Radical Change Agents and Equity Warriors

by Erika Long, October 2020

When the average person encounters a library professional, it is likely at some point during the interaction there is an acknowledgement that the library is a safe space. We can accredit the library professional with this claim. I have heard it countless times. I have even said it myself. The proclamation "the libraries we work in are safe spaces" makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. Yet, the question we should really be asking ourselves is, do our learners feel invited enough by the library to determine for themselves if the library is a safe place?

Does a new student feel welcomed among cliquish groups inhabiting a significant portion of the space during lunch? Are there programs for gamers who only come to the library for computer access thirty minutes before the first bell? In what manner are engaging conversations occurring with bilingual and multilingual learners? How safe is the library for the student who has been victimized and seeks the written word to begin healing? Who provides guidance for students who have found their voice and are ready to use it? What activities are in place that cater to the student creators? Are the Black, Indigenous, people of color librarians in your district representative of your student demographics? These are questions that need answers.

School libraries have throughout time been a place where students and faculty gathered for a multitude of reasons. Some in search of a temperate environment outside of school hours. Others for collaboration, meetings, professional learning, or with a class for library day. According to the National School Library Standards (2019),

School librarians explicitly lead learners to demonstrate empathy and equity in knowledge building within the global learning community by:

1. Creating an atmosphere in which learners feel empowered and interactions are learner-initiated.
2. Initiating opportunities that allow learners to demonstrate interest in other perspectives.

I propose approaching radical inclusion from the perspective of the frameworks—Learner, School Library, and School Librarian—to make this tremendous task more palatable during a turbulent time. Placing these at the forefront of our work this year may seem typical to our role, but the imperativeness is in the technique or plan of action we implement.

Learner

If the field of education never acknowledged it before, COVID-19 made the inequities around access to technology undeniable. We can no longer ignore the huge disparities among our learners. This past March, one of our biggest concerns was how to ensure our learners had access to distance learning during the quarantine. Fast forward a few months, and it is quite possible distance learning is the manner in which learning is taking place for many schools. The use of technology and a learning management system are undoubtedly more widely used in K-12 education than ever before. Our biggest concerns now should be questioning has anyone been left out. Now is the time school librarians must commit to being the radical change agents and equity warriors we have long been labeled to ensure no one omitted.

Regarding the digital divide and equitable access to virtual learning, the simplest solution yet most radical move is boldly encouraging your district to move to 1:1 devices. Why? Because there is a decent percentage of your students who lack access to either a device and/or broadband Internet. Technology has become a larger part of the school librarian's job responsibilities, making advocacy for school districts to meet the needs of every learner a genuine request.

As a result of a survey, Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) estimates "20% of their families lack Internet access" (WSMV Digital Staff 2020). To achieve equity in education, every learner must have the means to engage in instruction. But what good is device access without broadband access in a world where educators have to utilize digital tools for instruction? The most radical way school librarians can approach equitable access and ensure every learner succeeds is by advocating to district leaders and ensuring funding dedicated to devices, mobile hotspots, and technology staff who will specialize in providing support to teachers is essential as we strive to guarantee no learner is left out of instruction. MNPS, through the Nashville mayor's direction of $24 million from CARES Act funding, is committed to providing every public school student—approximately 85,000—with "a laptop and Internet connectivity for those students who need it" (WSMV Digital Staff 2020). The challenge for Nashville colleagues in the next budget season will be advocating for funding dollars to continue in succession. Meeting district administration and city leaders with continued pressure to fully fund schools will provoke.

Transitioning every school to 1:1 will not happen overnight. What then can librarians do when their school or district lacks funding to support this level of change? Consider what options are available to supplement your resources. Seek out community partners capable of overhauling your needs. Most corporations have social or corporate responsibility platforms that are executed at the local community level. Commit to sacrificing the time to research and apply for grants and other opportunities. These grants are smaller, but they are building blocks to get to where you want to be.

