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Vermont School Library Association

VSLA Blog

  • 24 Jun 2025 10:36 AM | Matt (Administrator)

    VSLA has partnered with the New England Intellectual Freedom Helpline to provide important guidance and resources for librarians and educators facing IF challenges and other related issues. 

    The IF Helpline is a volunteer-driven network dedicated to supporting librarians and educators across New England who are facing censorship challenges or other threats to intellectual freedom. We offer peer support and connect individuals with resources to help them defend their communities’ freedom to read, while also prioritizing their safety in doing this important work.

    You can submit a request for assistance here.

  • 29 May 2025 8:50 AM | Matt (Administrator)

    VSLA has updated our 3 year strategic plan to continue to build a strong statewide organization that will support Vermont's amazing school libraries! The priorities VSLA will focus on are:

    • Collaborate Across the Vermont Library Ecosystem to Illustrate the Value of School Libraries

    • Lead Strong School Libraries Across Vermont

    • Nurture a Strong Organization

    You can view the full plan here

  • 01 Apr 2025 3:15 PM | Matt (Administrator)

    VSLA co-signed a letter with 119 other organizations calling on state leadership to "utilize the power of your office to defend our democracy, our communities, and our values."  The letter states "In the face of this rapidly escalating constitutional crisis, Vermont needs strong, responsive state leadership. We want you to know that if you speak up and take action to confront this onslaught of federal overreach, your constituents will have your backs. And we need to hear from you, our elected representatives, that you recognize this historical moment for what it is—and that you will act with the urgency and resolve that this moment requires." You can read the full text of the letter and all the signatories here: Letter to Vermont Leaders 03-31-25 - final.pdf

  • 13 Jan 2025 10:32 AM | Matt (Administrator)


  • 16 Oct 2024 10:10 AM | Matt (Administrator)

    Intellectual freedom is the right of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Intellectual freedom is one of the core values of the library profession and a basic right in our democratic society; it promotes access to information and guides the defense against censorship.

    In 1953, the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers jointly released the Freedom to Read Statement. This statement reminded us that, “The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack” (ALA, 2004). Now, seventy years later, a resurgence of attacks on the freedom to read again threatens our democracy.

    Calls for book bans, the adoption of unconstitutional legislation, and campaigns to criminalize librarians for distributing materials protected by the First Amendment threaten our fundamental Liberties.

    Vermont librarians are joining together to emphatically reaffirm their commitment to the values expressed in the American Library Association’s intellectual freedom documents, including The Freedom to Read Statement. We believe all Vermonters deserve free access to materials that function as windows and mirrors, both reflecting individuals’ experiences and providing expanded, diverse views of the world (Bishop, 1990). We also believe that people are only truly free when they can read freely.

    Jointly issued by the governing boards of the Vermont School Library Association and the Vermont Library Association, January 2024.

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