Library Trends Rethinking Readers’ Advisory For Today’s Reading Reality Updates and a Bonus Article

Over a year ago, Robin Bradford and I made an announcement that we would be guest editing an issue of the academic journal Library Trends here. 

The issue is entitled, Rethinking Readers’ Advisory For Today’s Reading Reality and it will be published later this Fall on this page. (Currently the May 2026 issue is there)

It will be open source and available online for all for free. Soon, we will have the table of contents announcement. However, there were a few articles we could don't fit into the issue and one in particular that Robin and I want dot make sure more people were able to read.

 So today I would like to invite you to click here to read:

Are you a “ravenous reader”? Join the team! (Or build one from scratch)
by Karen Greene and Jessica P. Pryde

Abstract: Pima County Public Library is committed to providing readers’ advisory services everywhere, to everyone. We do this in a variety of ways—in person, in the library, virtually, on our website, out in the community, on a bike.  Everywhere. While all desk staff are educated in and encouraged to engage in readers’ advisory with their customers, there is a dedicated group of enthusiasts who work towards making readers advisory a priority. The mighty Ravenous Readers team takes this responsibility seriously and knows how to have fun with it!   

This article will detail the establishment and evolution of PCPL’s Ravenous Readers team, including the work that individual members of the team have taken back to their branches or other affinity teams. It will also include steps on how to reproduce it at a scalable level at other library systems, including public, private, university, and others.  

This article is free for you to read right now here. Please note, this is a 6,400 word article, but it is worth your time. And I want to give a huge thank you to Karen Greene and Jessica P. Pryde for allowing us to share this with all of you. 

I also wanted to use this blog post to share some addition information about the authors and the Pima County Public Library.

First their author bios:

Author bios:

Karen Greene is the Librarian on the Move with the Pima County Public Library system and has been a member of the Ravenous Readers Team since the very first meeting.  She has been an adult services librarian since 2004, and prior to that was a middle school librarian for eleven years.  She was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2016. She will talk about books with anyone and everyone. 

Jessica P. Pryde is a Professional Book Person in Southern Arizona. A Librarian by education and trade, she spent over ten years as a librarian at Pima County Public Library before moving on to explore opportunities in a different side of the bookish world. 

Second, one of the things we were having trouble with in sharing all of their good work through the academic journal process is that it is not easy to showcase work on their website in the journal format. But, here on the blog we can do that. Here is the library webpage:  https://www.library.pima.gov/ and the link for PRRRs (Personalized Reading Recommendations): https://www.library.pima.gov/prr/

Don't miss out on your chance to become a ravenous reader. Click here to read the article.

And moving into the next few months, stay tuned for information on the table of contents and your chance to attend free webinars to learn more about the issue and the articles, straight from Robin, me, and our authors.

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. 

Becky Goes to Springfield [IL] to Support House Bill 5236-- The Digital Library Protection Act.

As I mentioned on Bluesky, I spent yesterday going back and forth to Springfield IL to support House Bill 5236—The Digital Library Protection Act. From the ILA page Advocacy page about HB 5236:

What is House Bill 5236?

The Digital Library Protection Act, as known as House Bill 5236, aims to prevent publishers from imposing unfair restrictions on libraries when licensing eBooks, digital audiobooks, and other electronic literary materials. It prohibits contracts that would prevent libraries from performing their usual functions, like licensing materials from other publishers, using necessary technology for lending, making preservation copies, or participating in interlibrary loan systems. 

It prevents publishers from restricting a library's ability to determine loan periods, from charging libraries more than the public for the same item, or from limiting the number of licenses a library can acquire after an item is available to the public. The bill ensures libraries can continue to virtually share content for educational purposes and share licensing terms with other libraries in the state. 

If you live in IL, please register to attend our update tomorrow about everything that happened yesterday here.

Before I get to my official statement in support of the bill, I wanted to share a very short recap on what happened yesterday.

Click here for photos.

We were appearing in a show of support for this bill to move from the Consumer Protection Committee to the floor of the IL House. We did move forward with a 6-3 vote. This results what our lobbyist said would be a huge victory (it means we got one republican to vote for us in committee).

But I need to thank all of you who filed witness slips because while the bills that went before us reported that they have 5-10 witness slips in favor we had over 2700! The committee was impressed. But I also need to share that the anti witness slips were from places like Penguin Random House, the Authors Guild, and the American Publishers Association, so we need all the support we can get, especially from you PATRONS.

They noted in the hearing that most witness slips supporting were librarians. As we move forward we need to see the public get involved.

Please go to this page to follow our progress and see how you can educate your patrons to speak out in support. 

Right now our focus is on gathering the 60 votes we need from the IL House to pass this bill to the Senate. We need those in place and secured in 8 business days from today which is 4/9. (there are some closed dates around Easter).

What we need is for you to call your IL House Reps and talk to them about voting yes here. Now after the webinar tomorrow we will have updated advocacy scripts and advice. I will let you all know about that but it will all be here on the ILA's page with all of the info as linked above.

As my colleague Robin Bradford (and IL native) noted on Bluesky yesterday, "When you spend more money, your buying power shouldn't DECREASE. Someone is getting over like a fat rat and it ain't the people. Not the authors, either!"

Which leads exactly into the witness testimony I was asked to provide as Big 5 author, librarian, and trustee. It was officially filed into the record. I am sharing it here with all of you because no matter where you live, you can use this to advocate for this issue. In IL, I will be contacting reps outside of my district to speak as an author and as a former elected official myself. (Don't get me started as to how mad I am that the Authors Guild is against this bill, a bill which hurts every author, but they are doing what PRH tells them to do here. They are not fighting for us.)

CT has passed this legislation. We are moving to the House floor and NJ is right behind us. (which for me is poetic justice, the state I live in and the state I am from are leading the pack here.) If a few dominos fall, the Publishers will be forced to give up and make the rules fair for all libraries. Don't think for a moment what happens here in IL is not going to help every single library in the country. We are doing the work for all of you and we are happy to do it. I just wish Springfield wasn't 3.5 hours away. But with teamwork and carpools we made it happen. Again, check out the pictures here.

I hope to see of you at the webinar tomorrow as well.

My official witness testimony ends this post. Please feel free to quote me or just borrow the language to use for yourselves. And a huge thank you to Robin who provided the real time numbers for purchasing my specific book.

Submitted by Becky Siegel Spratford, Librarian, Author, and recently retired 24-year, elected Public Library Trustee for La Grange Public Library (Cook County).

I would like to thank the Consumer Protection Committee for giving me, and my colleagues from across Illinois, the opportunity to speak to you today about House Bill 5236—The Digital Library Protection Act. I am speaking to you in support of this bill and its aims to prevent publishers from imposing unfair restrictions on libraries when licensing eBooks, digital audiobooks, and other electronic literary materials. 

I would like to begin by sharing my personal experience as the author of WHY I LOVE HORROR: ESSAYS ON HORROR LITERATURE which was published in September 2025 by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. The print version of my book retails for $18 while the physical CD of the audiobook is $34.99. Consumers can buy a digital copy of my book from Amazon for $13.99 and digital audio for $13.02, via Amazon.

However, if a library would like to purchase my book for their library collections the cost of the ebook is not only inflated to $59.99 for one use at a time, but also that purchase is only for 24 months. After that time, the book simply disappears from the library’s collection and must be re-purchased again for that same price with those same terms. The digital audio is inflated to $69.99, again for one use at a time, for only 24 months.

In my opinion, this is the definition of price gouging, and since libraries are using tax dollars to purchase books for their collection, the victims are our citizens, the very people this committee is responsible for protecting. 

