interestingis that, I mean, sometimes teams
and young adults might lack access becauseof censorship, but in some cases they
might just live in an area,a rural area, without access to a
library that has strong digital collections ordoesn't have a public library. So it's
really about expanding access for variety ofreasons, but also in the face of

(06:38):
this kind of increasing surge of censorship. Yep. Absolutely, you just want
kids to have access to what kidseverywhere have access to, a big,
expansive list of books that they canread on any subject. And they might
just right their city might not beor their town or you know, their

(06:59):
little village. You may not haveall that Seattle or Brooklyn has to offer,
so when a kid wants so isit that you want kids to be
out of the greater Seattle area whenthey apply, tell us about applying.
Yeah, so this is specifically,Um, it's so it's so let me
just tell you what it is exactly. It's a Books Unbanned card and it's

(07:21):
specifically for teens and young adults agesthirteen to twenty six outside of our service
area who need access to e booksand e audio books. So you can
apply really easily at the spl dotorg slash booksun band and get a card

(07:43):
and you can check out a maximumof ten books and place a maximum of
five holds. And it's for teensand young adults. And our service area
already can get our library cards,so they can just go ahead and get
that easily. So this is specificallyfor those young people outside of our service

(08:03):
area. Wow, you know whatI want. I want all the kids
and parents and listening to let theirfriends and other states with maybe not such
a bare library. No, yeah, they can do this. Yeah right,
And just another thing for people toknow because I know you have a
lot of listeners in Seattle. UM. And so this is funded by private

(08:26):
support through the Seattle Public Library Foundation. They're generously supporting this, so it's
not public funds and it shouldn't affectI know, people in Seattle really care
about their holds and you know,getting the books. This shouldn't impact any
of that. So you'll still haveas much access as you did. And
then through the foundation, we're ableto support this program to also give young

(08:50):
adults who don't you know, aren'tlucky enough to live in this area,
expanded access, right, and solocals aren't going to lose out on access,
right. Okay, great, wellthanks to the Seattle Public Library Foundation.
That's that's great work. Who knewwhat people are doing to keep to
keep everything equal and fair. Let'stalk about a couple of titles of the

(09:13):
most banned books. I find thisreally interesting. UM The Bluest Eye by
Tony Morrison. That's fascinating. That'sfascinating to think that a novel by Tony
Morrison is on the list. Doyou have anything to say about that?
Yep, and I think it's oftenassigned by schools. UM, that's one
of them. This is again,this is the American Library Association's most challenged

(09:35):
Books. So this is all aroundthe US. Who's not specific to Seattle,
UM some of the other ones,so it includes UM Seattle area author
Sherman Alexei, who booked The AbsolutelyTrue Diary of a Part Time Indian Husband
challenged in bands Um. A coupleof others are This book is Gay by

(09:58):
Juno Dawson been challenged for lbgt QIAcontent and then lawn Boy. Actually that's
another local author by Jonathan Ebison.What's up with lawn Boy? You know,
I don't know because I haven't readit myself. I think again its
lbgt QI content. Yes, um, so with Sherman Alexei, which is

(10:22):
shocking. This is a huge,big seller, The Absolutely True Diary of
a Part Time Indian. It's challengedfor profanity and claiming to be specially sexually
explicit. That is such a thatis such a shame. Yeah, parents,
kids, Let everybody know that thesebooks are available through the Seattle Public

(10:43):
Library and all you have to dois apply at spl dot org for slash
books unbanned. I love it books. And just one more point I'm going
to make is that you know,we're not saying that kids should read these
certain books, and we support therole of parents and caregivers and helping guide
their children's reading. They absolutely shouldbe doing that. We're just ensuring access

(11:07):
and protecting the rights of parents toalso use books to guide and educate their
children. You know, one thingthat I have a thirteen year old myself,
and one of his favorite books thatI think he read when he was
ten, called Front Desk by KellyYangs who's an amazing author, has been
challenged. I mean, I thinkparents fought against that challenge and it's now
accepted again. But back in twentytwenty one, and she's been an amazing

(11:31):
spokesperson on this issue. And youknow, he learned so much through reading
that book, which is about aChinese family in Los Angeles and running a
motel together. And so it's it'sa really wide variety of books that some
people are challenging. No kid,and you think most of the challengers are
from these interest groups, you know, Again, I don't know for sure.

(11:58):
I think there's probably a variety ofSometimes it's single parents, sometimess this
more organized groups. Sometimes it mightbe other folks as well. That's wild.
What do they what do you thinkthey thought was wrong with Front Desk
by Kelly Yang. Yeah, Ilooked it up because I heard her speak
recently. She was in Seattle,and her book was actually a Global Reading

(12:20):
Challenge book a few years ago,which was how my son read it.
You know, he read it throughhis school. A parent, I believe
thought it was racially divisive. Ithink that was that was the claim.
But again it ended up, youknow, this particular challenge. It didn't
end up in a band, Ibelieve because a lot of other parents really

(12:41):
went to bat to support the bookand their kids having access to it.
On this list of the most challengedbooks, have any to your knowledge,
been banned in other states? Doyou know? I don't know. I
mean, since it's said the ChallengeBooks of twenty twenty two, I'm I'm
assuming probably somehow, but yeah,I don't know. Yeah, we're not

(13:05):
actually tracking all of the bands ourselves. We're just yeah, you focused on
supporting access, right on supporting accessto books. Thank goodness. I love
it, and I want to thankeverybody at the Seattle Public Library and the
Seattle Public Library Foundation for making sureeverybody has access. This is for what
are the ages? It's a what'sthe span? It's yeah, it's ages

(13:28):
thirteen to twenty six um, Andjust go to the website and sign up
at spl dot org. Slash Booksunbanned. Right, I want to spread
the word to people you know inother states and other regions too. Exactly,
Um, Alisa, right, Alisa, that's right, Okay, Alisa

(13:48):
Murray, Communication Strategists, Seattle PublicLibrary. Thank you so much for all
your efforts. We appreciate it.Oh, thank you, Lee, it's
so good to talk to you.You too, Hey, thanks for guiding
that and making help helping me makesense of that interview. I'll get it
all edited really nicely and send itto you. Oh, you're awesome.
If we appreciate your coverage and yourinterest, and yeah, send me the

(14:13):
length when us up, Well,I will do. Thank you. Bye, yeah bye