• Best Buy Community Grants
• Verizon Innovative Learning
• Donors Choose
• Local Junior League

Access to technology solves the dilemma of providing instruction virtually or in a blended manner, but there must still be a focus around engagement and what programs are being offered through the library. Creating programs and activities that appeal to every student is a tremendous task, but one that must be accomplished. The radical part of building an inclusive library that feeds every learner is commitment to stepping outside of your comfort zone. The interests of learners are not always the interests of school librarians. But we still have a responsibility to include every individual regardless. Begin and end the school year with surveys to gauge the interests of the student body. Form a library council; it is ideal solution for filling the gap where a librarian lacks expertise. Students and other school community stakeholders on the library council can formulate ideas and resources to announce new programs, even if they are only offered monthly. Maybe you lack room for a makerspace. Fill the void by purchasing a drone or Sphero Minis and start a coding club. Assign meaningful tasks to student library assistants to encourage student input and ownership. Understand and accept that the library is a growing organism that consists of a range of learners and perspectives, requiring activities that reflect them. Possible survey or discussion starter questions to consider:

• What materials would you like to see in the library?
• How do you see yourself using the library?
• What would you change about the library?
• What interests/skills would you like to sharpen through activities offered through the library?

The library is a growing organism.

School Library

While common threads like technology, book clubs, makerspaces, information and digital literacy instruction, and author visits will remain key pieces of the puzzle, our current social and political climate is boldly informing us our libraries will have another new normal this fall. The combination of a global pandemic and social unrest as a result of police killings of Black people are proof libraries must shift from welcoming spaces to equitable, radically-inclusive gathering places. Yes, gathering spaces—places where every learner feels a connection, is empowered to pursue passions and civil discourse.

As educators, we have a duty to mold young people into solid citizens. If the school library is a safe place, it should be a place where voices, perspectives, learning thrives. The American Association of School Libraries (2018) National School Library Standards state:

The school library supports balanced perspectives through resources and learning opportunities by:

1. Providing challenging and authentic opportunities that address the needs of the broad range of learners.
2. Offering diverse learning experiences that allow for individual differences in learners.

We have a duty to mold young people into solid citizens.

Our young people are bearing witness to the hurt, pain, and frustration of people in the Black community. Some of them are even experiencing it themselves, as evident in the many protests teens have led throughout our country. Young people want real change. School librarians have the capacity to empower them and guide their journeys to obtaining it. Build the library as a positive space for conversation; a place for the groundwork of activism. Use your resources to lay the foundation learners need to become activists. Invite local journalists for conversations. Sponsor a field trip to your capital for Library Legislative Day. Build and recommend print and digital collections that mirror the change and grassroots advocacy students seek to develop in their own schools and communities. Like the young organizers of Teens 4 Equality, all students should "see [is] the strength in their numbers and the power of their own voices" (Renkl 2020).

School Librarian

During the 2020 President's Program, ALA Executive Director Tracie Hall stated only 6% of librarians self-identify as Black or African American (ALA President's Program 2020). Meanwhile, Black youth make up roughly 15% of the PreK-12 student population (US Census Bureau 2018). In discussing the need to increase diversity in the profession, politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams states,"Diversity occurs because you remove barriers to entry" (ALA President's Program 2020). Our profession desperately requires efforts to increase diversity so that it becomes more reflective of our student bodies. Librarians being advocacy warriors makes them the necessary folks to spearhead recruiting efforts to increase representation in the field. School librarians, it is well past time to do the work of pushing for representation in our field. Have conversations with students about librarianship as an option. Be a mentor to librarians of color in your district and state. Inquire in your professional associations about the steps they are taking to recruit and retain librarians of color. Even more, challenge the systems that minimize librarians of color in leadership positions. School library professors encourage institutions to create scholarships and fellowships to recruit minority students. Educator librarians everywhere, take your own advice. We ask other people to "do the work" and it is now our time to "do the work".

Works Cited

ALA President's Program. American Library Association, 2020. https://youtu.be/rLXLf94HCj4.

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.

Renkl, Margaret. "These Kids Are Done Waiting for Change." New York Times (June 15, 2020). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/nashville-teens-protests.html.

US Census Bureau, ed. "More Than 76 Million Students Enrolled in U.S. Schools," June 4, 2019. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/school-enrollment.html.

WSMV Digital Staff. "Metro Schools to Provide Laptop to All Public, Charter School Students." WSMV Nashville, June 9, 2020. https://www.wsmv.com/news/davidson_county/metro-schools-to-provide-laptop-to-all-public-charter-school-students/article_1334041c-a9a3-11ea-9c2a-d7809e76ab71.html.