I want to be clear here, because I have been asked about this before, Simon and Schuster is not crediting my author account for sales dollars above and beyond the list price of my book when they make a digital sale at those inflated prices to a library. And again, unlike my print book, which can circulate as many times as possible, the libraries who purchase the digital versions of my book, only “own” them for 24 months from the date of purchase.

As of this writing, the print, digital audio, and digital ebook of my title are checked out from my library. But in less than 24 months from today, the print will still be on the shelf while the digital book and audio will disappear. Access will be denied to those who want to read it. As a librarian, I am not sure even if I would make the choice to reorder this book digitally at those prices, especially knowing the print is there for people— and let me stress, this is my book I am talking about. 

Now, multiply this financial decision about my book by thousands because as you have heard from my colleagues today, my book is but one example of this extremely unfair and, quite frankly, unsustainable system.

However, my irritation and anger as an author and librarian is eclipsed by how unfair I know the current system is for our citizens. I worked tirelessly as an elected Library Trustee to give the citizens of La Grange, IL the most efficient and effective service for six full terms, from May 2001-April 2025. The current system puts Library Trustees between a rock and a hard place. 

On my board we were regularly briefed on how popular our digital materials were, while we were also told about the price disparity between digital and physical copies. We always wanted to use our taxpayers’ dollars efficiently and effectively. We weighed the cost versus the need. We made sure the staff had access to enough money to give our patrons the titles they wanted, in the formats they wanted. 

But even for a well-funded library like La Grange Public Library, this was not easy. We had to get creative with our budget and we even used grants to help bridge the funding gaps. Many of our fellow libraries across the state don’t have the financial resources we did, however, and their patrons (citizens who give their tax dollars for their library’s collections), are forced to go without digital access to many of the books they want to read in those formats.

As you can see, I am engaged with this issue from all sides. I care deeply about making sure readers have access to the books they want from the public library, whether I have written that book or not. I also want my book in the public library. I want readers to be able to find my book on the shelf, be that a digital shelf or a physical one. I am proud that people can find my book at their public library. But I am saddened that in order for a library to have my book, they have to pay through the nose, and even after making that choice and paying those steep prices, they don’t even have access to it after two years.

This is most unfair to the consumers. Yes, the literal consumer is the library here, but really, since we are using taxpayer dollars, the consumer is our citizens. Even worse, they have no idea that they are being price gouged. 

As an author for one of the largest publishers, I also understand that we need to make money—the publisher and myself. But in the current price structure system, I am not making any more money, the library is paying a lot more, the taxpayers are being price gouged, and only the publisher is profiting.

I am so thankful that you are hearing testimony on this important issue. I hope my testimony can help you move House Bill 5236 on to the full House.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Booklist's Ideas and Practice Recordings 2024-2026

Last week I attended Booklist's FREE Readers' Advisory Ideas & Practice 2026. The recordings and slides are now available for all. The format of this half day of library training is broken up into three presentations-- 2 "Ideas" sections and 1 focused on practice. 

This is the third year for Booklist's RA Ideas & Practice series, and before I get to this year's program, I wanted to remind you that all Booklist Webinars are easily accessible in their archive at this link. But as they are currently at work creating a more organized way to access the content, I have pulled out the 2025 and 2024 programs.

Fun fact, Robin and I were a part of the very first session of the very first edition of RA Ideas & Practice. 

Please note, access is free but you need to fill out a form saying where you work to view. If you are not a library worker, there is a box for "other."

2025 Program Access:

Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice: The State of Genreblending in Adult and YA (March 12, 2025) Adult readers' advisory librarian Misha Stone (she/her) and Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic and High School librarian Alex Brown (they/them) will talk about trends in genreblends in adult and YA fiction and how to help readers find the perfect blend for their reading interests.

Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice: Nonfiction Readers' Advisory (March 12, 2025) Programming and Outreach Specialist Stephanie Sendaula (she/her) and rural library director Allie Stevens Gosselink (she/her) will explore how accessibility, format variability, and high-interest subject matter create many opportunities to use nonfiction titles in leisure reading recommendations for adults and teens alike.

Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice: Hot Tips for Hand-Selling (March 12, 2025) Librarians and Booklist editors Heather Booth (she/her) and Susan Maguire (she/her) will show you how to build a book talk using clues from reviews 

2024 Program Access: 

Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice: Swoons and Screams (3/14/24) Librarians Robin Bradford, Alex Brown, and Becky Spratford will dive deep into the appeal of horror and romance for teens and adults, and explore how they are both genres of intense feeling, how they intersect and diverge, and what makes each genre so appealing to readers. 

Readers' Advisory: Crafty & Concise Book Blurbs (3/14/24) Librarians and Booklist editors Heather Booth and Susan Maguire will present a workshop on writing annotations, focusing on how to hone in on a book’s appeal and present a concise description of a book that will entice patrons to read.

Readers' Advisory: Ideas and Practice: The Readers’ Advisory Conversation (3/14/24) Librarians Michelle Morris and Sheila Michaels will present a workshop on the RA conversation, offering practical tips and instructions on how to get the most out of your interactions with patrons. 

Now back to 2026's event. This year the 2 "Ideas" sections were focused on RA for Historical Nonfiction and Memoirs and Romantasy. These were very useful and as you can see below, you have access to the slides and the audience chat which are an excellent resource to help you serve your readers better.

But I want to call out the "Practice" session specifically-- The Four Cornerstones of Reader Interest. Heather and Susan framed how we help readers in a new way. They reframed the RA conversation by reminding us that how we match readers with book is not just about matching appeal factors, but rather we always need to consider the reader's mood, the book's availability, the zeitgeist, and appeal.

It was interesting and very useful. I will be incorporating some of what they said (with attribution) in my programs going forward. I highly recommend you take the time to watch it for yourself. And take advantage of the chat transcript. We are all sharing excellent information. Links are below. And again, access is free but you need to fill out a form saying where you work to view. If you are not a library worker, there is a box for "other."

I am already excited for next year. 

Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice 2026

As promised, here are links to the follow-up materials:

Webinar Recordings:

Perspectives on the Past: Recommending Historical Nonfiction and Memoirs

Enchanting Escapes: Romantasy Readers’ Advisory for Libraries

The Four Cornerstones of Reader Interest

PowerPoint Slides:

Perspectives on the Past: Recommending Historical Nonfiction and Memoirs

Enchanting Escapes: Romantasy Readers’ Advisory for Libraries

The Four Cornerstones of Reader Interest

Session Chats:

Perspectives on the Past: Recommending Historical Nonfiction and Memoirs

Enchanting Escapes: Romantasy Readers’ Advisory for Libraries

The Four Cornerstones of Reader Interest

Additional Resources:

Resources from Penguin Random House Library Marketing

Penguin Random House Library Website

Take Booklist's Readers' Advisory Survey!

Read Booklist's January 2026 issue (Spotlight on Readers' Advisory) for free!

Certificate of Completion

We'd like to once again thank our panelists:

Allie Stevens Gosselink, Director of Calhoun County Library

Stephanie Sendaula, Branch Services Supervisor for Youth and Adult Services at Somerset County Library System

Austin Ferraro, Teen Services Librarian, Northern Virginia public libraries

Rachel Koury, Branch Manager for the Erwin branch of the Harnett County Public Library System

Heather Booth, Audio Editor, Booklist

Susan Maguire, Senior Editor, Collection Management and Library Outreach, Booklist

Revisiting My Most Popular Guest Post of 2025: Library Staff Are Not Superheroes: by Robin Bradford

As we creep closer to the end of the year, I like to look back on the most popular posts on the blog, highlighting what you found the most connect with.

Before I share a specific post, I want to thank you all for staying with me all these years. I had over 1.41 million views in 2025 (still counting). 

