Welcome!

Research shows that children are more successful in school and beyond when they feel their identity is respected and when they experience a variety of people and cultures unlike their own. As a librarian, being responsible for providing an environment that celebrates diversity is undoubtedly a daunting task. This page seeks to explore ways to help create a place that allows students to feel safe, welcomed, and valued. It also strives to be a place where open dialogue happens. I invite you to be yourself and share in this safe space. As we learn from others, we can explore ways to establish a brave space that empowers all who rely on us for help.

Elizabeth Barrera Rush
District Library Specialist, Texas

Looking Within
by Becky Calzada

I recently read the book, I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown; in this powerful and very personal account, she shares nine words a fellow white student shared after a class field trip to visit a plantation: "Doing nothing is no longer an option for me." Those words speak powerfully to the current call to action many librarians have answered and engaged in. Knowing many of our students in our district felt fearful was unacceptable for me. Doing nothing was no longer an option.

Our library spaces have always been spaces of refuge for many but our spaces and collection also provide an opportunity for much more. Being kind and teaching kids to be kind isn't enough; it requires us to be strategic and intentional in our own learning and professional growth. So I'm launching this space with a focus on personal introspection. This subtopic offers subscribers several resources to delve into and consider the interpersonal work that must be done. Read More >>

Column

Flowing through Change

There has long been a lot of talk of change in the library profession: change of attitude, change of perception, change of title, changing the name of the space, change related to equity, change of our students, the list seems endless. Perhaps what we need to speak more to is the reason that change is necessary for growth, innovation, and passion.

Lesson

Getting Started in Your Library [4:44]

It can be difficult to know where to start once you have decided to take action to improve your library's services for Black youth. And regardless of your race, it can be difficult to discuss race and racism in the workplace. In this video lesson, Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Casey Rawson offer some concrete suggestions for how you can get started, or keep going, with this important work.

Grab 'n' Go

Restorative Justice Explained

This infographic offers some interpretations of restorative justice for school library practice.

Article

Full Voice. Underserved Populations: We have the Power to Imagine Better

Providing safe space for students also means ensuring that we are mindful, intentional, and aware of the issues our students are facing in their day-to-day lives. If we are truly mindful of the challenges faced by our students we must focus on the real world issues that impact their lives.

Feature

Librarians as Paradigm Shifters for Justice

School librarians, like classroom teachers, can be socialized into punitive cultures in schools. However, school librarians can and do actively resist these norms. Here, Maisha T. Winn offer four pedagogical stances for paradigm shifting toward justice that can inform the work librarians are doing in schools.