On topics ranging from sober data on the profession to guns in the classroom, our readers weigh in. Kudos for a timely, if painful, look at the state of school libraries and the people who manage them. I am fortunate to be in a school district that still has librarians in all of our buildings, K-12. Even in this “Eden,” however, some of our library staff members are teachers but not MILS-degreed and fully certified. This gap is not as dire as having no teaching staff at all in our libraries, but still troubling. My mantra is (and always has been) in the world of education where some believe that anyone can be a teacher, certification means something. My principal would not put an English-certified teacher in a math classroom. Why is the school library any different? I wish the educational unions, the AFT and the NEA, would join us in this fight. —Martha J. Spear on “School Librarian, Where Art Thou?”

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Saturday afternoon: catching up on my copy of @sljournal with a cup of green tea and saying yes, yes, yes to the profile on #newberymedal winner @erinentrada because you know what? We need diverse books and authors. — everydayreadingclub on Instagram

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I read to the babies…. I am the librarian for a preschool to first grade early literacy campus. This year I committed to including at least one book with an underrepresented main character in every storytime. Students have seen their lives reflected in a book, and I have re-energized my teaching time. Woke is for all ages. —Michele on “‘Read Woke’ School Reading Challenge Makes an Impact”

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How about we all support measures to ban military weapons and have background checks for every person purchasing guns. Promote measures in your communities for jobs, centers for retraining for our citizens. Creating networks to check on our elderly, homeless, and withdrawn neighbors. People, we are educated and resourceful. Use your talents and time to improve our small neighborhoods and communities and then build bridges to other communities and maybe we can prevent lonely, lost individuals from harming our schools, malls, and churches. Act as a conduit for change, empower yourselves and foster positive changes and you will be blessed and rewarded for your love and effort. I know because every day I commit to positively support every student in my school community through my library services. —Mrs. D on “School Librarians’ Impassioned Response To Call To Be Armed”

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My Dream Bus!! I’m going to make this happen for students in our district #settingagoal #dentonisd —Melisa(Lisa)O’Rear @bookorear, on Twitter, about a project by Jan Wilson, in which the 2017 School Librarian of the Year finalist converted a school bus into a bookmobile. Yes!! I talk about having a bookmobile ALL THE TIME! —Melissa Leonard Let’s do this @MelissaKLeonard ! —Melisa(Lisa)O’Rea We have the bus... Let’s do a conference call on the 13th... —@Librarygal