<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><div class="gmail-x_elementToProof" style="border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Hi everyone!</font></span></div><div class="gmail-x_elementToProof" style="border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br aria-hidden="true"></font></div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><p dir="ltr" style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;line-height:1.38">As you may have seen, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102164439/michigan-prisons-ban-spanish-and-swahili-dictionaries-to-prevent-inmate-disrupti" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;text-decoration-line:underline">NPR recently reported</span></a><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"> Michigan Department of Corrections facilities have restricted the use of and/or banned non-English language dictionaries. Dictionaries and other reference materials are some of the most important foundational materials in a prison library. Dictionaries also are among the most requested materials by incarcerated people both internally and to outside groups who send books. </span></p><br aria-hidden="true"></span></font></div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">We (concerned library workers and community members) authored</span><a href="https://medium.com/@norton.nicholasj/dont-ban-dictionaries-michigan-department-of-corrections-62f194908461" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit;text-decoration-line:underline"> an open letter demanding MDOC reverse this ban. </span></a><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Please consider signing on to this letter and sharing it with your networks as we work for a more equitable and humane prison library system. Thank you for your consideration!</span></span><br aria-hidden="true"></font></div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br aria-hidden="true"></span></span></font></div><div class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">With gratitude,</span></span></font></div></div><div class="gmail-x_elementToProof" style="border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:12pt;line-height:inherit;font-family:Calibri,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span class="gmail-x_gmail_default" style="border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:small;line-height:inherit;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:inherit"><span style="border:0px;font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Meghan McGowan</span></span></font></span></div></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font size="1" face="verdana, sans-serif">Meghan McGowan</font><div><font size="1" face="verdana, sans-serif">she | they </font></div></div></div></div>