A Community Action Toolkit

Are you a librarian working to bring your community together? Are you a parent/ caregiver who wants to make sure your child's curiosity, intellectual freedom, and reading life is as rich, and as powerful as possible? Are you tired of efforts by small and loud voices who want to take over your parental voice and your child's rights? Then we are here to help! Welcome!

The Get Ready, Stay Ready: Community Action Toolkit is an effort by a group of parents and librarians who believe that the power is in community, in togetherness, in a collective outcry and a collective pushback against those who want to erase our stories , our history, our existence. Here you will find curated resources including scripts for public speaking and writing, fantastic video presentations, training materials equipping you to learn more about (and fight back) censorship's impact on education and society, tools for civic engagement, and a network of organizations across the country that are determined to preserve your child's right to a high-quality education through intellectual freedom.

Why is Your Voice, Your Actions, Your Involvement Needed? Read "Playing Catch-Up to the Censors, the Fight for the Freedom to Read Needs a Grassroots Revolution" by Kara Yorio, for a clear explanation on why your effort is needed more than ever!

Each tile below will link you to a collection of resources we reviewed and selected to help you become a powerful advocate for your child. Click on each one to access these resources. Get Ready, Stay Ready is an on-going effort and we invite you to recommend resources for inclusion and sharing. Please check back often, and share widely. We are the majority.

Resources Developed by Library Organizations

Library Org Resources

Civic Engagement

Trainings and Short-Courses

Webinars and Videos

Stuff You Should Read

LGBTQIA+ Support

Mirrors, Windows, Sliding Glass Doors, and Prisms

Resources for Diverse Collections

Letters, Templates, & Guides

Media for Sharing & Advocacy

Pro-Literacy Youth

Meet the team.

Valerie Byrd Fort

Project Director

VBF is an Instructor for the School of Information Science at the University of South Carolina, a Ph.D. student in Language & Literacy at USC, and the Coordinator for Cocky's Reading Express, USC's Literacy Outreach Program.

Alli Harper

Team Member

A community organizer, attorney, and queer mom to two kids, Alli Harper is the founder and owner of OurShelves, a diverse children's books subscription service and advocacy effort.

Stacy Collins, short curly hair, glasses.

Stacy Collins (she/they)

Team Member

Stacy is the Instruction Librarian and Geographer-at-Large at the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Phillips Academy. She was named a 2021 Mover & Shaker.

Sherry Neal

Team Member

After more than two decades as a lawyer assisting families with adoption matters, Sherry has pursued a Masters in Library and Information Science at USC and works as a middle school librarian in Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. April Dawkins

Team Member

Dawkins is an assistant professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. April's research focuses on intellectual freedom issues including self-censorship, access and equity, and privacy.

Dr. Lucy Santos Green

Team Member

A parent and former school librarian, Green is the Director of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa. Lucy's research focuses on school library services to marginalized populations, technology-enabled inquiry learning, and digital learning.

Cynthia Johnson, short brown curly hair, pearl necklace and earrings.

Cynthia Richardson Johnson

Team Member

Cynthia is an 18 year veteran K-12 teacher with 10 years of experience as a school librarian. She is an Information Science PhD student at the University of South Carolina.

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