In Conversation with That Librarian
The WashU Libraries, Saint Louis University Libraries, and St. Louis City Libraries invite you to a panel discussion examining the rise in book bans in recent years, and the implications for libraries, librarians, and intellectual freedom.
Our Panel
Central to our discussion will be Amanda Jones and her recently published book, That Librarian, which maps the book banning crisis across the country, draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, and calls on book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of readers. Joining Amanda for this discussion, and bringing a local perspective, will be Tom Bober, who has served as President of the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and Jennifer Buehler, an associate professor in the School of Education at Saint Louis University, where she mentors future high school English teachers.
Schedule of Events
3 pm: Panel discussion
4:30 pm: Light refreshments along with That Librarian sales and signing offered by Left Bank Books
Registration
Free and strongly encouraged due to limited space. Registration form includes an option to submit a question in advance for the panelists.
Speaker Bios
Amanda Jones
Amanda Jones is the author of the memoir That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America. She has been an educator for 22 years at the same middle school she attended as a child and is the President of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians. She was the 2021 School Library Journal Co-Librarian of the Year, 2021 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, and 2020 Louisiana School Librarian of the Year. Amanda is a sought-after keynote speaker at national and international conferences. Amanda co-founded the Livingston Parish Library Alliance to defeat censorship attempts in her community and is a founding member of the Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship, which fights against censorship efforts across the state. She lives in Livingston Parish, Louisiana.
Tom Bober
Tom Bober has been a Library Journal Mover and Shaker, Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, a DPLA Community Rep, and member of teacher advisory boards for the National Portrait Gallery and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. He is the immediate Past President of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and has been the organization’s contact with the ACLU of Missouri on litigation against SB775.
Jennifer Buehler
Jennifer Buehler has developed a national reputation as a young adult literature expert. From 2008 to 2016, she hosted a monthly young adult literature podcast where she interviewed many of the field’s most distinguished authors, including Judy Blume, Walter Dean Myers, John Green, and Laurie Halse Anderson. In 2016, she served as President of ALAN (the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English). Her current work focuses on advocating for young adult literature in politically divided times. She published an article in April centering the voices of YA authors who have experienced censorship, and she wrote an op-ed on book bans for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in June 2023.
Visitor Information
Visitors are encouraged to park in the Danforth University Center (DUC) garage, located at 6475 Forsyth Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63105. Parking is free on weekends. Once you’ve arrived, take the elevator up to the ground floor of the DUC and exit the building north (toward campus).
Follow the main path to your left and walk past Simon Hall and then turn right and walk past Siegel Hall to arrive at Anheuser-Busch Hall in the northwest corner of Mudd Field. (See map below.)
