I Have Concluded My Time on the Library Board But I Am Using the Event As Another Chance to Encourage All of You to Run for a Board

Last night, I completed my 6th, 4 year, elected term as a Board member of the La Grange Public Library. In stepping down, that moment also marked the end of my official connection to a library-- any library. I no longer can serve on system committees or access the statewide directories. I can and will remain a member of ILA and ALA which are membership organizations, so simply by being a librarian I am eligible to be a member.

I could write a post about everything I accomplished and all the good I did in those 24 years, but that's not the point of this post. It isn't even the point of why I gave all of those years to the library. Rather it is to remind you all that I did it for the advocacy, which will not end with my leaving the board.

I want to call you all to action because all of you - simply because you are a library worker-- are well positioned to follow my lead and run for your local school or library board.

To be fair, this is not a new call to action from me. I know of at least 6 people I have helped go from the idea of running for school or library board election to holding office and I know there are countless more who have heard me talk about making this move who pursued it on their own. 

But formally, I began doing this in 2017 at the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference with this program: 

We Should Run: Library Workers in Public Office:

Library workers from all areas of service are uniquely positioned as advocates in our communities. Having more library workers in public office leads to stronger boards, stronger libraries, and stronger communities on local, state, and federal levels. Not to mention that it's good for our own professional development! But where to begin? We will share our personal experiences from the day we decided to step out from behind the desk and jump into the political fray, to our current positions at the big table. We’re here to encourage you to step up, advocate, and lead too.

I reprised this program a few years later and then more reentry, other, younger library workers have taken up the call and presented a version of it as well.

Look, I know that being a library worker is harder than ever, but I also know that our library and school boards need good people more than ever. They need people who understand the institutions, who fight for intellectual freedom, who will not give in to radicals and fascists. 

There is never a good time to serve. Life is busy. When I started in 2001. I was a baby librarian. I had no children. I hadn't even written my first book (of 4 at this point). Now my kids are grown and out in the world. I was there through all of that. It was not always easy. My husband and I made a lot of personal sacrifices to make sure that I could be at every meeting and as a Trustee at LGPL  I concurrently served on regional and statewide committees as well. But all of it was to fight for libraries, for funding, and for intellectual freedom. I was there to serve the people my community, to give them the library they deserved, and to fight for every library in IL and across the country.

Our public school and libraries are foundational to our democracy. If we, as people who made this work our profession cannot stand up to fight to save them, who will.

I wanted to mark today-- the first day of me not being on the Library Board in 24 years, the first day of me not being attached to a library since I began working as a professional librarian--in the best way I know how-- by calling on all of you to stand up and serve.

Contact me if you want to talk about getting more involved in your local school or library board. I offer this mentoring for free. Let's talk about it. 

I want my legacy to be that library workers flooded their school and library boards all over this country. Together we have power in numbers to effect change everywhere, even in those places where you don't think change can happen. It can, but it starts with you taking the first steps.

I have said this to many of you in person, many times, but I believe if you want to see the change you have to do the work to make the change. I have made the change in my community and state, but now I want to help us all do it. 

As bad as it all seems, we can do this if ALL OF US are willing to fight. I know that fight will look different depending on who you are and where you live, but I am willing to help you figure out the best way for you to do this.

One person encourages another, and then those people encourage more. And then we all reap the benefits as our numbers grow exponentially. 

Today is a beginning for me and I hope, for many of you too.

RA for All Repeat: Stop Spreading the Fake News That Library Books Are Free

I has something else planned for today, but it can wait until tomorrow. Why? Because the other day I was giving one of my standard talks and slipped in the reminder that we should not tell people our books are free, but rather remind them that they are prepaid. 

I say this all of the time, but I often forget it is the first time some people are hearing it when I say it. The chat in this presentation lit up after I talked about "pre-paid" vs "free," and I made a note [an actual note on a post-it] to re-post this Call to Action where I explain the position.

So here it is. 

Call to Action: Stop Spreading the Fake News That Library Books Are Free

Today I have a quick Call to Action, one that is very easy for all of you to start doing right now. It is a small language change, but it can make a huge difference for our entire profession. Here it is:

You need to stop telling people that our services are free and instead say they are PRE-PAID.

First, "free" is NOT accurate. People do not pay to check out the books and movies as they borrow them, but everyone does pay for the library and its services through their tax dollars. Yes, even renters pay because their rent pays for the taxes for the owner of the building.

We are a profession which is all about accuracy, about combatting "fake news," and yet we perpetuate our own fake news by telling people our services are free.

Reminding people that for example, they can take more than 1 book because they are free is NOT TRUE. They have paid for them, just earlier, as part of their taxes. We need to be more accurate on principle, yes but there is more to it.

Second, when we aren't being honest about the cost of our services, when we dismiss them as "free," we lull our patrons into a false sense that these services will always be there no matter what. If they forget that they have paid for these services as taxes, when the talk of tax freezes or tax cuts comes around, it will be much easier for the public to argue for cutting the library's tax line because they forget that they pay for it. All that "free" talk means they aren't reminded about the actual cost.