Today I have 2025's most popular post written by someone other than me. Itt was by Robin Bradford, originally posted on January 13, 2025 here and below.

Library Staff Are Not Superheroes: a Guest Post by Robin Bradford

Just before the new year, Robin and I were chatting and she sent me this text: "Can I come to a guest post on our blog that libraries are NOT heroes?!?." I immediately wrote back "YES," with the full knowledge that she was only half joking and the understanding that if I told her I wanted it, she would actually do it. 

And as you can see, I was correct. So I present, "Library Staff Are Not Superheroes" by Robin Bradford with a meme created by her as well. This post is important. Please read, but also pass on. It needs to spread further than RA and Collection Development circles. Thanks in advance from Robin and me.

Meme by Robin Bradford

Library staff are not superheroes. They’re not magical, or extraordinary, or phenomenal. It’s flattering to be thought of this way, to be sure. Who doesn’t want to be seen as fighting for truth, justice, and the American way? A book for every reader, and every reader its book! There are 2 problems with hanging this burden on library staff

First problem, library staff are not superhuman. They are people who work for money. Money that pays the rent or mortgage. It pays for the utilities, and food, and transportation. If they’re lucky it pays for holiday gifts, and childcare, and evenings out, and conferences, and (ironically) books, and other things that bring joy to everyday life. No one is getting rich off of library work, but, like any other full-time job, it should pay a living wage at every level. Library work is underpaid across the country, and probably beyond, and that isn’t helped by insinuating that library staff are working for things like “the love of the work” or that they are “superheroes.” It is possible that library staff DO love their work. Many do, but not all. But what they all want is to be paid a wage that supports their life. And that’s before we get into the security issues, or the mission expansion without the accompanying staff expansion. “Do more with less” has been a library motto for years, and eventually people burn out. Do you know why? Because they are not superheroes. Library staff often perform superhuman *feats* that don’t quite equate to the mother getting a surge of adrenaline to lift a car off her child, but even in urban legends, that mother lifts the car off her kid just the one time. It isn’t something she has to do every single day! And it’s only her own kid that gives her that boost of adrenaline, not every kid in the neighborhood. Library staff certainly aren’t the only group of workers who do work that is socially, but not monetarily, applauded. So let’s applaud by recognizing that the work they do is damn hard, as well as damn important, and they don’t have the benefit of superpowers to get them through the workweek. 

Second problem: not all library staff are created equal. Not all library staff believe in the intellectual freedom espoused by the profession. Not all library staff believe people should be able to see themselves on the shelves. Not all library staff believe in promoting books by authors, or featuring characters, that look, act, think, worship, or love differently than what the library staff member is familiar and/or comfortable with. You think this is inherent in the profession and it comes with the job, but it does not. There are plenty of library staff who would prefer to limit availability to some books. There may even be some joining or advising those groups you hear about so they know just how to go about making inroads in the community. There are library staff members who are removing books from certain sections of the library, or from the library altogether, because they are afraid of objections from community members. There are library staff members who are refusing to buy books uplifting marginalized communities at all. Library staff are not all the same. 

So painting us all with the broad superhero brush is flattering, but unhelpful because we need to be held to account. When libraries have books and/or programs that promote a diverse and progressive world, it can’t be written off as expected. It is, often, extraordinary. Send off a quick email to the library about how glad you are to see such books on the shelves and how you want more of it. Make a big deal out of it because it might, in fact, be a big deal! You never know the fight that had to happen for that book to be purchased or displayed. And if you are not seeing those things, send an email asking where they are. Let it be known that you expect the library to reflect the world and you notice how narrow the worldview is on the shelves. 

Libraries are a wonderful community resource, but they are not mythical entities. They are real, they require real money to provide the services people enjoy, and the people who work in them both deserve to be fairly compensated for the jobs they do. And when they fall behind in providing services that represent a diversity of voices, the community must insist they change course and hold them to it.  

After all, we’re only human.   

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.

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

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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.

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