Pride Month Begins: Why you MUST Participate and Advice to Support LGBTQIA+ Authors All Year Long

This is a repost of an evergreen reminder post as Pride Month Begins.

Pride Month Begins: Why you MUST Participate and Advice to Support LGBTQIA+ Authors All Year Long

Today marks the start of Pride Month and I know, because people have reached out to me about this, that many libraries are either being told NOT to put up Pride displays or they are selecting not to.

I need to unequivocally tell you that this is not okay. No matter what you MUST put up a Pride Display.

We should celebrate all of the identity months at the library...every single one. Why? Well a couple of reasons. First, they give you a chance to highlight a community and allow them to see themselves in your collections. Second, the media in general has picked up on all of this months and they are all over the news even used by corporations in their marketing. By not celebrating any of these identity months, you will stand out for your lack of participation. 

Now, I know some of you are under attack from those who want to stop you from doing Pride in particular, but to that I say, you cannot give in. In fact, June is the easiest time for those of you under attack to highlight LGBTQ items because the entire world is doing it. You are no  different. And if you did anything for other identity months (Black History, AAPPI, etc...) you are simply following that lead. 

This is also why I advocate for drafting Book Display Procedures. Notice I say "procedures." Those do not require your Board to get involved, that is policy. Procedures are created by staff to guide what they are doing and make sure things are standardized. Here is a post where I write about starting with the main goal of your displays being"We will promote and display books that our readers would not find on their own." 

From there you need to add that you will have a featured display for every identity month. And also a final statement that you will make sure your displays are intentionally diverse. Why?  Because this allows you to offer the widest range of titles as possible to your patrons. You can decide if you set a number or percentage to use as a guide, but these three statements need to be in your display policy.

Once you have that in writing, you can use it to audit all displays, remind those who do not comply (ie, put up all white, hetero displays) that they need to fix them, and, most importantly, if they don't comply, write them up for not following established procedures. When you put things in writing, you show all staff that you are serious about this work and you have a way to discipline those who don't follow the rules. As Robin likes to say, "You can't stop people from being racist, but you can make it against the rules." She also like to add, "They probably won't be willing to lose their health insurance over it." But if they are, I say, good riddance.

This procedure will also protect you if you get a challenge to a Pride Display by allowing you to use the  less inflammatory argument, "We have procedures that state that we have a featured display for every identity month." Or if you have a Women's History display up with a trans woman author, you can point to the procedure that says you make sure every display is as diverse as possible so that you can offer the widest range of titles to your patrons. When push comes to shove you can also make the money argument that our collections represent the second largest monetary investment of our library (building/real estate is first) and we owe it to our taxpayers to get the books they would want, if only they knew about them, in their hands.

[These moments are when my two decades as a trustee come in handy.]

These are the basics. But there is so much more you can and should do, but we need to start here. The most important thing you can do to promote all marginalized voices is to make sure you have these titles in every display. In March of 2022, Robin Bradford, myself, and Alene Moroni did an "Actively Anti-Racist Service to Leisure Readers" Preconference at PLA (details here). During her section, Alene gave advice on this that I quote everywhere I go because it is so easy to follow.

To paraphrase Alene, when you move from February to March-- Black History to Women's History months-- you start by simply removing all of the authors that identify as men from the Black History display, leaving all of those who identify as women. Then you add other women to the display. This ensures that your display is diverse before you even started.

Now, taking it back a step, you should have already had LGBTQ authors already in the Black History month display. As we move throughout the year, you keep authors that apply to each month on display. The more you do this, the easier it will be to diversify your displays because they will already be diverse before you switch them up.

But specifically, since LGBTQ authors can be included in every identity month, you should be making sure they are represented always. Having LGBTQ authors on display all of the time will help to give you less inflammatory examples when people challenge anything LGBTQ, any time of year. You can make it clear that all of your displays are always diverse in every way, all of the time and point to LGBTQ authors showing up in every display.

