Walk with a Purpose: Shifting focus from book bans to freedom

Students exploring the tables at the Freedom Walk program at Clark High School Lucy Podmore writes: “Three years ago, after a difficult state legislative session in Texas that aimed to restrict access to books and disparage the work of librarians, I recognized the urgency of helping my community understand how our libraries operate. In 2023, I created the Freedom Walk—an interactive program that takes place in the courtyard of my high school campus. The Freedom Walk explores the ideas behind our freedom to read and the critical role everyone plays in protecting that freedom. Instead of celebrating what we can’t read, we celebrate our right to read.”

American Libraries Online, Oct. 6

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Sallyann Price writes: “Bad-news fatigue is real for library advocates who feel like every year is more hostile than the one before it. Since about 2021, coordinated groups of parents and elected officials have increasingly pushed to outsource librarians’ curatorial authority and exert greater control over what books are available on library shelves. But in 2025, there were notable examples of voters, courts, and candidates across the country affirming the profession’s core values of intellectual freedom and inclusive access. Below we highlight five recent victories for libraries, library workers, and their communities.”

American Libraries feature, Mar./Apr.
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Oluwademilade Afolabi writes: “Most people who use Microsoft Word daily still don’t know that Spike exists, and that’s a shame. It’s not tucked behind a subscription wall or buried in a settings menu nobody opens. It’s right there, bound to a keyboard shortcut, waiting. I stumbled across it while trying to rearrange a lengthy report without endlessly cycling through copy-paste operations, and it has changed the way I think about editing in Word. It’s a secondary clipboard that accumulates multiple chunks of content and holds them all until you’re ready to drop them exactly where you need them.”

MakeUseOf, Mar. 6
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Marissa Levien writes: “Reading goals aren’t a new phenomenon—there’s a whole generation of us who grew up with the promise that, if we read a certain number of books in a summer, our local library would be obligated to throw us a pizza party. But if we’re gamifying our reading, we stop reading widely: we pick different versions of a story that we are guaranteed to like, and with that we lose a sense of well-roundedness, a sense of discovery and surprise. On a deeper level, it also means that we give up the art of reading slowly.”

Literary Hub, Mar. 5
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Hana Lee Goldin writes: “Most of us might experience algorithmic curation as helpful. The system learns our preferences and filters out what seems irrelevant. But the filter doesn’t distinguish between content we don’t want and content we’ve simply never encountered. It removes both—including ideas, opportunities, and perspectives we might value if we knew they existed. Each prediction based on our past behavior assumes our future interests will mirror our history.”

Card Catalog, Mar. 10
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Greyson Pasiak writes: “Academic librarians are increasingly tasked with creating and implementing new policies and ethical guidelines surrounding generative artificial intelligence’s (AI) role in research and publishing practices. They are called through vocational language to educate on safe, transparent, and responsible use of AI. These new roles and responsibilities are coupled with insufficient time and general support, resulting in faculty and staff feeling fatigued. Many have already addressed how fatigue in higher education can ultimately lead to interruptions in publishing support and academic research if not addressed.”

The Scholarly Kitchen, Mar. 4
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Anth Sinnott writes: “In the digital library, statistics are ubiquitous. We are currently awash in an exhausting volume of data, from COUNTER 5.1 reports to granular platform analytics that promise to underpin our collection strategies. When harnessed correctly, this data is the engine of a truly dynamic service. It allows for just-in-time acquisition and a responsive, data-driven strategy that mirrors the actual needs of our researchers and students in real-time. However, there is a darker side to this deluge. Data can be weaponized.”

Librarianth, Mar. 9
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The Horror Writers Association has issued its 2026 programming guide for Summer Scares, a reading program that provides libraries and schools an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult, and middle grade readers. The program operates in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, NoveList, and iREAD. The guide offers discussion group questions, booktalking suggestions, sample programs, and read-alikes for each selected book.

RA For All, Mar. 4

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