I Wanna Read That!

ILA/NLA/NSLA Joint Conference

October 2, 2019

Angie Manfredi�Youth Services Consultant �State Library of Iowa�angie.manfredi@iowa.gov�www.fatgirlreading.com - Presentations/Programs

Please tweet along!�#IANELib2019 �

Today!

• Who we are and what we want out of today.
• Background and history of the work.
• Reviewing critically - asking hard questions.
• Getting staff/community on board�LUNCH
• Books, so many books!
• Programming.
• What’s next?

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Who Am I?

• 11 years as youth services librarian in New Mexico, now consulting in Iowa.
• Always interested in this work.
• My goal is to make it approachable, engaging, and NON-NEGOTIABLE for librarians in EVERY library.��

Who Are You?

To Remember Today (and every day!)

• We have hard work in front of us.
• We will mess up. We don’t know everything.
• We acknowledge mistakes.
• We have to keep going.
• We’re gatekeepers.
• Time to take that seriously.

“That’s why it’s called THE WORK and not cake.”

-Dr. Laura Jiménez�Booktoss

“Just hopping on a bandwagon.”

The Brownies’ Book, 1919-1920 - “To make them know that other colored children have grown into beautiful, useful and famous persons.”

1929 - Pura Belpré begins programming at the 115th Branch of the NYPL.

“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”

-Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, 1990

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• Think about your first mirror.
• Think about your first window.

2014 - The Cat

“...When we fight for diverse books we're really just fighting for a more honest literature. Books that tell the truth. Because when we say, "We Need Diverse Books' we're really saying "We Need Books That Don't Lie To Us About Who We Are Or Whether We Exist. Because we do indeed exist and will continue to, despite what the spectacularly undiverse (read: dishonest) YA dystopias will tell you. We are indeed protagonists, not just clowns and sidekicks and villains. Not cannon fodder, despite what US history will try to tell you.”

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Daniel José Older

“We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, Native, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities*, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities.

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*We subscribe to a broad definition of disability, which includes but is not limited to physical, sensory, cognitive, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, chronic conditions, and mental illnesses (this may also include addiction). Furthermore, we subscribe to a social model of disability, which presents disability as created by barriers in the social environment, due to lack of equal access, stereotyping, and other forms of marginalization.”

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We Need Diverse Books

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Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/.

The CCBC receives most, but not all, of the trade books published annually in the United States for children and teens by large corporate publishers.

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So What Can *I* Do?

• TALK ABOUT IT. Ignoring it lets the �problem perpetuate.
• Boost minority voices/reviews/writers.
• Buy the books.
• Read the books.
• Promote the books widely.

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What Else?

• Be prepared to look critically at your entire process.
• Ask hard questions and hold yourself accountable.
• Bring in your whole community.
• Open up your collection development processes.
• It’s OK to always be learning.

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Get ready for the pushback

Bust the Lies

• We don’t have any kids like that here.
• Those kinds of books don’t circulate here.
• We only care about the QUALITY.
• I just don’t like books like that.

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Practice Key Phrases

• When you know better, you do better. (center forward motion, learning!)
• This is about all our patrons. We serve all kids. (center inclusivity/best practices for patrons.)
• It’s so great the library wants everyone to feel included and seen and welcomed. (focus on the positives of what this looks like in action.)
• This is important work. (this isn’t “trendy” it matters, your work matters!)

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BE EXCITED!

• This is not “taking

your medicine.”

• This is not a chore.
• This MATTERS.

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Dear House of Hades,

Thank you for having Nico be gay.

Dear Pride,

Thank you for keeping me grounded. Keeping to my roots. Reminding me what matters, where I come from. The smell of cooking food, the patterns you fall into, the people you love. Family. Home. A place to belong.

Love,

Alexander

Keep Learning

• Don’t be afraid to own up to your mistakes. You can learn from them too.
• Don’t assume your voice is the only voice in the room. Practice listening too.
• Share your journey with your colleagues. Find your allies and your team.
• Challenge yourself to be critical, even about things dear to you, even when it’s hard.
• Consider what you don’t know. You're a librarian, right? How could you learn it?

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Triggering and upsetting language

But I Loved That Book As A Kid

“The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” - Little House on the Prairie

“Mongoloid” - The Westing Game

“Tikki Tikki Tembo-no Sa Rembo-chari Bari Ruchi-pip Peri Pembo” �- Tikki Tikki Tembo

We need to be critical and frank in our evaluations of the books that shaped us as young readers. There are no books or authors above critique.

Who is telling the story?

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Which of these is a maluma and which is a takete?

No Such Thing As Neutral

“Bouba/Kiki Effect” first observed by Wolfgang Köhler in 1929 - observing the connection between sounds and the shape of objects.

Words mean things, we come into every story with our own biases and preconceptions.

“There is that great proverb: until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” - Chinua Achebe

Credit: #DisruptTexts work from Tricia Ebarvia

Get Some Focus

• Figure out what is important to you and what you think needs to be addressed.
• Is it storytime diversity? Is it broadening collection development? Do you want to add more books from Latinx authors? Do you want to develop programming and displays for Pride Month?
• Set tangible, specific goals.

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Brainstormin’ Time!

Change Your Library’s Collection

Does Your Library...

• Require a certain number of “professional” reviews before you buy a title?
• Weed books entirely based on number of circs?
• Do more than just display “diverse” books once a month for heritage months?
• Buy from small and independent presses?

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Advocate For Change WHERE YOU ARE

Morning Reflection & Wrap-Up

• Did you learn something new this morning?
• How did you reflect on your current processes?
• What’s one thing you plan to take back to your library?
• What are you EXCITED about?

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This student was SO excited to find a book starring him on the cover! Having books that reflect students matter! PS the pose was his idea. 😍

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-Erin Wasko,

Hunter Gifted and Talented/AIG Basics Magnet Elementary in Raleigh, NC (tweeted August 28th)

Let’s Get Bookin’!

What We’re Gonna Look At

• Primarily new books
• Smaller, independent presses
• All ages, all genres
• Not just bestsellers
• Couldn’t even begin to cover it all, so think about gaps
• Spot trends/make matches/readalikes
• #ownvoices above all �

Board Books &�Picture Books

Easy Readers & �Early Chapters

Middle Grade

Young Adult

NOW WHAT DO I DO WITH THEM!?

These Books Are Useless If They Just Sit There

• You can’t just put them face-out and walk away.
• You can’t just shrug your shoulders and say, “See?”
• Program with them, booktalk with them, get excited by and about them.
• You lead. Lead with passion.

Be Specific and Deliberate in Displays

Practice is deliberate and constant. It becomes expected both of you and your entire library and staff. It becomes routine.

Keep Learning

• Kirkus Collections
• Our Story app from WNDB
• Monthly webinars from the State Library of Iowa
• LGBTQ Reads
• Rich in Color release calendar
• Be critical!

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Awards

Coretta Scott King Award (lots of libraries carry these winners: but what about the Honor books?)

Schneider Family Book Award (for books that best embody the disability experience)

Pura Belpré Award (another good list to check on the Honor titles)

Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award

Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature

American Indian Youth Literary Award

Amelia Bloomer List (feminist literature for ages 0-18)

“The great work begins.”

-Tony Kushner

Angie Manfredi�Youth Services Consultant �State Library of Iowa�angie.manfredi@iowa.gov�www.fatgirlreading.com - Presentations/Programs

Please tweet along!�#IANELib2019 