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discovering social studies that can pique curiosity in history, geography, economics,
and culture. It is well established that reading is an activity that spans social,
economic, and cultural capital components (Ade-ojo & Duckworth, 2017; Bourdieu
& Wacquant, 1992; Grenfell et al., 2012), and growing evidence indicates that
reading can cultivate empathy in readers (Bal & Veltkamp, 2013; Black & Barnes,
2021; Crameri, 2017; Mathies, 2020; Merga, 2017; Stansfield & Bunce, 2014).
When young adults can find adolescent, social-studies-based literature in an
Dr. Abbie Strunc is the LFL, that can spark curiosity and a desire to read, providing a means for further
department chair for the cultivation of “historical ideas, attachments, and identities” (Levesque & Croteau,
School of Teaching and 2022, p. 120). Moreover, reading stories can “humanize historical periods and
Learning and Associate
Professor in the College of events” (Hinton et al., 2014, pp. 23–24), creating new ways of thinking about the
Education at Sam Houston past and, in turn, about why the present is the way it is. By sharing those kinds of
State University. She is a stories in an LFL, community members not only share in a community-building
2021 recipient of the Texas activity but also offer others an opportunity to read the same story.
A&M System’s Chancellors
Teacher Academy. Her Concerns About LFLs
research interests include
curriculum, educational Some critics of LFLs argue that the most frequent locations of the sites are in
policy, discourse analysis, “affluent neighborhoods, often white, where book scarcity isn’t a problem at all,
Critical Discourse Analysis, potentially leaving behind the communities that could most benefit from their
teacher preparation, and presence” (Wilson, 2020, p. 48). While the intent of the LFL movement is to provide
the teacher pipeline. Dr. free access to books in areas of the United States (and the world) in which there is
Strunc also serves on limited access to a public library or books in general, the reality may perhaps prove
the Texas Association of
Teacher Educators board to be different than envisioned. Wilson’s (2020) work examined the number of LFLs
as first vice president; is in a section of metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, and Portland, Oregon. The two cities
Managing Editor for the were selected for their similar population sizes and land sizes, while the income
TxEP journal; is an active spread, educational attainment, and racial/ethnic demographics were different, with a
member of Association for distinct, almost inverse, relationship between Black/African American and Caucasian
Teacher Educators, AACTE, populations in the two cities. The findings of the study noted 182 chartered LFL
among others; and serves
as legislative advocate locations in Portland and only 48 chartered LFL locations in Detroit. The results of
for the Texas CASA: the Wilson study indicated that some of the points raised by LFL critics have merit,
Court Appointed Special but their data did not indicate that, when LFLs are present, young adults with access
Advocates. to the books were not curious and engaged with the materials they found.
Another concern regarding the use and practice of LFLs is that, for those
abbie .strunc@shsu .edu
chartered through the 501(c) nonprofit organization, the individual who holds the
charter has the “rights” to curate the LFL site. The individual who holds the charter
is granted permission to filter, ban, or remove books that do not fit within their
comfort level. This allows one individual to have a measure of control over the
content available to all who visit the LFL site (Wilson, 2020). Recommendations
for addressing the content-monitoring practices include LFL training either after
or prior to issuing the charter for a site to reduce areas of unintentional censorship.
Harris (2021) recommended a partnership between local libraries and the LFL sites
to apply more consistent, professional practices to curation of materials in the LFL.

Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework for this case study was from van Dijk’s (2016) socio-
cognitive perspective, the “Discourse-Cognition-Society triangle” (p. 64). This
approach to discourse studies moves beyond the idea of studying the impact of
communication on society, going a step further to consider how communication can
impact thought patterns. What this means is that the social realities expressed through

50 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators