RA for All Goes Back to School

I may burst with happiness today. At Noon central time I will be returning to my regular volunteer sift [2x a month] at the local school library. I have not been there since January of 2020!

This elementary school is K-6 and my kids went there. I have been able to stay on after my kids left because I am a professional in the community providing my services in a volunteer capacity. The LRC has a degreed librarian and a paid assistant on staff, which is better than most school libraries in the country. My work focuses on helping to catalog the books and doing some RA with the kids. 

I cannot wait to get back into service to kids, hear directly from them about what they want to read, what they like, and why, as well as get my hands on the new books!

But this post is not just about me and my personal celebration, it is also a reminder that while my focus is on serving patrons 13 and Up, I do offer content and training for school libraries regularly. Here are a few links to the most pertinent tags to read these posts: 

• Posts about the 5th/6th Grade Book Club I led for 2 years
• Any post that tackled Middle Grade service or books I read
• Any posts about school libraries in general

Of course some of those posts have a combination of these tags on them. 

Below, I am re-running a post I wrote in April of 2019 my personal experience of working with middle grade students and how it is great continuing education for me, and I hope you, especially if you work with only adults.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 2019

RA Service for Middle Schoolers As Great Training, Inspired by Booklist's Corner Shelf

The latest issue of Corner Shelf is live and while I think the entire issue is worthwhile, I would specifically like to point out this Notes from the Field report by Sarah Hunter on RA for Middle Schoolers. 

I am a huge advocate of library workers who do RA mostly with Adults [my core readers] to spend time helping other age groups. And I do more than say you should do this, I live my advice as a regular volunteer at my local K-6 school. I am there to assist the LRC Director by helping to provide some professional services [like RA and cataloging] in order to free her up to work with the kids.

I learn so much from my time with those kids, especially the 5th and 6th graders-- middle schoolers-- about how I can be better at RA to adults. Why? Well as one one the librarians in the piece points out, this age group is still figuring out what they like to read and are more willing to experiment. I don't think this willingness to try something new ever fully leaves readers, but as our patrons get older, it is harder to convince them to break free of what they think are the only books they will enjoy.

Working with middle schoolers is freeing in this way because if we earn their trust, they are more willing to try something different. And this begins by us listening to what they want from a story. Not the plot or the tropes they are used to, but the feel. Middle school aged children require we listen more intently because they are just beginning to articulate what appeal factors they most enjoy and they have not closed the door to specific genres. Little kids only talk about certain characters or plot devices and adults try to anticipate what we are going to ask them based on the buzz words they have read in magazine or heard on NPR.

But middle school kids are discovering what they enjoy, who they are, and who they will be. This is an everyday experience for them. They are trying to articulate this in everything they do. We can learn a lot by listening to them and then try to find them something to fit their desires. But again, we don't need to stay within genre confines. I am often giving the same kid a graphic novel, fantasy book, and realistic fiction all in the same visit and they devour all three. Often these books are united by a preferred appeal factor such as they might all be character centered or fast paced or have a strong sense of place, etc....

I often remind myself of the willingness of middle schoolers to articulate their desires when I am working with a picky adult reader. I try to frame a slightly different title [that I am pretty sure they would like if they just gave it a try] in the same way I would with a 6th grader. I talk about how the story would match up with their preferences and leave plot and, especially, genre out of it. It is how I frame the suggestion that matters. I encourage them to give it a try because it sounds like a story they would love- repeating some of the adjectives they have used to describe other good reads as being found in this book.

And, as a result, I have had great success giving patrons books they never would have picked up on their own, but with my guidance, they have found and enjoyed. This is where we make our biggest impact on the adults we help-- when we help them connect with a title that they could not have found without us

However, and I can not overstate this enough, I learned to think more outside the box in helping adults precisely because of my time helping middle schoolers. I  was never as willing to reach outside of the patron's comfort zone until I was regularly confronted with an age group who craves and demands expanding their comfort zone as they discover themselves. We all need to work with this age group more.

So kudos to Susan for reaching across the age divide to include this valuable interview. Don't dismiss it as irrelevant to your work with adults because it is absolutely relevant. In fact, I hope it inspires you to offer to take a shift at the children's desk after school and help some middle schoolers find a good read. You will gain valuable experience to take with you on your next adult RA interaction.

For related posts about middle schoolers and RA check out my 5th/6th grade book club tag here on the blog.

RA for All Roadshow Visits East Aurora [IL] School District 131

In what I think will be my final in person appearance of 2019 [I can't 100% rule out a last minute local appearance], I am traveling to the second largest city in IL, Aurora, to spend the afternoon working with the School Library Staff of the East Aurora School District.