The key take away here is that you CANNOT include marginalized voices ONLY during their identity months. This practice is harmful. When you have, for example, a Fantasy display, you must make sure every identity is represented within that display. It is good practice in that it offers a full range of perspectives of the genre and because doing so will allow you to argue back to those who want to stop you from highlighting anything that isn't white and straight. You can confidently say, we incorporate all voices in every display. Only doing it in an identity month opens you up to being challenged.

Again reminder that general display procedures will not only support you in these challenges but also, will make it standard for all staff to follow them. This will ensure that even staff who do not want to make their displays diverse, have to. This ensures that you don't have some displays that are diverse and some that are clearly not. You need to standardize this practice.

All of this being said, there are still concerted efforts to stop you. Please see my colleague Kelly Jensen's article from earlier last month in Book Riot with detailed instructions on how you can prepare your Library Pride Displays.

You need to do everything I said and what she suggests-- both.

And finally, please go outside the box for titles to put on your Pride displays. Think about ways to frame them to make them more interesting. Identities are not a genre. Just like I advocate against simply putting books by Black authors on display as a monolith in February [rather, you should frame it by genre or a topic], do the same of Pride. Make displays like "Thrills and Chills: Pride" and put up crime, horror, fast paced mysteries. Or, "Love and Pride." You get the idea.

You can also use Pride content from other places  to come up with interesting ideas like this list from LitHub, "10 LGBTQ+ Authors on the Books That Taught Them." This is a great way to have 20 books with an interesting frame for display online or in the building. Your work is done.

Also, here is the link for all of Book Riot's Pride Coverage. They will be posting multiple links every day and framing them in genres or topics like I suggest doing. If you can't think of ideas, don't worry, Book Riot will give them to you in ready to use lists that are also diverse by the identities as well. There is no room for excuses here.

I know this post is long, but the moment we are living in requires that I spend the time to help you fight back. We have collections that represent a world of ideas and identities on purpose. We have crafted those collections as professionals. We got degrees in how to do this. We know what we are doing. And while everyone has a right to decide what they read for themselves, no one has the right to decide for others. We must stand by that basic freedom. You cannot self censor and not participate because you don't want to be challenged or because you are afraid. That is worse than someone coming in and asking you to remove books for all because they don't like them. Why is it worse, because you know better. Because I told you not to.

Get those Pride Displays up, diversify your displays all year long, and get some display procedures in writing. 

And if you have questions or concerns, email me and Robin and I will help you for free. We are especially   good at speaking to  you mangers or admins who don't agree. Let us argue with them for you. 

Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays via Lila Denning in RUSQ

Today I am sharing a post from Lila Denning's blog, Passively Recommending Books. Her article in RUSQ, a journal of Reference and User Experience is now live.

In her article, Denning talks frankly about why making all of your book displays as inclusive as possible is  not just about doing the right thing, it is literally your job to showcase as much of the collection as possible. She explains it in language that makes sense from every angle. You can argue this from an antiracist standpoint and an economic standpoint (getting the most checkouts of the most books which you have used taxpayer money on). And more.

And for those who are still making excuses that they cannot do this, a reminder,  Denning works in Florida and has put everything she talks about into action. So, if she can do it, what's your excuse.

(I have answers to that question but they are not kind to those of you who aren't doing this work yet, so I will leave them off this post.)

Click on this link or read below to access her blog post with access to the article. This is the argument you need to make your displays as inclusive as possible every single time (not just during heritage months).

RUSQ: A Journal of Reference and User Experience - Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays

I was fortunate to have an article published in RUSQ. The Reference and User Services Association of ALA relaunched its journal in 2024. It's purpose is "... to disseminate information of interest to reference librarians, information specialists, and other professionals involved in user-oriented library services." In Vol 61, No 2 (2026) Winter Issue you can find my article "Inclusion as the Norm: The Power of Diverse Book Displays."

A pdf of the article is available online. 

I will quote from one paragraph here: 

" It centers a white, straight, Christian perspective as what is in “normal” books while making diverse books more of a niche interest, to be read by members of those communities and on special months. These books are not interesting or valuable because their authors and characters are diverse.  They need to be added to the displays, lists, and suggestions that are made to readers interested in a particular genre or topic. Moving who is centered in the culture of reading that is created in a library, allowing those who are marginalized to take center stage, even if a sign does not declare their identity, is actively promoting a culture of anti-racism. This active promotion does not require signage identifying the author’s characteristics to be actively anti-racist. These books are books that should be treated as titles to be potentially enjoyed by any reader. Deliberately developing a regular practice of adding diverse titles to all displays and lists both increase staff knowledge of those titles, creating more opportunities for them to be included in staff recommendations."

You can click here to head over to Denning's blog on your own or click on this link to access her article directly. 

Black History Month Displays and Genre: An Example For You To Use for All Identity Months

This is a repost from 2024:

I do not spend a lot of time on heritage months here on the blog mostly because I know most of you have them covered. My biggest problem though is that many libraries only highlight books by marginalized authors during their "month" and then not at all. 

Last year during Pride, I did an entire post about this issue here. Please read it because it has a lot of excellent information and I am not going to repeat any of it, but know all of it is implied in today's post.

Today I have what you could consider, "Part 2" of that post.

I want you to look at your Black History Month displays because from what I see they mostly contain literary fiction with some historical and maybe like 1 romance. Where is the genre? 

I know where it is. It is left languishing on the shelf because of systemic oppression and well meaning white librarians who think they are helping by "elevating" Black voices during "their" month 

It is a version of what I wrote back in 2019 about the unintended racism in our resources, especially when we are talking about genre.

Let me back up a little because I know some of you are thinking I just called you racist. Let me be clear-- I did not. What I am referring to the fact that our mostly white work force in librarianship tends to uplift only the people of color who fit the standard of the very best of publishing. They think that by highlighting those who fit the standard of "literary" that they are showing Black writers at their best.

When I put it this way, I hope you start to see the problem.

Black people read and write books about everything. Just like white people. In fact, for those who forget this, when Robin does her portion of our Actively Anti-Racist Service to Readers program, she ends  her presentation with examples of Black writers producing works on every topic.

When it is Black History Month, we should be highlighting as wide a range of Black authors as possible. That includes those who hold other identities beyond being Black (again, see Pride post)

[FYI: you can insert any identity into this argument because all people write all kinds of books, but we are using this, one of the most commonly celebrated identity months in libraries, to make you think about this problem.]

Specifically, I would like to discuss the exclusion of genre. Genres are already looked down upon by the world. Publishers and library workers try to lift them up by saying something is a "literary" Thriller or Fantasy or Horror, especially when it is written by someone from a marginalized perspective(again see that post from 2019).

All Black History Month displays must include genre titles. Not including genre is a disservice to what you are trying to do which is showcase the breadth of titles you own by Black people. It is also unfair to your readers of any identity. You are not allowing them to find a book for them. What about the straight, Asian woman who loves speculative? Guess what, she would love to learn about a Rivers Solomon book because their books are awesome. You aren't only suggesting Fonda Lee. Of course not. But I use this obvious example to make you take a hard look at your well meaning self.

Think about it this way, what percentage of your checkouts are literary fiction vs genres? I am not going to wait for you to check because you know the answer-- literary fiction is way below almost every genre in circulation. [I have stats from multiple libraries. LJ reports, and NoveList's data on searches within hundreds of library catalogs to prove it, but you know I am right so let's move on.]

Now the question you knew was coming: Why aren't your Black History Month Displays more genre than lit fic? Again, see above, but the summary is the long tail of white supremacy and systemic oppression

All genres have titles by Black authors, titles you already own. Put them on display. It is not too late to fix your displays. We just finished the first full week of February. Get on it now and remember to do it for every identity month display going forward.

One final note, my friend Alex Brown made this comment on Twitter the other day, one that I cannot leave this post without pointing it out because it is a related problem:

Do not do this! As they go on to say in the thread (paraphrase):

Black History Month is about celebrating Blackness and its history. Do not clog it up with white people providing context. 

And now my comment as a White lady:

This is not about you! It is about making space for others to speak for themselves. Do not insert yourself and your perspective. Get out of the way. Your job here is to find titles to let Black people speak for themselves.

Please take this post and the Pride month post from last June and use them to both celebrate every identity month and make sure your displays are diverse all year long.

Belonging Is NEVER a Given, It Takes Intentional Work: My Illinois Library Association Annual Conference Appearance Recap

I gave 2 programs at the ILA Annual conference while the tone was different in each, the message was the same-- Belonging is not a given in libraries; in fact, quite the opposite is true. Libraries and librarians have always placed barriers to access in libraries. 

We have excluded others actively and passively. This is true with in American society and in libraries. Libraries are one of our most democratic institutions, but because our entire democracy has been plagued (from its inception) by who is included and who is (legally) excluded, we have never risen above our country's flaws.

The theme of the ILA conference this year was "You Belong Here." I know th organizers of this year's conference personally. I know they understood the theme. They understood its complexity. Yes it sounds nice. Yes many attendees came feeling like-- oh I live this. But they knew that most libraries and library workers only give belonging a surface glance. And that is why they accepted programs that challenged this fact-- that we (as a profession) spend too much time patting ourselves on the back for fostering belonging, while our spaces and policies do the opposite-- they exclude.

If we truly believe that everyone is allowed to use the library we need to face the fact that WE are part of why many people do not feel like they belong.

I was energized by the programs that looked this hard truth in the face and challenged those in attendance to do better. I was heartened by those who understood the assignment-- both presenters and attendees. Those who shared these uncomfortable truths and worked to help us all find the path toward rectifying past mistakes and do the work to move us forward.

Of course there were those who shared how my programs trying to address the paradox of belonging made them feel alienated. People have a right to their feelings, but to be fair, especially in the first program I will list below, making established librarians (regardless of if they were "white" or not) feel very uncomfortable was the goal. To get these folks to feel even a little of the extreme discomfort that library worker of color face was the goal. I hope those who felt alienation and needed to leave spend some time with those feelings and come back to the slides-- especially the resources links at the end of the presentation.

To those who could not make it, below are the titles of the programs, links to the resources that were available to the conference attendees, AND a few more thoughts from me.

Tuesday, 1:30-2:30-- The Call is Coming From Inside the House: How White Librarianship Protects Itself and Hinders Belonging. Slide access here

In this program, Julie Jurgens, Alea Perez, and I were confrontational. We shared hard truths, but we also brought everyone around to asking themselves these questions in the end:

• What are the unconscious beliefs that I hold that create and sustain our fear of open conflict?
• What am I doing to uphold white supremacy?
• What can I do to stop being part of the problem?

We did not allow for questions from the group. Instead we asked them those questions. And like we encouraged the in person audience, I want to encourage all of you-- everyone reading this regardless of your identity (because marginalized people internalize white supremacy as well)-- to sit with those questions and really think about your answers, especially in regards to your work with your patrons. Write down your answers and then bring these hard questions (and your thought out answers) to your staff to foster the important (but uncomfortable) conversations that need to be had.

Thursday, 3-4pm-- You Truly Belong At Our Library: How Embedding Belonging in Your Planning and Policies Creates A Better Library Experience for Staff and Patrons. Slide and resources access here

In this program I organized a group of Illinois Library leaders to discuss how we had to consciously write belonging into our policies because over the last 5 years of providing antiracist training with Robin Bradford, the number one question I have gotten when I talk about Action Step 2 (on slide 5 here) and tell people to get your antiracism in writing, I am asked to provide examples. I got sick of telling people to make a go of it for themselves and I used my privilege to do the work for them. You can see those policies in the slides of my program with Robin and in the slides for the program from last week. 

I got true belonging into writing and now my library is living the policy. I gathered a few more folks who have been brave enough to do this work as well. Those people are listed in the slides available with the link above as is their contact info for more.

Please spend some time with all of the slides and resources I have provided here today. But don't think you can just click right now, look them over, and say oh, I now have learned it all. Schedule time to look at it all over time. Sit with your feelings. Look at those three questions above, specifically. They will guide you in this work as you need to do it. Belonging is your goal but getting there is a unique journey.

And as always, click here to contact me if you have questions or would like training to help you and your staff navigate these feelings.

RA for All is at the Illinois Library Association Conference All Week But The Horror Blog Has a 6 Day Feature Not to Miss

 I have popped home from my book tour to present and be a sponsor of the Illinois Library Association Annual Conference. 

RA for All will take a pause while I give my full attention to my state library conference and colleagues.

Please click here for the PDF of the conference program book. I am very proud that RA for ALL is a silver sponsor. You are welcome in advance for your coffee.

I will recap the entire conference on Friday in one post including the links to all of the presentation I was a part of and reports on what I saw and did, but I did want to alert everyone to this presentation I am a part of on Tuesday:

1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

The Call is Coming From Inside the House:

How White Librarianship Protects Itself

and Hinders Belonging

Speakers: Julie Jurgens, Lake Bluff Public Library; Alea Perez,

Roselle Public Library District; Becky Spratford, RA for All

Room 21

Slides are clear and strong and I will have them here for everyone to see with or without being a registered attendee on Friday. I hope the three of us will continue to give this program far and wide. I am very proud to be a part of this. A huge thank you to Alea for the idea and to Alea and Julie for being amazing and collaborative partners. The pre-planning on this was some of the best conference program planning I have ever been a part of. I am so proud to be on stage with these women. 

We know we are putting ourselves out there for this presentation. We know it will make some people mad. But, we are unwilling to stay silent. We have already put ourselves out there in the past. We have already felt the heat. We are done placating people. We are ready to force people to understand, learn, and help us in the fight to find real belonging, not just play lip service to it.

[Big shout out to the conference planning committee for accepting this program knowing full well who we are and how we present.]

But don't fear (pun intended), I am not abandoning you this week while I am off conferencing. Head on over to the Horror blog because I have 6 days of awesome content.

Monday through Saturday, 31 Days of Horror has a mini series within my established Why I Love Horror series. This week I am featuring Creature Publishing and it began today. Creature is a feminist horror publishing house on the rise-- and that "on the rise" statement is not an exaggeration. One of their titles made the October LibraryReads list as the Board Fiction pick-- Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum!

I will be featuring Merbaum tomorrow with her Why I Love Horror Essay, but today I began the 6 day series with Founder and Publisher, Amanda Manns, on why she loves horror and why she created Creature. 

This post not only introduces you to the press and its founder, but she also writes a little bit about each author who will be a part of this 6 days event. AND, click through because Manns is gong to offer a 5 book prize pack to 1 library worker this week. Details on how to enter are in the post.

Goodbye here until Friday. See some of you in person in Rosemont, IL. 

And head on over to RA for All Horror for some great content in the meantime.

Sign-Up Now for Actively Anti-Racist Actively Anti-Racists Readers' Advisory Services with Robin Bradford and Me: Coming This Week!

 Robin and I are back with our updated Actively Anti-Racist Readers' Advisory Services class coming August 20 and 21. You can take this class live or view the recordings on your own time. But you must register by this Wednesday!

NEW: Does your state not allow CE funds to go to ALA events? I have been told that you can contact them  at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100 and someone will help you. You can also always contact me to help as well.

Please go here or see below for all of the details, including pricing, to reserve your seat now.

Actively Anti-Racist Readers’ Advisory Services

Register

A two-part webinar series taking place on Wednesday, August 20 and Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific.

Increasing the collection and circulation of titles written by underrepresented authors is not just a trend. Providing robust readers’ advisory service that values equity, diversity, and inclusion principles is essential to all library services.

Moving from being a neutral, well-meaning library where systemic racism is acknowledged to an actively anti-racist organization involves in-depth work, some of which can be challenging. In this program you will begin that work and learn tangible skills to help build enthusiasm for reading and strategies for diversifying your materials. You’ll learn how you can strengthen your RA service through thoughtful discussion of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging principles in all interactions with leisure readers and how to be a steward of the anti-racist mindset for your organization.

In this two-part series, collection development and readers’ advisory experts Robin Bradford and Becky Spratford will move your team from talk to action. You’ll learn how to help your entire organization craft an actionable plan to seamlessly incorporate the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into your regular RA practices. 

Through your participation in this program, you will learn:

• The distinction between not racist and anti-racist. 
• How to identify more diverse titles to add to your collections.
• How to use anti-racist principles in your displays, book talks, and organization of titles.
• Promotion strategies for diverse titles and authors.
• Basic strategies to address politically motivated requests to remove books from your collection.

Robin Bradford has earned a BA and MA in English, an MS in Library Science, and a JD, but has found a home in building reader-focused, popular collections in public libraries. She was recognized as RWA’s 2016 Librarian of the Year and Emerald City Library Conference's Librarian of the Year in 2022. She is addicted to books and dedicated to helping others discover a love of reading. She has worked with authors to help get their titles into these collections and wrote the Readers’ Advisory Guide to Romance Fiction to further help libraries with their romance collection. She also worked with libraries to push for equal treatment of genre fiction and worked with readers so that they can find their favorite authors on their library's shelves.

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky was a 24 year locally elected Library Trustee and a former Board member for both the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers, Becky is the author of three text books for library workers, most recently, The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021] and the forthcoming Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, September, 2025]. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Library Committee. You can follow Becky on Bluesky @raforall.bsky.social

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and registrants will receive access to the recording within a day after the event ends.

If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.

Register

Coming Next Month: Actively Anti-Racists Readers' Advisory Services with Robin Bradford and Me!

Robin and I are back with our updated Actively Anti-Racist Readers' Advisory Services class coming August 20 and 21. You can take this class live or view the recordings on your own time.

NEW: Does your state not allow CE funds to go to ALA events? I have been told that you can contact them  at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100 and someone will help you. You can also always contact me to help as well.

Please go here or see below for all of the details, including pricing, to reserve your seat now.

Actively Anti-Racist Readers’ Advisory Services

Register

A two-part webinar series taking place on Wednesday, August 20 and Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific.

Increasing the collection and circulation of titles written by underrepresented authors is not just a trend. Providing robust readers’ advisory service that values equity, diversity, and inclusion principles is essential to all library services.

Moving from being a neutral, well-meaning library where systemic racism is acknowledged to an actively anti-racist organization involves in-depth work, some of which can be challenging. In this program you will begin that work and learn tangible skills to help build enthusiasm for reading and strategies for diversifying your materials. You’ll learn how you can strengthen your RA service through thoughtful discussion of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging principles in all interactions with leisure readers and how to be a steward of the anti-racist mindset for your organization.

In this two-part series, collection development and readers’ advisory experts Robin Bradford and Becky Spratford will move your team from talk to action. You’ll learn how to help your entire organization craft an actionable plan to seamlessly incorporate the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into your regular RA practices. 

Through your participation in this program, you will learn:

• The distinction between not racist and anti-racist. 
• How to identify more diverse titles to add to your collections.
• How to use anti-racist principles in your displays, book talks, and organization of titles.
• Promotion strategies for diverse titles and authors.
• Basic strategies to address politically motivated requests to remove books from your collection.

Robin Bradford has earned a BA and MA in English, an MS in Library Science, and a JD, but has found a home in building reader-focused, popular collections in public libraries. She was recognized as RWA’s 2016 Librarian of the Year and Emerald City Library Conference's Librarian of the Year in 2022. She is addicted to books and dedicated to helping others discover a love of reading. She has worked with authors to help get their titles into these collections and wrote the Readers’ Advisory Guide to Romance Fiction to further help libraries with their romance collection. She also worked with libraries to push for equal treatment of genre fiction and worked with readers so that they can find their favorite authors on their library's shelves.

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky was a 24 year locally elected Library Trustee and a former Board member for both the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers, Becky is the author of three text books for library workers, most recently, The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021] and the forthcoming Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, September, 2025]. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Library Committee. You can follow Becky on Bluesky @raforall.bsky.social

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and registrants will receive access to the recording within a day after the event ends.

If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.

Register

Becky's ALA Schedule Including Me Interviewing Joe Hill

Click through for the full
schedule of events and panels

I think I may have my busiest ALA Annual Conference ever mostly because I am attending as a librarian and author.

