Hi, Miss Julie

What is calling in? To state it simply, it’s a much nicer way of calling people out:

Much like calling out, calling in aims to get the person to change their problematic behavior. The primary difference between calling in and calling out is that calling in is done with a little more compassion and patience.

EveryDay Feminism

I’m not here to make friends–yet I desperately want all of you to like me–but more importantly, I want to share with you some things I believe to be true, and sharing these truths is much more important to me than being liked. I feel the need to call some of ya’ll in. So–here we go.

cool, real cool

I have some bad news:

Libraries are not cool.*

Libraries will never be cool.

Libraries are for freaks and geeks, nerds and know it alls; the voracious reader and the most vulnerable people in our communities. The elite and privileged do not need us, so let’s stop chasing them the way I chased emotionally unavailable alcoholic men in my early twenties.

Of course libraries are more than books (there’s often brick and ugly carpeting and a vending machine that’s always broken), but when it comes down to it, people come to us for books. Add other amazing things if you want (but wow can we cool it with the “MORE THAN BOOKS” screaming?), but remember, people still want books from us!

do more with less needs to die

The phrase “ nimble staff” is dangerous. Should staff be flexible and pitch in when needed? Sure! Should you have a computer specialist from your IT department helping kids find books? No. Let people be experts and do what they are good at. Getting to do what you’re good at is essential for happy staff, and happy staff lead to happy patrons!!!

Our job is not to be belittled, abused, or harassed. Our job is not to replace city hall, mental health care, or adequate social services for our communities. Libraries are information hubs, a center of a wheel, and it’s our job to set people on their courses path armed with accurate information.

Also, if you want people to use libraries, you need to invest in libraries, not cut them:

We found that as investments, such as revenue, staffing, and programs, increased, so did critical use measures, such as visitation and circulation. In the same way, as investments were reduced, mostly in reaction to post-recessionary budgetary reductions, we saw decreases in library use. Another important finding is that even though investments might have declined, any decreases in use did not drop by the same magnitude. People continue to use their local public libraries—for access to books and information and for gathering as a community.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/americans-like-their-libraries-but-they-use-them-less-and-less-pew/477336/

children’s librarians, we need to talk

I’ve seen a lot more Kindergarten readiness programs coming out of libraries lately, and while that in and of itself is ok, I guess (we’re not school, you know), some of the promises y’all have been making to parents are out of bounds, and the way you’re acting is insulting to our colleagues, the early childhood educators.

“While I have a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, I do not have an advanced degree in early childhood literacy.  What I do have is the passion and ability to research information and share it with others.”

from the ALSC blog I refuse to link to it you know how to google

Think of the blazing hot rage you feel when some random person wants to come “read to the kids”? Now think of how that above statement must feel to preschool teachers? Early childhood educators are underpaid, disrespected, and instead of demeaning another profession that is primarily female (and the lowest paid in this low-paying profession are overwhelmingly women of color), children’s librarians should be advocating for quality early childhood education opportunities in their communities instead of insisting that librarians can replace them. Support, not supplant.

Just because you love Jason Reynolds doesn’t mean you don’t have work to do

Melvil Dewey is trash and so is the Dewey Decimal System and it’s high time we had a different/better/more inclusive/anti-racist classification system.

If you’re a white librarian, you can and must do better when it comes to being inclusive and anti-racist. If that sentence makes you feel defensive then that’s how you know I’m right. As a white librarian myself I know I have work to do, too.

At every conference you attend, talk to publishers about diverse books. Ask specifically about Black and Native American characters. It will be uncomfortable. But again: you can’t always want to be liked. The truth is more important than being nice.

I’ll say it

the time for silence has passed

If you’re suffering in your job, talk to someone. Your coworkers, hr, staff from other libraries, use employee assistance programs, put your feelings on Twitter, whatever you’re capable of doing. Because silence is complicity, and those who can speak need to speak up for those who cannot. Whether it’s micro-aggressions against a co-worker or a lack of support for vulnerable patrons, band together and speak up–one voice might struggle to be heard, but a chorus is impossible to ignore.

*I think libraries would be better served striving for the urban dictionary definition of cool (read at your own risk, there is a swear word!)

A cool person to me is being real. Being themselves and not caring how other people view what they say or do. When I say you’re cool, that’s what I mean. Today too many people are concerned how others view them.