We need to be advocates for the good feels that the library gives people and equate that as a cost benefit. I live in a high tax area. I get it. But when my friends and neighbors complain about their taxes, I remind them what a great deal they are getting through the library [and the schools]. I tell people to think what it would actually cost them to check out those materials, stream those shows, buy audio books, go to great programs, etc.... Now look at your library tax line. It is a steal.

We have to talk about the money openly, honestly, and accurately or we will loose the financial support we need to survive.

Third, and this one is just human nature, people don't value things that are free as much as they value things they pay for. Reminding people, frequently, that they have pre-paid for the library and all of its services, elevates the value of the institution.

Every time you remind patrons that the services and items they are so please with are PRE-PAID you are advocating for your public library, actually for every public library. You are advocating for the institution itself. You are advocating for equal service to all, everywhere, all of the time.

But every time you tell people the service is free, you are undermining everything. I know you think you are trying to help by letting people know there is no charge at the time of service, but there is a charge. We have budgets, budgets that are shrinking. We do a lot with very little already, any less and we will disappear. People need to know that. They need to realize that their tax dollars are key to our survival.

So please, consider using PRE-PAID when you talk about user costs of our services. And remind them often so that if a time comes when people in your town start talking about budget cuts, they won't even consider the library's tax line. Why? Because that line is one they respect, one they use, one they know has monetary value, one that isn't free, one that requires dollars to survive. And it is our responsibility to stop the fake news of free and accurately proclaim...PRE-PAID!

For past Call to Action posts, click here

RA Services Means Getting Your Books Out of the Library

As I travel the country training libraries on everything from basic RA Service principles to hand selling books, understanding genres, and how to be actively anti-racist, one common issue comes up every single time. And it is something we need to address before any progress can be made on serving leisure readers of any age from any circulating library: 

We need to stop thinking of ourselves as the guardians of the books, the gatekeepers, and instead remember that our goal is to do everything we can to get the books out of our buildings, or checked out of our digital collections.

If you work at a public or school library, you need to remember, these are NOT your books. They belong to the users. Literally. Your goal is to get them off the shelf and into peoples hands. If a title is too popular, buy more copies, or, if money is tight, work to create while you wait lists or displays to help people find titles they would like in the meantime.

Older titles not circulating? Highlight them on displays, put them face out, make lists for your website or social media. Still not circulating? Weed it! Even if you think it is a classic. Weed it! Last time I checked most of you work at libraries that are about serving readers right now. You are not a historical archive. Stop caring about classics. 

[Also, an important side note: what you think is a classic may be boring and useless to your users. For example, you loved Little House on the Prairie as a kid, but your young readers today would much rather read the "Dear America" books set on the prairie. For more on this topic, see my classics change post here.]

Also, here is another "library science" things we insist on doing that explains how deep this misguided foundation runs. For some reason we have this notion that alphabetical order is THE ONLY classification system we can use for fiction. As a result, we shelve series titles in alphabetical order?!?!?!? But ask yourself this question: When have you met a reader who reads series in alpha order? You haven't. They read them in numerical order. By shelving series in alpha order we make it harder for the books to get into readers' hands. [I have a longer post about this topic here.]

Those are but two examples. This issue rears its head in so many training programs in the questions I receive, some times it is not the direct question, but it underlies the question being asked, and other times it is right in my face. I just want everyone who reads this to stop and think about the fact that your job is to set your items free. Full stop. That is the easiest way to understand service to leisure readers both from the service desk perspective and the collection development side.

For more detail on this topic, you can read my 2019 post entitled:

Call to Action: You Are Not Done Working Until Every Single One of Your Books Is Checked Out At Once

This gets at the nuance a bit more. But the basic goal is the same-- Don't be a gatekeeper, set you books free!

RA for All Flashback: Ask Patrons What They Didn't Find and Then Actually Listen to Their Answers

As I warned you a few days ago, my attention  is focused on the Horror blog during the month of October. So there will be days of re-runs throughout the month. Today is one of those days as I am offering useful advice from June of 2019.

Click on over to RA for All Horror for a brand new post about the HWA's Library Committee and to view a sample panel I hosted for Northern IL's library workers. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2019

Call to Action: Ask Patrons What They Didn't Find and Then Actually Listen To Their Answers

One of the biggest changes in RA Service from when I began until now is that we have gone from it being a transactional service like reference-- where we only worry about being asked for a title suggestion and then giving it-- to a conversation based service-- where we create a culture where books and reading are discussed, titles are shared both by staff and patrons, and ultimately books are discovered through the overall experience.

To that end, I have posted a variety of conversation starters here on the blog. These are ideas to spark conversations about books in our libraries-- both our in buildings and online.

We spend a lot of time creating conversations around the books we have. We try to book talk under the radar titles, we ask patrons to share books they have liked, or even the ones they have tried and did not enjoy. All in order to learn about how our collections are working for our patrons.

However, one thing we do not do explicitly ask them bout is what we don't have. Things they wish we did, but don't. In the wake of spending so much time thinking and talking about how we provide Reader Focused Collection Development one of the questions that kept coming up is how do we craft collections for those who don't use our libraries. How do we know what they want so that we can have it for them? So we can get them to come and use it. So that we can be for everyone, not just our regulars.

