School Librarians are my favorite people

The 2026 Summer Reading Challenge is almost here! 🌱

Sign up for our all-ages program to earn prizes, discover new books, and enjoy free events across Sonoma County.

sonomalibrary.org/summer

Please judge my new humor book by its cover! :)

Please do the survey

This new national survey effort will examine how cellphone restrictions are reshaping reading, school library use, and student engagement, and why it matters for funding school libraries.

The EveryLibrary Institute launched a national survey of school librarians and library media specialists to better understand how cellphone restrictions in schools are influencing reading, library use, and engagement during the 2025–2026 school year.

As more states and school districts adopt policies that limit or eliminate student cellphone use, early reports from schools suggest a shift is underway. Librarians are observing increased interest in reading, more students spending time in the library during lunch and free periods, and growing participation in programs such as book clubs, games, and collaborative learning activities.

However, these observations remain largely anecdotal. Without clear, consistent data, they are difficult to translate into the funding and policy decisions that shape the future of school libraries.

This new survey, “Cellphone Free Schools Policy Impacts and Effects on School Library Circulation and Engagement”, is designed to fill that gap.

Equity Through the School Library There is a startling lack of diversity in children’s literature. School librarians around the country are hard at work trying to fix this problem and bring real diversity to their school’s collection.

Federal funding supports summer reading.

Trump's budget eliminates all federal funding for libraries.

Take action at SaveIMLS.org

You can join the fight against book bans by signing the petition at www.bookbanpetition.us

"Brielle is doing calculus. Hudson is eating a block." — Megan T.

ROCKSTONE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — Third-grade teacher Mrs. Tisdale was seen Wednesday morning delivering a single 47-minute math lesson that simultaneously addressed 26 distinct learning objectives across 26 individual student profiles, ranging from a kindergarten-level number sense gap to advanced algebraic reasoning, all while maintaining "cohesive whole-group flow."

Mrs. Tisdale, gesturing helplessly toward her classroom Tuesday afternoon, watched as Brielle solved quadratic equations on a whiteboard, Hudson constructed a Jenga tower while wearing noise-canceling headphones, Mateo silently read "A Wrinkle in Time," and four students painted a rainbow because that was the closest thing to "geometry" she could justify on her lesson plan template. "The objective is fractions. Technically. For some of them," she explained to Mrs. Bellinger the principal who was observing the lesson all while nodding and typing notes on her iPad.

Mrs. Tisdale was later given a "Developing" rating on her formal observation, with feedback noting that her differentiation strategy "did not adequately address the needs of all 26 unique learners simultaneously."