Below is my appearance schedule. These are things I am actively participating in. Links go to the full details for each.

Please note, this is my official appearance schedule. I will be at other panels and events as an attendee. Come find me though. I will have RA for All stickers and pens as well as special stickers for my book.

Friday June 27

While the opening session for ALA Annual is not unit 4:00pm, I am beginning my conferencing participating in the Library Insights Summit which is happening from 8:30am to 3pm and includes lunch with your registration. It is in the convention center and if you click on each program in the schedule here you can see which rooms are being used.

From the Library Insights Summit landing page:

This is an in-person only daylong conference focused on bringing publishers and librarians together to improve their business relationship, LIS discussion topics include improving metadata for title discovery, balancing digital and print book demand, collaborating on challenges faced by librarians, and marketing tactics for reaching both rural and urban systems. Two keynote speakers, lunch, and refreshments round out the day with plenty of time for networking.

LIS was conceived as a forum for publishing professionals to better understand and interact with librarians, to learn more about current collection development needs, and to network with other publishers to energize their ALA participation.

A separate morning track is designed to meet the needs of author publishers. Please provide demographic information during registration to maximize your participation.

It is $225 for the entire day (with lunch) and you can still register here.

I am moderating and participating in the program for both tracks right after lunch. 

Library Challenges and How Publishers Can Help

This panel will discuss how publishers can offer librarians encouragement and support in the face of book bans, decreasing budgets, collection diversity impediments, technology advances, increasing data insight vs privacy concerns, and a more engaged community.

Saturday, June 28

9-10am, Booth 2442: I will begin my day appearing at the University of Illinois Booth 2442 with Robin to meet with anyone who has questions about our Call for Papers for the issue of Library Trends (published by the University) we are guest editing on Readers' Advisory. For more details about the Call for Papers click here. Also we will both have bookmarks on us that have a QR code with all the info you need.

Then later in the day...

1pm, Room 124: Booklist Presents: The State of RA Today:

Event Description: Readers’ Advisory (RA) is a staple of public library work, and it’s hard enough keeping up with those titles you want to suggest to patrons—but how do you keep up with developments in the field? This panel discussion will take a step back from specific books to take a holistic look at the state of readers’ advisory today. This wide-ranging discussion will focus on the latest RA research, actively anti-racist RA, tools for creating book displays, and how to make RA training available for all staff. This program is hosted by your friends at Booklist and features a host of library luminaries who are experts in RA.

Host:
Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management & Library Outreach at Booklist

Panelists:
Becky Spratford
Robin Bradford
E. E. Lawrence
Lila Denning
Jessica Trotter

Next up, my first panel as an author ever!

• 4pm, Room 112 AB: ALMA/LibraryReads Speculative Fiction Adult Author Panel:

Event Description: What Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror will you be reading this fall? Get a preview of what's in store this year with this author panel, featuring the inside stories behind the stories from authors from a variety of publishers. Hosted by Library Reads.

Featuring: Alix E. Harrow, The Everlasting 

Kirsten Miller, The Women of Wild Hill

K. X. Song, The Dragon Wakes with Thunder 

Becky Spratford, Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature 

Andrew Joseph White, You Weren't Meant to Be Human

RSVPs requested for galley giveaways. Please register at: http://bit.ly/SaturdayAuthorsALA25

Please note, you must click on the link above so that there are enough ARCs for everyone. I will be doing a signing as part of this panel as well. 

I will also be at the ticketed Andrew Carnegie Medal Ceremony and Reception in the evening.

Sunday June 29

10:30-11:20am: I am moderating the following panel at the Chapter One Stage (Booth 112) 

Cli-Fi Panel: Exciting Forthcoming Environmental Fiction:

Join authors Anna North (BOG QUEEN, Bloomsbury), Wendy N. Wagner (GIRL IN THE CREEK, Tor Nightfire), and Yume Kitasei (SALTCROP, Flatiron), as they discuss their forthcoming novels, which explore environmental issues in bold new ways and through various genres, including literary fiction, eco-horror, and sci-fi. This panel will be moderated by librarian Becky Spratford, RA for All. 

