Cultural competence and library leadership

As someone currently working as a library paraprofessional, I don’t know what’s “in the cards” for me as my library career unfolds. Will I seek or be called to formal leadership?

Scholastic Book Fair at SRCSA

Scholastic Book Fair took place this past week at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, bringing with it a fresh infusion of new books for the school library. ’Tis now my happy task to prepare these awesome books for use. Appreciation to the many volunteers who made Scholastic Book Fair possible!

Authors and librarians are NOT groomers

Amid ever-increasing incidents of book challenges, I’m worried by inflammatory rhetoric that portrays librarians and authors as “groomers” of young people. Speaking as someone who survived an attempt at grooming, I consider this characterization to be vile and obscene.
https://youtu.be/SPMmEs7KdGM

Librarians I admire (Hohl, Threets, and Helmick)

With a couple of photos that came across my timeline, I want to honor three librarians I admire: Cindy Hohl, Mychal Threets, and Sam Helmick.
https://youtu.be/2XxcIyjl6-s

‘Information Sources and Services’ (Toastmasters speech)

After an absence of several years, I recently became reinvolved with Toastmasters International. This time I thought I’d try out a club in Santa Rosa, California. Here is a practice run-through for my Ice Breaker Speech in the Toastmasters pathway, “Motivational Strategies.” As the Ice Breaker Speech is about sharing my personal story, and the focus of my graduate studies this fall will be on “Information Sources and Services,” I decided to share my experience offering Information Services: working first as a newspaper editor and then as a librarian.
https://youtu.be/IJNkCF2yjlE

Autistic librarians ‘on the job’ in libraries

As part of my studies toward “Culturally Competent Librarianship” (LIS 5350 in Fall 2024), I composed a systematic bibliography concerning autistic librarians and other workers “on the job” in libraries.

Burden of ‘approachability’ in librarianship

In thinking about librarian stereotypes, and factors that can influence patrons’ user-success and confidence: Pagowsky and Rigby (2014) suggest these factors can include “approachability, identity, warmth, openness, and body language of the librarian” (pg. 7), suggesting that “even active users, who are already in a library with research questions, carry preconceived notions that might hinder or help their access to information, depending on what they encounter and how librarians presents themselves” (Pagowsky and Rigby, 2014, p. 7).

‘Microaggression Bingo’

My studies in librarianship this week led me to the Tumblr thread Microaggressions in Librarianship. One microaggression that stood out for me, which I found particularly relatable, was grouped with assorted transgressions under “Microaggression Bingo.”

Subjectivity of cataloging

Something that stood out from my reading in Hoffman was the subjectivity of cataloging. “Just like no two catalogers will necessarily choose the same subject headings, no two catalogers will necessarily choose the same classification number” (2019, p. 169).

Controlled and uncontrolled vocabulary

Last week I composed an “Aboutness Statement” for Solitaire by Alice Oseman, which concerns a series of increasingly malicious and destructive pranks committed by a group called Solitaire. I used the word “pranks” to refer to this group’s activities but when I looked up an appropriate subject heading within a variety of authorities, I discovered that “Practical jokes” was the controlled-vocabulary term that should be used instead of “pranks.”

Subject analysis in cataloging

LIS professionals perform “subject analysis” in order to provide “subject access” to items in their collections (Holley & Joudrey, 2021, p. 159). Doing so, enables a cataloger to determine which subjects to apply to a resource, and Hoffman warns that “Subject analysis can be a complex and subjective process” (2019, p. 152).

Morale-boosting reminder : ‘All library staff’ were ‘Librarian of the Year’ in 2022

Library workers faced multiple challenges in early 2022, and it remains tough for us now. In the interest of boosting our collective morale, here is a reminder that in 2022, Library Journal honored “all library staff” as its Librarian of the Year.

UCM, LIS 5400 : Introductions

I am taking graduate courses in Library and Information Science through the online program at University of Central Missouri. For Fall 2023, I am taking LIS 5400, “Children’s and Young Adult Literature.” I created this video to introduce myself to classmates.

SRCSA library : New year and new job title

I’m looking forward to a new school year – in the library and out on the yard for recesses – at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. One significant change, effective in 2023-2024, is that my position of Instructional Materials Technician was reclassified as Library Technician II. Because this 10-month position encompasses both IMT and library operations, I don’t have to defer library tasks to the start of a school-year position like Elementary Library Technician.

April 25, 2023 is National Library Workers Day

April 25, 2023 is National Library Workers Day, a time to recognize library staff for their contributions in changing lives and supporting their communities. From the April 2023 issue of Library Worklife, here is an invitation to celebrate your library “stars.”

https://ala-apa.org/newsletter/2023/04/12/time-to-celebrate-library-workers/

Librarian competencies for library programming

In my studies this week for LIS 5804, I took a look at library programming: including core competencies for a librarian involved with programming. I was also tasked with highlighting examples of children’s and adult programming, as well as a program “that inspired” me.

Can public support quell harassment of librarians?

As I create my “ideal” collection development policy for LIS 5250, one of the things that resonates with me is, what kind of support can be “built into” the policy for a librarian who is facing attempts to remove books from the library?

Librarian of the Year, 2022 : ‘All library staff’

For “collective support” during COVID-19 and in the face of book challenges, Library Journal selected “All library staff” as the 2022 recipients of its annual Librarian of the Year award. I share this honor with “hundreds of thousands of library staff members—more than 350,000 in the U.S. alone.”

Collection development and patron requests

As a paralibrarian working in a K-8 school library, I have been confronted from time to time with requests: that the library purchase “mentor texts” for a writing program. Does the library carry a particular book? A teacher’s students need biographies of people who exhibit a “growth mindset.”

‘Library contract’ for students to check out books

As part of getting ready for a new year in SRCSA library, I’m collecting responses for the “library contract.” Parents and guardians will acknowledge that their child is responsible for the books they check out. Parents and guardians are responsible for discussing with their child, those books that seem a good fit for them. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you are enjoying my videos.