Now there is no easy answer to this question, but I think the key to starting this conversation is encapsulated in this tweet from a librarian in SC from back in April. [I am using it with her permission.]

Click here for original Tweet

Since we cannot figure out the best way to bring non users in to our buildings, if we begin by asking those who do come what they wanted but didn't find, we can start to see what we are NOT providing for everyone.

Our users already love and appreciate us. Yes, they ask for us to purchase specific things they want, but often these are new items or something on a topic or genre that is new to them. However, this larger question, which isn't about a specific title or item, just to ask them what they wanted but they couldn't;t find, this is a great way for us to start to get to the root of where we are not meeting our community's needs.

Now, as I said above, there is no easy answer to this question of how do we craft collections for the the people who aren't coming in, but I think asking our users where there are gaps in our collections, that is a great place to begin delving into this important topic.

So take Andria's advice and instead of asking if they found everything they NEEDED today, change it up and ask if there was anything they WANTED that they couldn't find. And then, here is the most important part....

....Listen to their answers. Take note of them. No matter how pie in the sky or completely undoable they seem.

Within those answers, be they super practical or way too expensive or anything in between, those answers hold the key to making our collections and services better. We have to be able to listen to what we don't have without freaking out that we already do too much and we can't be everything to everybody.

I am not saying we have to do everything our patrons ask. Rather, what I am saying is we can learn a lot more from our patrons and their needs [especially about our collections] when we ask the right questions, listen, and really ponder where the gaps are. And especially if we look at a variety of different answers to this question, put them together, and see where the commonality is. 

For example, I have a friend at a large library near me whose World Languages collection is exploding, and yet many people still don't even know they have it and keep asking why they don't have one. She realized it would probably be doing even better if they moved it from the back corner, to right up front. This would both raise its physical visibility and it will also give her room to grow it with more accurate data on who actually wants it.

That is just one small example. No matter where you work, try asking what patrons couldn't find and see what happens. Just asking them will make your patrons happy, but when you listen and take note, you have the chance to make a well reasoned change for the better too.

For past Call to Action posts, click here.

Start a Book and Don't Finish It: A Call to Action Flashback

Earlier this month, I had this post about the importance of reading what you want. It struck a chord with many so I thought I would end this week with another reminder on this same topic.

This post comes from my Call To Action series [access the the archived series is here]. It is entitled, " Start a Book and Don't Finish It."

But before I get to the specific post, a note about my Call to Action posts. Although I don't do them as regularly as before, this series is full of useful information. These are my no holds barre, tough love rants, posts where I tell you the way it really is and challenge the status quo.

The archive is worth a look as many of the topics are [unfortunately] timeless. 

But today....today I want to remind you why it is NOT necessary to finish every book you start.

Have a great weekend. I hope you have the chance to start [and stop, if you want] a book or two.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

Call to Action: Start a Book and Don't Finish It

To end this week I wanted to have a Call to Action that requires you NOT do something for a change.

Consider this post your permission to stop reading any book, ever, that you are not personally enjoying. Just put it down. Right now. Seriously. Stop and back away from the book.

I am not sure when it became a badge of honor to finish a book you aren't enjoying. People complain when they are slogging through something, and then pat themselves on the back when they finally finish it, like they deserve recognition or a medal.

WHY?

We should read widely to help the greatest number of patrons. Yes, this statement is true. But, we also have a limited amount of time to read. It is actually just as important that we spend enough time reading what we want to, for fun, because that is what keeps our passion for what we do alive. How can we help match people with the books they will love if we aren't in touch with what we love and why? You use the same skills and enthusiasm to help others that you gain from your own experiences. You might be suggesting different books, but the sentiment and the goals are the same. You want to capture for the person in front of you, the joy and pleasure of a good read, by suggesting the perfect book for them, but if you don't have your own joy of reading and an understanding of what you love and why as a basis, you cannot begin to help others.

This is the basic principle to all of my RA training sessions by the way. I spend most of the time allowing the group to reconnect with a favorite book and fall in love with it all over again. We don't even worry about helping others find a good read, rather we focus on each individual being able to share their book to others.

This strategy is a huge departure from the way RA Service is usually taught, and I can tell you first hand, it works.

But back to the issue at hand today-- not finishing a book you aren't enjoying.

As I say in my 10 Rules of Basic RA Service:

5.   Read widely (at least speed read widely)     -- reading ABOUT books is just as important as reading the book

I stand by this. If you aren't enjoying a book personally but feel like you either should know about it because it is an area you don't normally read in OR you think you have patrons who will enjoy it, read about it. Go to NoveList and Goodreads in particular to see reviews and actual reader comments [5 star and 2 star are the best]. Go to my 10 Rules page and scroll to the bottom for more resources.

The point is, there is absolutely NO REASON you have to finish a book you are not personally enjoying....ever. Well, there is one reason: if you are leading it in a book club. But other than that, you can stop.

I am making this a Call to Action though because when we refuse to stop books we aren't enjoying, we make it harder for our patrons to also do this. We tell them to stop after 50 pages if they don't like it. We tell them it's fine, we didn't write the book, why do we care if they read the whole thing and like it. We tell them to come back and try something else instead. But our actions speak louder than our words. 

If we make a big deal about slogging through books we hate, they will be embarrassed and ashamed if they stop. I stopped reading books I didn't like personally years ago. I still have former patrons who tell me that the best thing I ever did for them was give them the freedom to do the same- by my words and my actions.

So for today's Call to Action, let's all start a book and not finish it. Let's make sure we let others know we did it too. Be proud of the DNF designation. Don't be ashamed. Let's admit that there are books we didn't finish just because we didn't want to. And let's remind ourselves, our coworkers, and our patrons that this act of not finishing a book is not only okay, it is good for us all. It frees us up to rekindle our joy of reading a good story, which in turn will make us better at matching patrons with their perfect read.

Let yourself off the hook. It really is no big deal to start a book and not finish it. I promise you because I do it all of the time and the library police have not put me in jail. This is not life or death here. It's reading. And yes, it is my career and I am very serious about it, but I also know there are no consequences from NOT finishing a book, but there very well could be some negative ones if I did force myself through it.

For past Call to Action posts [but be warned most ask you to do something] click here.

A Summary and Rant About the Recently Completed ALA Annual

I saved this for Friday, a few days after the conference ended, to give myself some time to settle down a bit. Also, leaving my thoughts, disappointment, frustration, and call for more action here on the Friday of a long weekend, when I have a positive post set fore the return to work on Tuesday, is better for all of our mental health.

I am going to cut to the chase with my comments. First a reminder on how to participate even if you did not pay for access is in this post I wrote on June 22.

Hands down the best program I attended was Intellectual Freedom Is Meaningless Without Social Justice by Alison Macrina

I missed this program when it aired live because it was in conflict with something else I had to attend. BUT, I knew it was being recorded and Robin Bradford and I we able to watch the video together to help inform our own Anti-Racism work. This is an excellent point. Even those of us who are paid to help others be anti-racist take CE to improve our skills. Robin and I are in contact regularly, sending each other CE information, reading or watching it all, and then meeting to discuss. 

If we are engaging in this work regularly, you all should be too.

I am going to share my notes on the program itself below, but you should also check out Ahliah Bratzler's live tweet thread of her notes and reactions to the program. Ms. Bratzler does an excellent job capturing much of what Ms. Macrina said in "real time." I have far fewer notes, but my focus was also tighter.

Now my notes:

• Alison Macrina is from the Library Freedom Project [https://libraryfreedom.org]
• They offer a FREE crash course. The next round's application process is open.
• The main takeaway I got from this presentation can be summed up as such: Yes, there is power behind freedom of speech but we also need to critique that power because free speech and intellectual freedom are not and never have been applied evenly across our society. Black people in particular, their freedom of speech has not and is not protected.
• Another big takeaway and one that Robin and I also teach-- Taking a stance of "neutrality" without recognition of the social justice implications of that viewpoint is not only wrong, it is harmful. Neutrality amplifies the voice and speech of those who are perpetuating social injustice.
• She used many examples of those who decry that their speech is being infringed upon, notable Tucker Carlson, Nazi groups, and TERFS [trans-exclusionary radical feminist: a feminist who excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women's rights].
• a major point here: those who books perpetuate injustice, the establishment protects their speech way more already.
• She used the term systemic injustice a few times. I am going to incorporate that into my own work.
• A lot of time was spent giving examples of the reality of how the French speech of marginalized voices is not and never been equally enforced. 
• It is not free speech to protect these hateful groups. In fact, it is socially irresponsible to prioritize the speech of the most vile people in society. 
• She shared Karl Popper's Paradox of Tolerance. Here is a link for more info, but basically, the more indiscriminately tolerant we are, the more we let hate gain power.
• She spent a lot of time talking about meeting room policies and how to work with the community to make hateful groups who book your meeting rooms feel unwelcome. But she was also honest about hate groups using threats of violence to make a point.
• She talked about the fetishization of the first amendment and how we don't understand it in reality. For example, libraries do not have to be neutral. A library has the right to express its own belief and it can be strong in that belief. What they cannot do is discriminate against the belief of others. 
• This is why libraries should STOP worrying a bout neutrality [but see below for more on this]
• She suggested this book to understand this more nuanced argument: The Case Against Free Speech: The First Amendment, Fascism, and the Future of Dissent by P.E. Moskowitz [I placed a hold].
• We need to move from these outdated notions of FREE SPEECH within our library framework or we are going to help make the problem worse.

Robin and I talk about the false notion of neutrality all the time. We site it as the biggest impediment to libraries doing real action based work to stop systemic oppression. Hearing this sentiment echoed by someone who is approaching it, using the law to back us, up was invigorating. However, much of our positive energy from this talk evaporated quickly when a library worker in Colorado reach out to me with this information from The Board Packet for the Douglas County Libraries:

Click through here and start at page 17 to see and read it all [PDF so screen readers can read it too]. 

This is VERY troubling. These are major libraries in a "blue" state trying to hide behind neutrality to uphold outdated notions and reinforce systemic oppressions. And it is framed to the Board, who may not be aware of the nuance here, that this is a way to "accept" everyone.

So there goes my positive attitude that real change is on the horizon. But better for Robin and I to know about these things so that we can directly attack, oh I mean, address them. We are regrouping to come up with our own response in our programs.

And then, somehow, things went from bad to worse-- although I am not surprised. Readers of this blog know that I have been a long time supporter April Hathcock and the work she has done, often alone and at peril to her physical and mental health, to fight again the systemic racism inherent in ALA and our profession. To read more about that, click here, but short version, April is the person who inspired me to act and use my voice and platform to force people to  recognize that they need to do more than just be "not racist."

Well, April finished her term as an ALA councilor and wrote this "Goodbye" post about how despite her work, nothing changed, and in fact, it seems ALA as an institution is simply digging in deeper toward not acting.

One of the biggest NON ACTION items at ALA was regarding the group of academic catalogers who have worked for 5 years to try to convince ALA to official encourage the Library of Congress to stop using racist subject heading. At Council, despite 5 years of methodically trying to play by the rules, ALA ended up not moving this proposal forward.

Look, it is complicated issue and I have had disagreements with those involved in trying to make these changes. I have questioned them for being too slow. They have countered that I am too naive and not in tech services. Well, I gave them space....for 5 YEARS!....and it did nothing. 

I am done with patience and with academic libraries. Instead I am mow pivoting to encouraging those of you who are involved in tech services at public libraries, especially large ones, to start publicly defying LC and to stop using their subject headings. 

Boycott LCSH and force their hand at change. At this point using "illegal aliens," for example, in our catalogs is WRONG. We know it and yet we argue that we "can't change because LCSH are the standard." 

Well, as Robin said as we watched the program above [where the use of boycott's by Black Americans as a way to stop Jim Crow laws worked because their speech was silenced or punished--but action still worked]-- ALA knew about Black people being kept out of public libraries and refused to "get involved." THIS IS THE SAME. Do not kid yourself. It is.

Do you want to stand by and let this continue to happen? Yes research and scholarship will face difficult and confusion for a while, but NO ONE WILL DIE. We need to get over ourselves. It is a small price to pay-- inconvenience-- to make a change, a step away from systemic oppression. No one said it would be easy or without problems, but real change, especially change that directly addresses systemic oppression, is HARD. Very hard.

Below, posted with permission, are the personal comments on Twitter by a library worker who is in charge of Technical Service for the second largest library in IL [in circulation numbers]. She not only made this public statement, she organized a meeting with the top levels of her library's leadership to discuss this issue. You can see she is responding to April's  comment on this issue too. This is ACTION! 

Click here to access the Tweets in the screen shot

ALA and LCSH-- I am done with your excuses. I don't care. And guess what? I have heard from more than this one library leader. Here is a list of libraries who are already unwilling to wait. [Passed on to me by Karen.]

There will be a revolt and when major institutions STOP using LCSH because they are racist and it is not acceptable. Then all of these people claiming to be fighting for the changes will be left int he dust. ACTION speaks louder than words. And it will take less than 5 years to get someone to notice us.

I have heard way too many excuses as to why it is too hard. Change is never easy. Dismantling systemic oppression is hard, but it is what is right and is just about the only thing keeping me engaged with my profession these days.

I am fighting here on the blog, in my programs with Robin Bradford, and as a Board member for a major Library System. Don't think I haven't put myself on the line-- this is something my detractors say. They claim it is easy for me because I work for myself. Trust me, I do this work in public meetings where I am part of organizations that don't want to hear it either. I have confronted the state librarian in public, I have met with legislators on both sides of the aisle, I have defied my own excellent state library association-- all to force people's hands to make change. Afterwards, people are uncomfortable and want me to know I may have gone too far. You know what? Until there is real change, I have not gone far enough. 

Don't tell me it is too hard and that I need to be more patient. Again, look at April's statement. There are few in our profession whose opinions I hold more dear. That woman has sacrificed her health and safety to try to convince people to change. She is not exaggerating, if anything she is holding back. I know this because I have edited this post over a series of days and have held back. 

This is my fight now. But this is what we are up against:

Click here to access the screen shot text

Don't get complacent. Use the anger of the meetings we just witnesses as energy to fight for change. Join those of us who are putting it all on the line, who are refusing to put up with excuses, who won't let the "politics" of it scare us away, who won't wait, who will act. Why? Because it is wrong to do nothing.

Look, I wouldn't be alive if my great grandfather "waited"around for his fellow Austrians to work thing out politically. He was wealthy and well established. He left it all behind and got out and then fought to get out as many family members as he could. There is a point when only action works.

If you thought I was unwilling to suffer fools before, you haven't seen anything yet.

Use this 4th of July holiday time to contemplate how you are going to make our country better and force up to live up to our ideals. There is nothing more patriotic than that. 