This district serves grades K-12 and I will be working with library staff in small groups as part of one of the district's half day staff training sessions.

I am excited to provide this training for a few reasons:

1. I volunteer at the school library near me 2 times a month and I now I get to share some of what I do and learn from this experience with fellow school library people.
2. I am going to be able to work with staff in small groups, presenting multiple times. The intimacy of the workshops is something I don't normally get to do. We are really going to be able to make connections that will stick and have impact, at least that is the plan.
3. This is a school district serving children who are in need. I cleared my schedule to make this event happen. Helping to energize and train the school library staff on how to get the kids excited to read books for fun will make a huge difference in these kids' lives.
4. I have confidence in the leadership team who are bringing me in to keep the learning going. This is the beginning of a larger plan to push leisure reading more into the spotlight for everything the district does, not just in the library.

Today's workshops will follow Becky's 10 Rules of RA Service

Finally, since this may very well be my final in person appearance of the year, it is a good time to remind you that it is not too late to hire me for 2020 but at 2019's rates.  Click here for those rates. And you can click on the RA for All logo on any page of the blog to contact me.

RA Service for Middle Schoolers As Great Training, Inspired by Booklist's Corner Shelf

Click here to read this issue
Click here to subscribe

The latest issue of Corner Shelf is live and while I think the entire issue is worthwhile, I would specifically like to point out this Notes from the Field report by Sarah Hunter on RA for Middle Schoolers. 

I am a huge advocate of library workers who do RA mostly with Adults [my core readers] to spend time helping other age groups. And I do more than say you should do this, I live my advice as a regular volunteer at my local K-6 school. I am there to assist the LRC Director by helping to provide some professional services [like RA and cataloging] in order to free her up to work with the kids.

I learn so much from my time with those kids, especially the 5th and 6th graders-- middle schoolers-- about how I can be better at RA to adults. Why? Well as one one the librarians in the piece points out, this age group is still figuring out what they like to read and are more willing to experiment. I don't think this willingness to try something new ever fully leaves readers, but as our patrons get older, it is harder to convince them to break free of what they think are the only books they will enjoy.

Working with middle schoolers is freeing in this way because if we earn their trust, they are more willing to try something different. And this begins by us listening to what they want from a story. Not the plot or the tropes they are used to, but the feel. Middle school aged children require we listen more intently because they are just beginning to articulate what appeal factors they most enjoy and they have not closed the door to specific genres. Little kids only talk about certain characters or plot devices and adults try to anticipate what we are going to ask them based on the buzz words they have read in magazine or heard on NPR.

But middle school kids are discovering what they enjoy, who they are, and who they will be. This is an everyday experience for them. They are trying to articulate this in everything they do. We can learn a lot by listening to them and then try to find them something to fit their desires. But again, we don't need to stay within genre confines. I am often giving the same kid a graphic novel, fantasy book, and realistic fiction all in the same visit and they devour all three. Often these books are united by a preferred appeal factor such as they might all be character centered or fast paced or have a strong sense of place, etc....

I often remind myself of the willingness of middle schoolers to articulate their desires when I am working with a picky adult reader. I try to frame a slightly different title [that I am pretty sure they would like if they just gave it a try] in the same way I would with a 6th grader. I talk about how the story would match up with their preferences and leave plot and, especially, genre out of it. It is how I frame the suggestion that matters. I encourage them to give it a try because it sounds like a story they would love- repeating some of the adjectives they have used to describe other good reads as being found in this book.

And, as a result, I have had great success giving patrons books they never would have picked up on their own, but with my guidance, they have found and enjoyed. This is where we make our biggest impact on the adults we help-- when we help them connect with a title that they could not have found without us

However, and I can not overstate this enough, I learned to think more outside the box in helping adults precisely because of my time helping middle schoolers. I  was never as willing to reach outside of the patron's comfort zone until I was regularly confronted with an age group who craves and demands expanding their comfort zone as they discover themselves. We all need to work with this age group more.

So kudos to Susan for reaching across the age divide to include this valuable interview. Don't dismiss it as irrelevant to your work with adults because it is absolutely relevant. In fact, I hope it inspires you to offer to take a shift at the children's desk after school and help some middle schoolers find a good read. You will gain valuable experience to take with you on your next adult RA interaction.

For related posts about middle schoolers and RA check out my 5th/6th grade book club tag here on the blog.

Suggest Middle Grade Titles to Adults

Today I was in the elementary school library and man, middle grade books are so much better these days than they were when I was a kid. I love that I get to catalog these books and learn about them.

One of the tips I give to book club leaders who feel that their groups are stuck in a rut, is to have them try a middle grade book. I share my experiences leading the elementary school book club, which I blogged about here, to explain why it works so well.

I especially think middle grade works better than YA for more adult readers because they don’t judge it as much. By this I mean, with some adult who are new to reading YA, all they do is complain how it isn’t as "complex” or isn’t as “well written,” as adult titles [both comments are useless and wrong as criticism]. They spend too much time trying to feel superior to the book in front of them. But, with middle grade, the adult reader already knows that the book HAS to be written at a different level than adult and is more willing to let the story unfold on its own merits. They expect it to be “easier.” They spend no time judging and all of their time experiencing the book, and almost always, they are honestly surprised by how deep, moving, and intricate these books are.

I have found that adult readers are often surprised by how much middle grade has to offer to them as a reader. This is why it makes such a great suggestion. You are helping them to find a book they would never consider on their own. And when they love it, you get the credit. If they don’t like it, they blame it on the book being for kids. You are off the hook. This is a no lose proposition people.

So why not put up a display in the adult section this weekend, or make a list for the website of books to “rediscover your childhood.” Give people lists of current, middle grade. Not the stuff from their youth, but the things they could be reading if they were kids now. These are the books they don’t know about.

Here is a great list of 100 Must Read Middle Grade Books via BookRiot to get you started. All were published since 2016.

But you could also go talk to your youth library staff and ask them to build the display in your section. Talk to them about what books are popular with kids, what titles they are most excited about, and what they think would be great for adults. This is a wonderful team building exercise whether or not any of the titles get checked out by adults or not.

Also, you can reciprocate and make them a display of books they can bring into story times for the adults to look at and consider reading for themselves while they are in a youth program with their kids.

Everybody wins here-- patrons, staff, the library as an organization of people working together...

Have a nice weekend.

Fostering a Love of Reading Through School Libraries- Featuring A New Friend and Resource for You

Today is my 2x a month volunteer afternoon at the local elementary school library. Since this is also one of my last times volunteering while I have a child in this school I thought I would reflect back upon what I have learned as an adult librarian working in a school library for 10 [!] years before I introduce you to a new friend and inspirational school librarian.

Ten years ago, my first child entered Kindergarten and I was looking for ways I could volunteer at the school, but I didn't want to be a room mom or organize fundraisers. What I was looking for was an opportunity to provide help to the school in a way that best utilized my skill sets. What I found was that the LRC actively solicits parent volunteers. I started helping out and never looked back.

When I first got there I was not sure how much I could actually help beyond understanding how the books were shelved, keeping an eye out for messy and out of order shelves, and occasionally giving a book suggestion to the kids-- I was not as well versed in kid lit at that time.

Well flash forward ten years later and not only have I been able to contribute more, the LRC Director and her staff have made great, innovative changes without sacrificing their commitment to putting books in the kids' hands.

Yes we now have a green screen room and the kids all learn how to use a variety of computer programs through the LRC, but I have also been a part of projects to re-catalog entire sections of the library- making local changes to the standard Dewey Classifications to fit how the kids actually use the collection. I have also spent a lot of time working on cataloging. I take the standard preloaded records and clean them up. This is a help to the LRC Director because it is a professional job that needs a trained hand. By doing it for her, she is freed up to work with students and plan longer terms projects while still getting the new books on the shelf in a timely fashion for the hordes of hungry readers she has been cultivating.

[I have highlighted the work of this school library in this program. You can click through for some more examples.]

For me, professionally, working with the kids and their books has allowed me to become well versed in kid lit and, more importantly, I am now a pro at the RA conversation with kids. Getting a kids to talk about why they love a book is different than working with adults. In many ways it is harder, and yet, once you get them going, they can't stop sharing what they love.

The teachers seek me out for some of the harder to help children, the ones who need a little more one on one attention to find that perfect book- especially the reluctant readers and the older kids who need a lower reading level with high interest. With me helping those kids and giving them the more intensive attention, the LRC Director is free to work with everyone else.

I love it so much, even on those crazy weeks when I really should stay home and get some of my work done. Unless I am out of town, I always go. It recharges me and is helping my son's school community. And over the years, the LRC Director has become a colleague and friend. I have watched her grow, get her Master's Degree, and become a sought after presenter herself.

My son will be leaving for Junior High very soon, but I will be back at the elementary school next year. There are very strict rules about who can volunteer in schools and normally if you do not have an enrolled child, you cannot. Except....if you are a professional in the community volunteering your professional skills in the school setting. Bingo! 

As a result of my work with my school library, I have become much more cognizant of the great work being done, often alone and in a vacuum, by our school librarians all over the country. And last week, at StokerCon I met Kelly Powers, a school librarian in Southern, CA. 

Kelly works at a school where the average reading level that is below grade level. She works very hard to engage and encourage her students. Just because they are struggling does not mean they can;t fall in love with reading. In fact, Kelly is having great success because she works so hard to find them the right books, books that will keep them reading and as a result she is helping them to improve their literacy skills.  Kelly is also an author, so she understands stories from that perspective too.

Kelly gets the power of giving kids a great read, helping them to find books they enjoy for fun, and she writes about it on her blog The Write Time. Kelly writes persuasively and elegantly about why books and reading matter. Here is just a sampling of some of my favorite posts by her:

• Graphic Novels As Gateway Books
• The Male Reader
• 11 Tips For Encouraging A Young Reader

No matter the age of reader you help, from babies to senior citizens, Kelly's posts will help you to help your readers better. I would like to especially note The Male Reader. Everyone who reads this blog, needs to read that post.

I believe strongly in learning by stepping outside of your comfort zone and looking at things from a different perspective. This is how we grow as library workers and people. Therefore, I am going to have Kelly check in from time to time with more insight.

But right now, I am off to my school library to help get more books into those kids' hands- whether its by suggesting a specific kid a title, cataloging new materials, or helping to reimagine how we shelve the books, all of it helps to foster a love of both books and libraries in these kids-- our future funders and voters for libraries!

RA for All Roadshow Visits the Illinois School Library Media Association Conference

This morning I am running a three hour seminar for all levels of IL School Librarians as part of their annual conference.

Here is a screen shot from the full conference program describing my presentation:

For the first 90 minutes I am going to do a customized version of my signature RA for All talk. This is an interactive presentation and it follows Becky’s 10 Basic Rules of RA Service. [That means you need to be ready to participate.]

Then we will take a break where I will be giving away brand new books courtesy of the Library Marketing Team over at SourceBooks. I have 2 picture books, 2 middle grade, and 2 YA titles for 6 lucky winners. [Thank you Margaret Coffee]

After our break I will be talking to you about practical rethinks for your RA service in school libraries. This presentation is based on my experience with a school library and its neighboring public library. We will talk about how public library RA techniques can be used to the school library's benefit.

Click here or below for slide access.

Slide Access

Can't wait to meet you all and start working together to improve your student's leisure reading experience.

Weeding Tips for Youth Collections

Yesterday my Corner Shelf email newsletter came via Booklist Online and I dutifully read it. However, little did I know that I would be using one the the articles the very next day....today...as I worked my regular volunteer shift at the elementary school library.

Let me back up a bit and explain.

I help out 2x a month at my son's elementary school library. We are very lucky to have a MLIS librarian on staff and she is very good, but she is also very busy.  One of the ways I help is with some basic cataloging and collection development, most notably, to help with weeding.

Recently, she had a volunteer go through a few Dewey areas and pull things that "looked old." She then asked me to go through the cart and look at everything more closely. While I was starting on this project today, the library assistant asked what she thought was a very easy question, but all of you will know that it is not:

How do you know what to weed?

Well that opens a whole can of worms, doesn't it?

Weeding is a complicated library topic, but it is also an essential duty. I have posted about this many times. You can pull up all of those posts with this link.

Weeding is hard but necessary. It is a huge part of your collection development; just as important, in fact, as your new purchases. Also, as I said in a post back in 2010:

Weeding is a customer service. Having your shelves neat, in order, and as efficient and effective as possible, helps users. They should not have to, for example, wade through 10 out of date biographies to find the 2 that are the best and most respected. They should be able to come into the library knowing that the collection in front of them (or at least the catalog is the book is checked out) represents the most current and best received materials of general interest. That is, considering population size, budget and spacing. But this is why libraries hire professionally trained librarians instead of just general book lovers.

 And this all brings me back to the Corner Shelf. [Admit it, you thought I forgot.]

In the most recent issue, Erin Downey Howerton, the Children’s Manager at Wichita Public Library and a Booklist Advisory Board member, shared her very practical advice on how to best weed a children's collection. From the article:

Lots of popular weeding guides give detailed information about how to maintain a library collection. Although general advice is always useful applied to diverse collections, sometimes you need to think about collections for youth a different way. When my friends at the Northeast Kansas Library System told me that they were designing lunch-hour-sized webinars for their libraries to learn about different topics, I suggested the topic of “Weeding Youth Collections.” Here are some of the suggestions we shared during this continuing-education opportunity.

Click here for the rest of the article.  But because I had read it last night, I was able to talk to the library assistant about some of the specifics about weeding a youth collection and I sounded super knowledgeable.  Thanks Booklist, Rebecca, and Erin!

Spring is a great time to think about cleaning out your "MUSTIE" collections too, and Erin's article is a great place to start getting inspired to take action.

Welcome to RA for All School Librarians

Today I will be broadening my reach as I present RA for All: The School Library Edition for RAILS member libraries beginning at 4pm. This is a 100% BRAND NEW RA for All program.

I am very excited to offer this program for a few reasons.

1. One of my goals when I left daily library work and set out on this journey to train as many librarians as possible in the joys of RA service was to branch out into areas beyond the public library. This was my natural first step because, as you can see in the slides below, I have been volunteering at a school library for many years and have already worked to implement some public library RA tactics into the school library setting.  I am excited to share those with you today
2. The school library world has gone through immense change in the last ten years-- this is something I will talk about in the program-- but the short version is that the pendulum is swinging back toward a focus on the importance of leisure reading. Today's program will inject new energy and enthusiasm into your work with students in a school library setting.
3. This reason is more about me and my personal growth and training. In creating this program, I was forced to sit down and take a hard look at myself and how I train public librarians to provide superior RA service in order to be able to articulate it to you, a new audience.  For me this has been a personal training benefit. I know a few public librarians signed up for today's program too. Well, like me, I hope you use this opportunity to look at what you do from a slightly different angle. IT can only make you stronger at your job.
4. This final one is just pure luck of timing, but yesterday, the Every Student Succeeds Act was introduced into Congress and it includes language about the necessity of school librarians in our children's educational futures.  The ALA has a press release available here. 

So, if you are a first time visitor to RA for All, WELCOME. Spend some time poking around the archives or use the tags in the right gutter to explore topics of interest to you.  You can also click through to the All About Becky page for more about me including contact info. Feel free to contact me anytime.

And if you are a long time, public library reader of RA for All, I hope you think about #3 above as you read today's post and check out the slides. I have learned so much through my work in the school library, but I learned even more about the "whys" behind everything we do by creating this presentations.

You can find today’s slides here right now, and after today on the Recent Presentations page.

Click here for slide access

RA at the Elementary School Level

Today is a very busy day in the world of RA.  Not only is today is the beginning of the newest RUSA CODES two day email conversation, but I am also about to head out the door to attend Duncan Smith's RA lecture at RAILS. [Links lead to details for each event].

Because one can never pack too much RA into one day, I also spent 3 hours this morning volunteering at my son's elementary school library.  I volunteer there twice a month. The LRC Director, Kelly Davis, mostly uses me to help catalog the books as they come in, but, because of my RA experience and her recent course work as she acquired her MLS, we have had many conversations about breaking up the library's collection to make it easier for the kids to browse and find the books they want to read for fun.

While I was there today, I took a few pictures of some of the newer displays she instituted this past year.  Below you will find 2 nooks that had gone unused in the past. She created a new book area with one and a special section for the Rebecca Caudill titles in the other.  Both have prime real estate in the library as they flank the main door.  A parent took the old books and cut them into those eye catching letters.

The next two photos show how she took highlighting the Caudill titles a step further. The first photo shows how she took pictures of the covers and laminated them next to reviews-- reviews that were written by last year's graduating 6th graders to be displayed for this year's students.  The second picture is a closeup of 2 of them. As you can see, some of the titles do not have these reviews as this was a trial last year.  She is already hard at work getting all the books reviewed for next year though.

All of these displays Kelly created had a huge impact on the circulation of leisure reading materials in the school library.  She also worked to create a smaller browsing collection for Nonfiction that is targeted to the K-2 audience (It's a K-6 school).  This works like a display for younger kids who are more intimidated by the larger nonfiction stacks, stacks which contain many more titles that are above their level than at their level. This has increased the circulation of nonfiction for leisure reading for the younger kids, which we hope will lead to them continuing to seek it out in the larger stacks as they get older.

As both a parent and a RA librarian, I am very proud of how Kelly has taken some of the more traditional public library display concepts to promote leisure reading for the kids. She already did a great job supporting the curriculum, but she also feels strongly about instilling a love of reading in the kids. She's got them for a nice long stretch of time. They come once a week to check out 2 "fun" books each, so why not make the space where they can discover titles in a more fun, eye catching, easier to browse way and broken up into categories that they most want to see.

I know I don't traditionally talk about school libraries on the blog, but it is an area I will be exploring more once I leave the BPL next month, so I figured I would start with one I have a connection with first.

If you want to share your great school library RA work, leave a link in the comments.