Congratulations to Laura Mitchell who on Monday, November 10, 2025, successfully defended her dissertation proposal.
The title of Laura’s dissertation is "Public Middle School Librarians Navigating Book Challenges: A Qualitative Study."
Overview of Problem: Since 2021, a surge of book challenges and bans has thrust school librarians, especially those in middle school, into the center of public scrutiny, as they navigate growing pressures to remove or restrict materials that reflect diverse experiences and identities. Caught between their professional obligation to uphold intellectual freedom and external pressures to remove or restrict materials, making decisions that carry significant ethical, legal, and personal consequences. These decisions are never neutral, as they reflect questions of power, representation, and inclusion: what stories are included, whose voices are heard, and which perspectives are made available. By examining how librarians navigate these pressures, this study highlights their vital role in protecting intellectual freedom and resisting efforts to sanitize school library collections.
Research Purpose: Guided by the framework of critical librarianship, this qualitative study seeks to understand how certified public middle school librarians across the United States experience, navigate, and respond to book challenges in their school libraries. This approach captures their unique perspectives within the broader struggle for equity, representation, and social justice, highlighting how their professional decisions both reflect and challenge existing systems of power.
Research Design: A hybrid of critical inquiry and qualitative design was chosen because it centers on how middle school librarians’ experiences are influenced by power, policy, and ideology.
Sample: 15 middle school librarians will be recruited from public schools (grades 6-8) with particular attention to recruiting individuals from states experiencing high rates of book challenges.
Data Collection: Semi-structured individual interviews will be conducted via Zoom.
Dissertation Committee Chair:
Dr. Susan V. Iverson
Dissertation Committee Members:
Dr. Mary Coakley-Fields
Dr. Vikki Terrile
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