Call to Action: Stop Asking For People's Gender on Library Card Applications

Last week I was talking with a colleague who is a library worker in another state and she was updating me on their struggle to remove the gender check boxes from their library card applications. Like many things in libraries, even though the administration cannot come up with a compelling reason as to why they need this information, trying to undo the, "but we have always gathered it" or "we'd have to change the entire application" arguments are hard in libraries. Inertia is the motto and change freaks people out. Even in cases like this, where some of our patrons are being hurt by having to make a choice, a choice that we do not need, we keep forcing staff to enforce this,

I was upset by the situation and the way it defines library work in general. I am not someone who is afraid of change, rather I relish the chance to try something new, especially when someone points out that what I am doing could be done better. But as I learned as a manager, this attitude is not only NOT shared by my colleagues, but also it has be used against me as I have been chastised [more than once] for making employees feel uncomfortable for trying to "force change."

But lucky for me and all of you, I work for myself these days and I don't have to hold back. But, my frustrated colleague does. So I took my frustrations to Twitter. Here is the link to my original Tweet which includes the replies.

Becky Spratford

@RAforAll

Because it came up yesterday- reminder that your library card applications do NOT need a section on “gender.” Seriously, what does that have to do with borrowing privileges? Address, name, a form of contact, yes. Gender, no.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear to my readers who are ready to jump on me to tell me that I do not understand why gender is part of the application, please remember, I am also a 20 year library trustee and a member of a larger state library system board. So come at me with your arguments as to why you NEED to have gender on your library card applications because I know you actually do NOT need it for any good reason. Even the state library doesn't collect that data point.

I have a platform to call out our missteps, to encourage everyone to do better, and to not let you all get away with being stupid and ignorant. So today, a lesson on why you don't need to collect gender identity for library card applications AND a discussion of things we do not collect, but should.

First. Do not reply to this call to action with the solution that you can keep the gender box and simply add more options. No. Just No. And here's why.

1. Tell me why you need gender at all again? You don't have a good reason to collect this to provide library services. As I said in the Tweet, we need an address to prove you live in the community which that library serves. We need a way to contact you. We need your name as it appear on the ID you used to get the card [more on this in a moment]. Why are we asking for information we do not need? Stop. We don't need it. End of discussion.
2. Adding more options is counter intuitive to what you are trying to do. We are not trying to be inclusive by asking them to check one of like 5 boxes [in fact, if you do this you will still need to ad an "other" box if your goal is inclusivity], rather we are making them uncomfortable by forcing a choice at all. And again, WE DON'T NEED ANY OF THIS INFO. Don't bring it up. It is not our business. Do we ask their marital status? NO. Do we ask their eye color? NO. Weight and height? NO. Because we don't need those. We are not a drivers license. Stop with your gatekeeping nonsense. Gender is equivalent to these other questions that we do not ask.

Second. Here is a list of things we currently do not ask for but should because these things would help us serve patrons better and make them more comfortable:

1. Preferred Pronouns
2. Preferred name
3. Pronunciation of name

All three of these things allow us to address patrons in the way they would like to be addressed. It is just simple kindness, and since we are collecting identification info that we need, why not add that which will help them also have a better experience in the process.

Let me tackle why each is important to educate those of you who don't get it. 

Pronouns: Someone I trust recently asked why, I, someone named Becky, clearly a girl name who looks like I identify as a girl, needs to list my pronouns. Isn't that for the people who when you look at them or hear their name, you cannot tell. This is an honest question of someone trying to understand, and many are afraid to ask this question for fear of getting yelled at. Here is the answer, and I won't yell. If we only have those who have pronouns that are perceived as "different" call theirs out then we are still "othering" them. If instead, we normalize everyone listing their preferred pronouns, you will see more that conform than not; therefore, not isolating  or calling out those who are perceived as "different." If we normalize everyone using their pronouns, we also normalize everyone being referred to with words that make them feel valued and whole. I for one am all for people feeling valued and whole.

Preferred name: My daughter goes by a nickname of her given name that is most commonly used by boys. She identifies as female. She loves when there are preferred pronouns and preferred name options. It makes her so happy. Her college does this and it makes her feel so welcome to use her preferred name AND let people know up front that she identifies as female. I also know a lot of people who go by their middle name as their preferred name. I have seen their government issued ID and been shocked that I didn't know their legal name. I bet many of you know someone like this. Why do we make those people feel uncomfortable every time they come in and someone at the desk tries to be nice to call them by their name, but the name we have, the "legal" name is not what they go by? Adding a preferred name entry solves this. Side note: my legal name is Becky, not Rebecca. Don't ask, it was the 70s.

Pronunciation of name: This is just common courtesy to both the person helping the patron and the patron. Why make it difficult. And fill one out for every single person. again to normalize it for everyone. Also,  I have friends with names you would think are easy to pronounce and yet, they pronounce them in a unique way. Interestingly, we are Chicago Bears season ticket holders [no games this year] and they have a player card for each game. We print it off for use at home. It lists the active players on both teams and this year, it included a pronunciation guide. Well done Bears. We greatly appreciated it, as I am sure the players did too.

Look, I am not trying to make people mad today. Well, maybe a little because ignorant people and those who are afraid of change do piss me off. But seriously, stop being a jerk. You don't need to ask for gender. BUT, you do need to ask for these other things. Change it and move on. It takes a few keystrokes and some copies. Start living your life thinking about how to treat people with the respect they deserve as your first instinct, and then think about what information you actually need to administer library cards. That's all I'm asking. 

For past Call to Action posts, click here.

RA for All Classic Rerun: Make Your Own Best "Seller “ Lists

The next two weeks I will be writing for multiple deadlines so expect a few "reruns" of some of my more popular posts. 

Today's post originally ran in February, 2017.

RA for All: Call to Action-- Make Your Own Best "Seller “ Lists

Readers of this blog know that at the end of 2016 I was focusing on challenging the perceived notion of what is “best” in a series of webinars and posts which you can pull up here. But for new readers here is a quick synopsis of that argument from my notes for the PLA Webinar I delivered on the topic:

We are going to rethink the entire concept of BEST lists are and repurpose them as sure bets lists. And we are going to get EVERYONE in on the action. Do not underestimate how much fun it is for staff from all over the building, public service and behind the scenes, professional librarians, clerk, HR people, AND PATRONS to share what they love with everyone. And don’t underestimate how useful collecting these “best” books is for you as you help leisure readers all the year through, 

That is from the intro to my hour long talk on how to crowdsource and collect your library’s “best” lists. During that webinar, one of the tips that I gave very quickly has stuck with me and I wanted to elaborate on it today because I think it is not only easy to do, but it could become one of your best RA  and marketing tools.

And so I am calling you to action to CREATE YOUR LIBRARY’S HYPER-LOCAL BESTSELLER LIST.

I was reminded of this suggestion last week when the New York Times announced that it was going to get rid of a number of their more specific best seller lists. Like many of you I loved those lists. I was able to get an idea of well received titles in a variety of less popular genres and formats like graphic novels.

But this is not a post to complain about The NYT cutting bestseller lists. No, I am not about complaining, I am about offering solutions.

Which leads me back to today's call-- CREATE YOUR LIBRARY’S HYPER-LOCAL BESTSELLER LIST.

The NYT lists were great but they are national and very limited in scope. What you need to help you figure out what is most popular at your library is a variety of best seller list, and I suggest you use the way the NYT used to do it as your model. Plus, it is very easy to do AND it is great way to engage some of your nonprofessional staff in doing next level RA.

Let me explain. By now every public library has some kind of ILS that can easily be mined for useful circulation data. Running reports on materials is something that is done regularly by most public libraries. But generally these reports are run by the tech services and or circ staff for very specific purposes: missing reports, overdue materials, billed, clearing the hold shelf, identifying titles for potential weeding, etc....

But, we could just as easily be running reports on more positive things like the items that are most checked out, or as we need to rebrand them as-- THE LIBRARY’S BEST SELLERS LIST!

Patrons know what best sellers lists are; they already use them to help identify potential books to read. Best sellers are implicitly deemed as “good” by patrons because why else would they be best sellers? I know this logic is not always true, but it is how people think and we need to use that to our advantage.

So, let’s make our own lists about what is “best selling” at the library, especially now that the news is saying there will be fewer best seller lists available. Jump in and fill the void, even if that void is only a perceived one and not an actual one [because seriously, how many patrons actually looked at all of those lists online; we did, sure, but mostly they were used by us and the publishers for marketing purposes, so they could call something a "NYT Best Seller.”] And we can make as many as we want by running quick and easy weekly/monthly reports using our ILS.

Here are some easy to pull up lists in most ILS:

• General Best Sellers-- most checkout out of the week overall or broken down by each service area; so Adult, teen, kids, fiction, nonfiction.
• Format Best Sellers-- most checked out videos, audio books, streamed, download, Large Print.
• Genre Best Sellers-- as long as you have the genre noted somewhere in the item record be it in a subject heading or in it’s own field, you can easily do this.
• Want to promote the non-traditional things you check out like technology items [Go Pro cameras, Rokus] or maker items like sewing machine, art kits; some libraries do fishing poles and art. Whatever. Do a Best Seller lists of unexpected items. People might not even know that you have them.
• And my favorite.... Make some Backlist Best Seller Lists. For example, the most popular adult items checked out this week which were published before 2000. Or whatever your parameters. These are great to remind people that it is not only the newest 3 James Patterson books that are being checked out.

Who cares that there is no “selling” here. Don’t say most checked-out. Patrons know you are not selling the books, but calling the most checked out titles “Best Sellers” lends them more cache, it makes them cooler, and makes the library seem more like the rest of the book world.

Post them in the building and online. Change them out weekly or monthly, but change them regularly. Post them next to other, more well known best seller lists on one bulletin board. Put them at the applicable service desks. Hey, even put them at a desk that isn’t for those items, like the adult Best Seller list at the children’s desk so busy parents can get some popular reading ideas for themselves quickly.

