A month after #alaac24, I’ve unwittingly found myself in not just one book club but three, including one for The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann and one for Leading a Culture of Reading by Lorraine M. Radice. (ALA members can join the former through the Library History Round Table Reads.)
Sitting in my childhood public library on a visit to my hometown, I realize it’s literally the first time I’ve ever been in a book club. As a child, reading was a solitary act. I remember taking the bus to this very library to check out a book about people I was told were sinners but—now that I encountered them in public school—I couldn’t understand why. After the bus ride home, I quickly borrowed the jacket from The Goblet of Fire, of all things. (My mom was in the minority of parents in our congregation who allowed us to read Harry Potter.)
In Leading a Culture of Reading, Radice—a school district leader and former classroom teacher—discusses the importance of a visible reading culture. There’s a tension between this idea and the premise of Patterson and Eversmann’s The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians. Thinking of my own childhood, I wonder if booksellers and librarians’ lives are necessarily secret. I wonder if—in a climate of censorship—a secret reading life is better than none at all? Or does that make the work of cultivating a visible culture of reading all the more timely? I am proud to be in a school district that believes the latter.
In her book, Radice shares her experience cultivating reading culture within her own district. Two themes emerge: inclusiveness and collaboration, both of which are ALSC core values and align with ALSC core competencies. Specifically, Radice encourages collaboration between school and public libraries. As an organization dedicated to pursuing excellence for library service to children, ALSC is uniquely positioned to do this work. Accordingly, one of ALSC’s initiatives as part of its 2023–2026 Strategic Plan includes “Building and bolstering strong relationships with mission-aligned organizations that are part of the ecosystem of children, literacy, and libraries.”
On at least a weekly basis I am in school libraries as a volunteer and public libraries as a patron. At the public branch I’m at most often, one librarian knows not just me but the child I work with there by name. It struck me: I have built strong relationships within these spaces. Why have I not bolstered them by building strong relationships across them? Participating in a book club is what encouraged me to answer this question.
How do you build and bolster strong relationships with others that are part of the ecosystem of children, literacy, and libraries? (For me—at least to start—it’s book clubs.) Drop a line in the comments or at ktaksier@ufl.edu.
Guest blogger Kelley Taksier (they/them/theirs) is a former classroom teacher pursuing a PhD in special education at the University of Florida. Currently their research focuses on students’ access to texts in public schools. As a part of this work, they collaborate with school librarians.
This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency I: Commitment to Client Group.
If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form. Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.