Last week, I had the pleasure of spending time with hundreds of school library workers in Michigan during their annual conference (MASL) in Bay City. I also got to hang out with my friend John Schu (who was also presenting at the conference), which made the event extra fun. I'll share a bit more about the sessions I facilitated later in this post, but first I want to tell a story.
On the final day of the conference, as I was getting ready to leave for the airport, John and I were approached by a (nearly) brand new librarian named Yasmeen. The first thing I said to her was that her earrings (which spelled READ in big, round wooden letters) reminded me of the book Bathe The Cat by Alice B McGinty and David Roberts. Noting her name, however, John asked if she'd ever heard of Saadia Faruqi's Yasmin series. To say that our Yasmeen's face lit up in response to this question would be an understatement! In reply, Yasmeen told us several things:
Saadia Faruqi had recently followed Yasmeen on Instagram which was "the greatest moment of her life."
Yasmeen's husband, (who also shares a name with one of Saadia Faruqi's characters!) had never read a book from cover to cover until Yasmeen handed him Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero by (you guessed it!) Saadia Faruqi! Ali told Yasmeen that growing up he never encountered books featuring characters who looked like him and who shared his lived experience. What's more, that lack of representation had fostered a negative reading identity for Ali. BUT Ali's story as a reader has a happy ending, because Yasmeen was able to shift his reading identity from negative to positive by handing him the right book at the right moment. (Librarians are magical, y'all. And so, by the way, is Saadia Faruqi!).
I keep thinking about our encounter with Yasmeen, because it's such a perfect example of why:
reading identity is still vital (in an educational environment where we are, once again, obsessed with phonics)
the work of librarians matters now more than ever
As so many school districts abandon independent reading in favor of programs focused on decoding, librarians serve as a spark for the thing that makes reading stamina possible: motivation. As is true in so many contexts, there's simply no such thing as reading stamina without reading motivation, y'all. Put another way: no one runs a marathon without practice. Practice doesn't happen with motivation. Kids DO need phonics instruction and practice developing those skills... but kids who aren't motivated to tackle that work won't become proficient no matter how many assessments, stickers or ice-cream parties we give them. With that said, Yasmeen's story reminded me of a fundamental truth: reading identity is a key to reading motivation. And with that in mind, as more and more schools try to figure out ways to engage kids in skills based reading initiatives, I continue to hope that they recognize how important librarians are to this work.
BRAVE INSTEAD OF PERFECT
I delivered the opening keynote at MASL and led one concurrent session. Lately, the keynote I've been asked to share most is called Brave Instead of Perfect and centers two ideas that have become increasingly important to me:
Social media exacerbates imposter syndrome. There was a time when I'd be hard pressed to say anything negative about the way social media and PLN building affects library work, but these days... I'm finding the opposite to be more and more true. As we grapple with the ways these tools affect as humans, so too must we reckon with their impact on our professional lives and self worth.
We can't "self care" our way out of the current slew of crises librarianship faces as a profession. Self care can't replace actual support. And... librarians need our support now more than ever.
Of course, I give away many books as part of this keynote. Those titles tend to change as new books find their way into my heart, but one book I've been giving away pretty consistently (since it came out earlier this year) is I'm Sorry You Got Mad by Kyle Lukoff and Julie Kwon. As I discuss the idea that "self-care" isn't a replacement for actual support, I tell the audience that it's okay to set reasonable boundaries and say no - especially when doing so helps them better serve vulnerable kids. I admit that as a "people pleaser" myself, this is hard advice for me to take AND I acknowledge that saying no and expressing your needs can sometimes make other people grumpy. But I assure them that I have a book for those folks, too....
In all seriousness, I'm so grateful to everyone who attended the keynote and who came up to me over the following two days to share how these ideas resonated with them, too. I've been working in and/or supporting librarians for over 20 years now and I've never lived during a time when these folks more needed our support. It's an honor and a responsibility to be asked to be part of that work. I take it very, very seriously.
MY MASL SESSIONS
Click the images below to access my slide decks. This should probably without saying, but just in case... FYI: these slide decks are view only. Options for downloading your own copy have been disabled. While you're more than welcome to view and share them, I don't allow others to adapt and edit them.
🎶 BETWEEN SESSIONS
As an extremely introverted person, when I'm at a conference, I often wear headphones between sessions. Not only do they cancel out the surrounding noise, but they also afford me the opportunity to wrap myself in something familiar: music. If we're ever at a conference together and you see me wandering around with headphones on, this doesn't mean you can't say hello to me. It does mean, however, that I might not hear you when you call my name, so don't be afraid to give me a wave or tap me on the shoulder, too. For anyone who might be interested, here's my current go-to playlist.