You will draw interest not only to titles that may not make the more traditional best seller lists, but you will be engaging the community by allowing them to see what is most popular without sacrificing anyone’s identity or personal information. When people see what is popular in their library, you will be providing the content for opening lines in conversation amongst people in the community. And isn’t that one of our main goals-- engaging the community.

From a selfish standpoint, collecting and creating these lists will serve you well too. You will have a frequent snapshot of what is circulating the most which means you can work on more targeted displays and “while you wait” lists to help patrons. And if you do collection development too-- you will have more helpful information as you work of adding and deleting items.

Plus, the marketing potential is enormous. People will see how much you actually provide for them, especially if you make a variety of lists. Who cares if number 10 on one of your best seller lists only circulated 1x that week or month? No one needs to know the details. They just need to know that you have it and people have wanted it.

Finally, pulling the reports and sorting through the data to create these lists is a great way to engage staff who don’t normally get to work with leisure readers in person, like tech services. They can now be a part of a vital RA activity that actively assists patrons. They will also be more cognizant of what needs to be included in bibliographic records; for example, diverse books information or specific genres that are popular and are not tagged.

You can also have non-professional staff who want to do more to help readers, but still need more training and experience work on this activity. May be they can’t run the reports, but they can use the data to update lists, make signs and displays of the lists, and then use them to provide suggestions. It will help to create a RA culture throughout the library.

So get out there and start creating you library’s “Best Seller” Lists.

For past Call to Action posts, click here.

Happy Birthday to Me: Get Me a Present-- Read Something You Are "Afraid" Of

Today I am 45 years old. Not that old, not that young. In 2 days I will become the parent of a full fledged adult child as my eldest daughter turns 18. That is infinitely more unsettling than a birthday for me.

And since it is my birthday, I have a gift request for every single one of you who reads this blog and includes it as part of your Continuing Education. This gift will cost you nothing and you will gain much.

I am asking you to read something you would normally be "afraid" of. Below I have the Call to Action post I wrote here in 2016 explaining how to do this and why. And I also have this post by a librarian who answered the Call to Action and reported on his experience.

I do have a caveat though. After you read the original post and figure out the genre you are most afraid of, pick a title to read that is NOT by a white, heterosexual male in that genre. 

That's it. That is all I am asking you to do. I tell all of you to read in genres you are less comfortable and to read diversely frequently, but I also know that  many don't actually follow through. However, today is my birthday so I am going to use it as a chance to get you to do what I want. It's for your own good. 

[Eds note re last sentence: see above where I said I am about to lose a child  to adulthood, so I am feeling like flexing my parenting demands before I run out of time. Sorry.]

Let's try it this way. Please read the post below, and then if you have further questions or need help finding a title to try, contact me. This request [demand?] comes with assistance. And also, let me know how it went.

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MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2016

RA for All: Call to Action: Get Out There and Read Something You Are “Afraid” Of

It’s back to school time here in Illinois, and as library workers, we all know that this is a time for fresh starts. What a perfect time for me to shake you out of your complacency.

I know, it sounds scary, but it isn’t because first I am going to let you complain.

Ready?

Real quick, say your least favorite type of book to read. Don’t think about it, just blurt it out. Yes, I am asking you to talk to your computer screen. Just go with it.

It can be a genre, a format, a very specific subgenre, whatever you dislike reading the most. It can be a few things. All I am asking is that you are brutal honest with yourself.

Okay, now, jot those down somewhere.

Now, again be very honest with yourself, how do you feel when readers of your least favorite things  come up to the desk and ask for help?

The most common answer I have found is-- AFRAID. Afraid you cannot help that person because you don’t have any positive feelings about what they are asking for. But that fear translates into us not helping those readers as well and that is not good.

Guess what? I have a way to solve that problem. Take that list you just made of your least favorites and...are you ready for this.... read one of them! Why? Because fear comes from ignorance. Not knowing about something makes us afraid of it.

Arm yourself with a little knowledge by heading over to Goodreads or NoveList and looking up your least favorite areas and find out what the best new books are in that world. And then, put something on hold.

I am not asking you to love it. I’m not even asking you to read it cover to cover. Give it a good skim. But give it a chance. Then read reviews, look at the appeals on NoveList and read the 5 star reviews on Goodreads. The whole process can take you under an hour if you focus, but give yourself a few days.

While you are doing this, I also want you to think about your favorite things to read. Why are they your favorites? Now go and look those books’ appeal and five star reviews.

When you pair your least favorite type of reads [with a focus on those who would like them] with your own personal loves, you get a better understanding of why people enjoy the books they enjoy. You move beyond the fear and into a place of understanding.

You will realize that you can still help someone who likes your least favorite books if you simply take the plunge and expose yourself to something you are “afraid" of. In fact, you may find (as I have over the years) that it is often easier to help people who like the things you dislike more than it is to help those with similar tastes. When you already like something, your personal feelings and biases get in the way of your suggestions. When you have less feelings about the genre, you can be more empirical and impartial with your suggestions.

I promise you, no one will get hurt. In fact, quite the opposite, many more patrons will find their next good read.

For the Call to Action Archive, click here.