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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — If it was not important to us collectively as a nation, the right to free speech would not be a part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
With bans on books continuing to exist, the Michigan Library Association is hosting the “Youth Summit for the Right to Read,” a workshop taking place at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library’s main branch in Clinton Township from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8. Organizers said the goal of the workshop is to inform young Michiganders ages 15 to 22 about how to speak up for and defend their First Amendment right.
“The Michigan Library Association has been helping librarians to navigate a really huge uptick in requests to ban or restrict access to books and sometimes programs since late 2021,” said Dillon Geshel, interim executive director of the Michigan Library Association. “Young people are often the most impacted by book bans or other restrictions to accessing books, and with that in mind they’re also often missing from the conversation. Our hope is that our November youth summit can bring together (young) Michiganders to learn together about advocacy, about community building and also their First Amendment rights when it comes to using libraries across the state.”
While not the first such event held by the association, it is the nonpartisan organization’s first such event geared toward young people.
“When we help libraries that are navigating politically motivated censorship attempts, when we work with library boards on this, we often don’t see young people engaged in that conversation,” Geshel said. “Which is somewhat distressing knowing that often they’re the folks that are most impacted by something like a book bans … This is the first time that we’re really narrowing our focus on empowering young people as part of that conversation.”
For Amber Sheerin, the association’s program director, tailoring the event to such a different audience comes down to striking the balance between a passionate audience and one of professionals.
“Our work with professional librarians … comes at it from a different point of view, a different lens,” Sheerin said. “They’re trained, professional librarians (who) have master’s degrees in library science, and it really comes from the values of their profession and what their goals are there. This is different in that it is talking to young people about what they might be passionate about. (As) we’ve tried to get young people involved in this conversation more, we’ve had high school students speak at our advocacy day at the Capitol about why they cared about their library. We’ve had some discussions with some other youth-focused groups. We just found that young people had a passion for this, a passion for activism and a passion for the internationality of all of this; of civil rights and the freedom to choose what’s best for them. We’re coming at it from that lens instead and hoping that we … help give them a better framework to advocate for those rights in whatever (way) works best for them.”
Headlining the event is Kelly Jensen, editor for website Book Riot, who brings to the event personal experience working against book bans.
“(Jensen has) been really involved in reporting on the nationwide efforts to ban books from schools and libraries,” Geshel said. “We’re excited to have Kelly there to be able to bring that experience to help youths understand what their First Amendment rights are in schools and public libraries and what they can do to help push back against attempts to restrict access to certain materials. Kelly has also worked with the Brooklyn Public Library in the past to develop a free downloadable toolkit that focuses on teen civic engagement programming for libraries, so she’ll be bringing that expertise and that experience to Michigan to help us lift up the next generation of library advocates.”
Residency within the CMPL system is not required. The workshop is open to everyone, and the association has grant-supported mileage reimbursement available for up to $100 at 70 cents per mile for those who register.
Interested attendees can register at milibraries.org/youth-summit. More information about the association’s efforts to combat book banning can be found at www.mirighttoread.com.