After 30 minutes of discussion and Q&A, please join the authors for a 20-minute galley signing. Anna North will also have a galley giveaway and signing at the Bloomsbury Adult booth (#1909) immediately after the panel, from 11:30am-12:30pm. Wendy N. Wagner will have an additional signing at the Macmillan booth (#1917) at 1:00pm on Sunday. 

12:30-1:20pm: I am headed to moderate another panel. This time at the A Real Page-Turner Stage (Booth 2435)

Crossing Thresholds: The Rise of Transgressive Horror:

Join authors Eric LaRocca, Hailey Piper and Clay McLeod Chapman as they take you on a journey into the heart of transgressive, LGBTQ+ horror fiction. Discover how their bold and fearless narratives challenge conventions and continue to reshape the horror fiction landscape, inviting readers to question, fear, and understand the complexities of the human experience. The panel will conclude with a Q&A session, allowing attendees to delve deeper into the authors’ processes, challenges, and future projects.

Monday, June 30 (also know as Becky's 50th Birthday)

I am in conversation with Joe Hill on the Main Stage from 10:30-11:20 am in Terrace III & IV Ballroom

I hope to see many of you there. I will have some wrap up posts after I return.

New Actively Anti-Racist Class with Robin and Becky for August 2025

Robin and I are back with our updated Actively Anti-Racist Readers' Advisory Services class coming August 20 and 21. You can take this class live or view the recordings on your own time.

NEW: Does your state not allow CE funds to go to ALA events? I have been told that you can contact them  at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100 and someone will help you. You can also always contact me to help as well.

Please go here or see below for all of the details, including pricing, to reserve your seat now.

Actively Anti-Racist Readers’ Advisory Services

Register

A two-part webinar series taking place on Wednesday, August 20 and Thursday, August 21, 2025 at 2:30pm Eastern/1:30pm Central/12:30pm Mountain/11:30am Pacific.

Increasing the collection and circulation of titles written by underrepresented authors is not just a trend. Providing robust readers’ advisory service that values equity, diversity, and inclusion principles is essential to all library services.

Moving from being a neutral, well-meaning library where systemic racism is acknowledged to an actively anti-racist organization involves in-depth work, some of which can be challenging. In this program you will begin that work and learn tangible skills to help build enthusiasm for reading and strategies for diversifying your materials. You’ll learn how you can strengthen your RA service through thoughtful discussion of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging principles in all interactions with leisure readers and how to be a steward of the anti-racist mindset for your organization.

In this two-part series, collection development and readers’ advisory experts Robin Bradford and Becky Spratford will move your team from talk to action. You’ll learn how to help your entire organization craft an actionable plan to seamlessly incorporate the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging into your regular RA practices. 

Through your participation in this program, you will learn:

• The distinction between not racist and anti-racist. 
• How to identify more diverse titles to add to your collections.
• How to use anti-racist principles in your displays, book talks, and organization of titles.
• Promotion strategies for diverse titles and authors.
• Basic strategies to address politically motivated requests to remove books from your collection.

Robin Bradford has earned a BA and MA in English, an MS in Library Science, and a JD, but has found a home in building reader-focused, popular collections in public libraries. She was recognized as RWA’s 2016 Librarian of the Year and Emerald City Library Conference's Librarian of the Year in 2022. She is addicted to books and dedicated to helping others discover a love of reading. She has worked with authors to help get their titles into these collections and wrote the Readers’ Advisory Guide to Romance Fiction to further help libraries with their romance collection. She also worked with libraries to push for equal treatment of genre fiction and worked with readers so that they can find their favorite authors on their library's shelves.

Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All. She writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky was a 24 year locally elected Library Trustee and a former Board member for both the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers, Becky is the author of three text books for library workers, most recently, The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror, Third Edition [ALA Editions, 2021] and the forthcoming Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, September, 2025]. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Library Committee. You can follow Becky on Bluesky @raforall.bsky.social

This event will be hosted in Zoom. Automatic captions will be enabled for this event. This event will be recorded, and registrants will receive access to the recording within a day after the event ends.

If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.

Register