Author Archives: Alicia Abdul

As part of the #edublogclub year-long challenge to blog on education, this week’s topic focuses on a challenging situation.

As I titled my post, I realized that in libraryland that actually has two meanings. Yes, there are challenges working with students, teachers, budgets, and purchasing decisions, but there’s also the literal challenge that librarians (and teachers) face when stocking their shelves or picking a class read. I’m choosing to focus on the former, but wanted to recognize that the latter is just as important to discuss.

I’d like to focus on student interactions and challenges I’ve faced over the last ten years in the high school library. Part of it also comes from the immensity of our district and therefore high school. While we have two additional campuses that focus on vocations and one as an alternate setting, our campus still receives 2,500 students daily. And while we see approximately 40-70 students per period, we still don’t interact regularly with all of the student body. Yes, there are the heavy users that we do know well, but there are others where we may only meet them once while instructing a class or on their own when they need a printer, a textbook, or a book for class.

I constantly remind myself of Doug Johnson’s quote that the goal of the library is to get back the reader, not the book. This is valuable advice when you don’t know the student’s history personally and academically. So each interaction must be caring but firm, helpful but educational. We have procedures to make coming and going uniform and for some first-time students this may be frustrating, but it is necessary. Likewise, we’re in the business of helping, but we’re also there to teach. This also can be frustrating when students want it done for them.

So the challenge is to provide the best customer service which includes a positive attitude. I am occasionally guilty of letting negativity get in the way, but I always want to remember what the ultimate goal is. I’m one librarian who represents the dozens they might meet over a lifetime or be the first one they’ve met in the hopes that they’ll return to our library and their own college and public library, so that focus should always be on winning back the user and gaining their trust.

In a few months, I will celebrate ten years working as a high school librarian. Excitingly, I’ve spent them all in the same high school library. Whoever I speak to, whether it’s my colleague daily or a community member, it’s readily apparent from my excitability and speed-talking that my favorite part of librarianship is readers advisory. The days I leave the library feeling most accomplished are the ones where I’ve spent the most time connecting students with books, talking about books, or reading (yes, we have created READ days where the only job of the visitor is to sit and read. We provide the hot chocolate and the modeling, so in between filling the urns, we’re reading too).

This past Friday I spent the day at our alternative learning center, a smaller environment for students in transition or that need something different than a large school of 2,500 students. Invited by the English teacher, she was embarking on an independent reading project and needed some expertise. I packed up three large boxes of fiction and nonfiction in all kinds of formats and including all types, some in multiples knowing that they’d be a hit. And I spent the entire day connecting with the class and then individually with each student. They “tasted” the books in a particular genre or format and maybe even one that I slipped in for good measure outside of their usual box. And what I left with was an amazing sense of pride in what I do and why I do it and a few new library lovers based on our positive interaction and the care I took in listening to what they liked and sharing passionately what I liked.

Days like those are why I go to work all day and why I read voraciously outside of work. But it’s not enough to just have the knowledge, it’s necessary to have passion behind it. Because that passion translates to trust. I’ve had students where I would check out a book I knew they would love and casually walk by them slipping it into their bag without another word. I’ve had students who brought other students in who would have never come on their own because “she knows books”. And all of the students in between, including the group of seniors I wrote about in June of last year. They are why I love my job and do what I do.

This post originally appeared on the Times Union books blog here.

Along with the resolutions and changed habits that come with a new year come feeds pushing challenges to read a certain number of books for the upcoming year. And while I  enjoy seeing the “year in books” Goodreads sends me as an avid user of the site, I will not be entering their reading challenge. Nor will I print out and complete a Bingo-style reading chart, promise to read a certain amount of classics, or read a book a day. Why? Because I like to have some control over my reading habits, sometimes my brain can’t wrap itself around Charles Dickens, and there are days I might read two books.

Frankly, life happens. And no one should have to feel bad about that. There are weeks where I stare longingly at my neglected books when family obligations override reading. I will even continue to request books knowing that eventually a particularly beautiful summer day (or a snowstorm as is the current situation here in upstate New York) will come along and I can tear through three.

Plus, I am a firm believer in following your interests. I didn’t read nonfiction until seven years ago. Now I can’t get enough. Luckily, book police do not come to your house if you have read fifty-nine self-help books and plan to read a sixtieth. Ultimately, making time to read and feeling content with the time you do dedicate to it is what matters.
A reading challenge could motivate the light- or non-reader to think about their reading choices and keep them honest about trying new books. Likewise, the same challenge might prompt a dedicated reader to have some fun. Me? I ride the wave of recommendations, reviews, bookstore visits, and deliveries to our library in shaping my TBR pile and I’m comfortable with that.

So, if you are a serial book challenge taker, what is your reason? And if you’re not, why not?