SLJ columnist Pat Scales will receive the 2023 Roll of Honor Award; 2021 School Librarian of the Year Amanda Jones is writing a book about her experience standing up to book banners; Follett to host ReadingCon 2023; and new offerings from Gale and EBSCO in this edition of News Bites.

Freedom to Read Foundation Celebrates 2023 Roll of Honor Recipient Pat Scales

Librarian, free speech advocate, and SLJ columnist Pat Scales will be honored by the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) with the 2023 Roll of Honor Award. The award will be presented at ALA Annual in Chicago.

“Pat’s lifetime of dedication to upholding the principles of intellectual freedom, her years as a collaborator and volunteer with the Foundation, and the numerous ways she has ensured that children, and their parents, can find ways to read together, made her a unanimous and clear choice for this year’s Roll of Honor award,” committee chair and FTRF vice president Sophia Sotilleo in the announcement of the award.

Scales has written a number of books on intellectual freedom issues in schools and libraries. A new edition of Teaching Banned Books will be released this fall.

Pat will be honored at ALA Annual on Thursday, June 22 at 6 p.m. at A Rally for the Right to Read: Uniting for Libraries & Intellectual Freedom and at the Opening General Session on Friday, June 23, at 4 p.m.

Amanda Jones to write book 

Amanda Jones, 2021 School Librarian of the Year, has announced a book deal.

“I will not be silent,” Jones wrote in a Twitter announcement of That Librarian, which will be published by Bloomsbury in 2024.

The announcement described the book as “a David and Goliath story of a Louisiana librarian’s battle against book banning, offering a deeply intimate look at the onslaught of harassment she faced and her courageous decision to fight back.”

Kate DiCamillo, Jerry Craft among attendees for Follett's ReadingCon 2023

Follett School Solutions will host ReadingCon 2023 on Thursday, June 22, at Northern Illinois University in Naperville, IL. Educators and children’s authors will discuss literacy, diversity, and making a difference in students’ lives.

The professional development event for teachers, librarians, administrators, and others will feature breakout sessions addressing key topics in K-12 schools and include keynote addresses and book signings from authors including Kate DiCamillo, Jerry Craft, Laurie Halse Anderson, Kazu Kibuishi, and others.

A registration fee of $75 includes educational sessions, author signings, and meals. Advance registration is required. To register, visit https://follettk12.link/87e45f.

Gale launches Gale in Context: Literature

Gale has launched Gale In Context: Literature, a new resource for literature instruction and learning that helps high schoolers engage and thrive in English language arts.

Designed with high school students in mind, Gale In Context: Literature aims to provide learners with the context needed to engage and form personal connections with a wide variety of literature. The resource includes more than 250 topic pages organized around key works, authors, and topics scaffolded to provide easy access for all students, over 300 question prompts designed to engage students and provide a starting point for research, a visual bookshelf that can be filtered by topic and genre, access to ebooks of works,  and videos, images, infographics, and podcasts.

EBSCO releases Education Source Ultimate

EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) has released Education Source ^™ Ultimate, designed to facilitate the research needs of all users in the field of education by providing access to the most comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed, full-text journals for education studies.

By July 2023, the new database will include 1,000 active, full-text, non-open access journals and magazines covering early education, education management, administration, and more. Additional subjects covered include adult education, developmental disabilities, education policy and administration, educational assessment and evaluation, educational technology, English language learning, literacy and literacy education, research methodology, and special education.