How school libraries adjusted when Queen Elizabeth died

When Fort Worth elementary school librarian Mindy Selby arrived at work Thursday morning, she hadn’t heard the news that Queen Elizabeth II was “under medical supervision” at Balmoral Castle. Hours later, Buckingham Palace confirmed in a statement that Britain’s longest-serving monarch had died at 96. “Once the news hit today, I began weeding my books showing Elizabeth as current UK monarch,” Selby said Thursday. Selby, who works at Hubbard Heights Elementary, used the moment as a “mini-lesson” for students on how libraries have to be refreshed whenever major historical events occur. “Otherwise I am not giving them correct information,” she said. She expects more questions once the students have time to process and hear more about the historic event over the weekend.

In the coming days Selby and the hundreds of other librarians across Fort Worth schools will complete this extensive process — as students learn about the historic moment that is Queen Elizabeth II passing. Other books that will need to be weeded include those showing Charles and William in their now-outdated roles. In Arlington, most of the classes for the day were done when the official announcement was made. But Jeff Beck, the head of the social studies department at Martin High School, said there are some lessons he sees for students when they return to class Friday. “The Queen of England is a head of state, but not head of government, whereas in the United States, we don’t have a distinction between those two things,” he said. “In the US, we expect our presidents to do the ceremonial things as well as the actual governance.” Other teachers, including those in world history classes, might discuss the “unwinding of colonialism in the 20th century,” which occurred during Elizabeth’s 70-year reign, Beck said. The British empire was at its peak just years before the queen’s birth, claiming over a quarter of all land on earth. Countries from India to Kenya broke away during the 20th century, becoming independent. But Beck said that the distance of the death and the old age of the queen make the event less relevant to local students than other recent historic events in the U.S.