Today I have 2 virtual appearances. The first, is part of the Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers programming that Robin Bradford and I do together. Today and tomorrow we are facilitating live Q&A sessions coordinated by the State Library of South Carolina. Robin and I recorded sessions for them to view last month and now we are appearing to have a discussion and take questions.
Robin and I have been doing this for almost a year now, and I am starting to feel like we are finally making a dent, a very small dent, but a discernible dent, in the conversation about being actively anti-racist and NOT hiding behind neutrality in libraries. How do I know? Well the questions we are getting are less "well meaning" or delicately phrased. Instead we are straight up getting questions that challenge us and everything we told them in the pre-recorded talks. People are coming at us with feelings, difficult feelings. No holds barred.
This is GOOD. Our main goal is to make people uncomfortable. To challenge the status quo. And, most importantly, to remind every single person in the organization that they need to ACT. People don't change their behavior until they feel physically uncomfortable about the choices they have been making, and the way they have been acting. We are actively trying to make people uncomfortable, and over the last few presentations, we can see it is working.
Now the hard work begins. Robin and I are ready to deal with the personal attacks that come when people are called out and challenged, when systemic structures are attacked. We are not naive, but we are committed to this work. Thankfully, when things start to get personal, we have each other's backs and don't back down with the individuals and the institutions that hire us. So far, we have had support. We will see if that continues into year 2.
After a 2 hour break, I am heading to Radnor, PA to do one of my favorite things-- an all staff training on the basics of RA Service: Flip the Script and Think Like A Reader [click there for slide access].
I love when a library invests in this interactive and useful training for all staff because not only can all library staff be involved in your service to leisure readers and viewers, but also, this training program is an excellent team building exercise for any library. We engage in an in person exercise and I leave the library with a plan to continue the learning and team building for the next 3 months [at least].
What better way to build your team culture than through the staff's shared love of reading. Every single person on staff, yes even the custodial staff, have a connection to books and reading in their backstory, or they wouldn't;t work at the library. They could make more elsewhere.
Side story: I once had an administrator challenge this and tell me I was wrong. I told her to trust me. She thought for sure her janitor and business manager only worked at the library because it was "easy" and they had a great pension. Well, when I came, she was shocked to see how engaged both were with my training. And after my visit, they both starting performing better at work. She admitted to me and them that she was wrong. That is excellent leadership: a willingness to have your preconceived notions challenged and the strength to admit when you were wrong. Okay now back to today....
While I have made tweaks to provide this RA training program in a 100% virtual environment, it works best if all staff are together in one room. Whether or not I am there in person is less important. Tonight, that is what we are doing. All staff are together and I will be on the screen. And all of us-- me and the staff-- are super excited for this evening.
Let me know if you want me to training your staff in 2022. Click here for my pricing and upcoming schedule. There is limited virtual appearance space in December and I already have events into May. Contact me to talk about your needs.
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