Providing Support Through the Good Times
and The Bad!
Over the last two weeks, our reading has been extensive and diverse in content. Week three's storytime topics immediately caught my attention due to my experiences working with preschool aged students and sharing quality literature through hands-on and visual experiences. It was interesting to see that the felt board is still alive and well, as noted in Krueger and Lee's article "Storytime-Palooza! Racial Diversity and Inclusion in Storytime". They point out the importance of selecting quality selections throughout the year, in which children can see themselves depicted. It is not enough to only have a variety of different felt colored faces, but we must go deeper. As with teen library selections, our libraries cannot just highlight diverse literature around holidays and highlighted months, but also to "consider that diversity is about more than just skin color; many books with anthropomorphized animals are still culturally depicting whiteness". This was one of the those "ah-ha" moments that hit hard!! When selecting books on dragons, we must also consider dragon stories from all cultures, as well as non-fiction titles.
Diverse StoryTime Resources:
As I continued to read and skim over the plethora of articles, Renate Chancellor's article, "Libraries as Pivotal Community Spaces in Times of Crisis" jumped out at me after the horrible tragedy suffered at Robb Elementary School. The library must take a stand to support the community in that town, but across our country. As teacher librarians and public librarians, we must support our community in times of crisis, but also work to build relationships before times of crisis. Librarians have responded without thinking twice about how to assist students and patrons during the COVID crisis, and librarians will be there through this new crisis to provide SEL lessons and a "safe space" within our school buildings. The article presents challenging questions about where exactly our responsibility lies, but it must lie with the communities we serve and support. Whether it's 1876 or today, "libraries have been considered a safe place for public engagement and public discourse", but we must also be the place where healing can begin. Check out this library in Uvalde, Texas.
This article may not have been directly on topic with what has happened, but it is connected. Through times of difficulty, the library cannot sit back or close their doors. As public servants, we need to face the tragedies with compassion and offer resources to begin healing and provide social/emotional guidance with community leader assistance. This is where our community partners can play a big part in providing outreach, translating materials, etc.
As a future librarian, I need to focus on my community and families everyday. Working with community partners will provide me with what will be needed in the times of crisis and struggle. This is the greatest take-away for this week. To provide the best quality education, build relationships of trust, and support my community in times of difficulty.
References
CGTN America. (2022, May 27). A local public library helps Uvalde families after
the school shooting [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=8C5qShyrYxs
Chancellor, R.L. (2017). Libraries as pivotal community spaces in times of crisis.
Urban Library Journal, 23(1).
Krueger, A.H. & Lee, T. (2016). Storytime palooza! Racial diversity and inclusion in
Great work, Liz! Your final paragraph beautifully articulated the purpose of the community partner assignment. Amazing job!
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