"They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong."

THE OUTSIDERS
S.E. Hinton

In case you've ever wondered if one person can make things happen...... listen to this story:

Jo Ellen Misakian:

Chair, Educational Leadership Division
Director, Educational Technology / Designated Subjects / Teacher Librarian
Fresno Pacific University

BACK STORY:

Watching kids walking right past the library every day - and not dropping in -  Jo Ellen decided to do something about it.... motivate them.  In sending the letter, she took a big leap of faith that anything would happen at all. So it was a complete shock when a return letter showed up in her mailbox.  Jo Ellen says: " Part of me was terribly happy, but I am enough of a realist to wonder if it would ever come to fruition.".   But it  come to pass and the movie was a great success and made 'stars' out of it's young cast.

March 17, 1982

When the move came out Jo Ellen's little town was overcome with reporters - most notably the NY Times - and the movie stars and production folks who delighted in visiting with the students.

 

Check out what Zoetrope says about it: AMERICAN ZOETROPE: FILMS Today, the  movie is going through a re-mix and updating.  I asked Jo Ellen if she'd been in contact with Zoetrope: " Yes, Kim Aubry called and asked me to share photos, a copy of the video, any items we had  that he could use for his re-mastering project which contains our "story." "

And her students?  Thanks to the marvels of Facebook and other social networks, Jo Ellen is in contact with many of her former students...." many of us are FB friends. Just recently Studio 360, a program on public radio in NY, contacted me. They are producing a segment for "American Icons" and wanted to interview me and a student or two. So we have been discussing it on FB. The whole story is being rehashed."

If you ask me, this is a story in itself....and one well worth sharing!

 

A whole summer has gone by and now that school has begun and there's the vaguest hint of fall in the air...the sun is heading over the horizon just a little bit earlier each day.  I always take this time to take a look backwards...remembering things from times past. A climb up into the attic always takes one down memory lane. It's funny how sometimes, something you see can strike up a memory.... here's something that sparked some very cool memories:

BACK STORY

I saw this old bookmobile on the street in Marin County [CA]...just sitting there on the side of the road. I HAD to see it so I hightailed off the freeway and made my way back on the frontage road to look it over.  It seems that it was a part of a 'history on wheels' program at one time.  It's still there on the side of the road, so I reckon that it too, has succumbed to the effects of no money, but I hope that it finds a home somewhere!

 

The sight of this took me right back to the early 1950's when the sight of that great BIG bookmobile waiting for us at the corner durning summer. Our bookmobile librarian told us stories, and helped us find books and promised to bring new stories each week. We all really looked forward to that visit.  And  like our audio guest today, Susan Thompson, I too remember the huge step and how the librarian had to bend down to give me a hand up to get into that magical bus full of books and records [remember those??] to take home - for our very selves!

Listen to Susan's story of how the bookmobile was a central part of her childhood growing up in rural Northern California in the 1950's:

Later, when I was a Library Assistant and the Napa County Public Library, I was honored to have been given a position on the bookmobile. We drove ALL over the county delivering books, showing movies, telling stories and getting to know everyone on our route. Each week we'd load it up with the requested books or films [another 'memory' artifact] or bring the newest releases that we'd hand-picked for patrons we knew would want them.

 

I'm sorry to see these services go away. They served a unique purpose in the lives of patrons who live outside the city. 

I personally think that equiping a modern bookmobile with computers, great reading and the library team could deliver incredible services that support our school and public library populations.    Let's think outside the box!!

 

For a delightful history of libraries, including bookmobiles - visit THE LIBRARY HISTORY BUFF website by Larry Nix.

Do comment below with YOUR bookmobile story!!

  Darkness Too Visible: The Wall Street Journal Bookshelf  by Meghan Cox Gurdon

 

 

 

BACK STORY:
Young Adult Literature falls under adult scrutiny every generation.  Should writing for young adults be instructive? Should it reflect what "really happens" in our teens lives today? Does reading encourage kids to do 'dark' things? Or do kids find that reading about these 'dark' things helps them to understand what other kids must feel like without having to experience it themselves?  Do books normalize dangerous behaviors? 

As teacher librarians we see a wide variety of kids and we connect those diverse students with books that they find interesting. We know how popular books are that show a wide variety of behaviors. For example, these books always fly off the shelf:

Cut by McCormick, Patricia

Twilight by Meyer, Stephenie

The Perks of Being A Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler

ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle

 

It is generally considered that the book The Outsiders, written in 1965 opened the doors to what is now called "young adult fiction". Teens of the 1950's had the books by Maureen Daly to read: Seventeenth Summer and  her short story : Sixteen along with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, and the books that we consider classics today: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The yearling, Johnny Tremain. Before that time books seemed to be divided into books for children, and books for adults.  Books for children were often written to include an educational or instructional component to them so that the young readers would learn appropriate behavior, or be instructed in ways to behave. 

During the 1960's and 1970's young adult books started looking at the way teens behaved and how they reacted to events in their lives.  Go Ask Alice (1971) depicted the dark side of drug use which was in its hippie hey-day and was worrisome to parents and other adults. It was in the 1980's and beyond that Young Adult  fiction began really taking off with authors such as Judy Bloom, V.C. Andrews, Meg Cabot, Gary Paulsen and others leading the way. 

The dip in teen reading took a turn in the later 1990's as vampires, fantasy, graphic novels and the very realistic of 'realistic' novels began to reach teens in droves. 

 

So what's a librarian to do?  What has always been done: connect readers to books - help them find the best reading that will speak to them, stretch them, and entertain them.

...and what's a parent to do? Read widely, talk to their children, have fun.... and support libraries....

 

 

 

 

 

BACKSTORY:

 It all started with the budget cuts. L.A.U.S.D administrators began chopping away in all arenas. When they came to their teacher librarians, it seemed as if all reason went out the window.

Most California teachers have contracts that allow for movement between classrooms, schools within a district or other types of movement which includes seniority rights. That is, the longer a teacher works in a district, the higher  he/she moves up the list. This movement includes salary raises and other perks of longevity.

This must be what the Administrators are after, because they are targeting teacher librarians in their district as being "not teachers". Being a 'not teacher' means then, that if budget-cutted....then they lose their jobs. No going back into the classroom for them.

Which Way L.A.'s Host: Warren Olney

This means then, that the District must have to prove that these teacher librarians don't teach. And to prove this, they are interrogating them with inane questions that have nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with humilation.

So this post includes an audio clip from the Radio Show "Which Way L.A." in which host  Warren Olney interviews reporter Hector Tobar.  Mr Tobar wrote an eye-opening article in the Los Angeles Times  describing the events surrounding these proceedings.

Thank you to KCRW for letting me post the clip.

WHICH WAY, L.A.  is a local Los Angeles radio show that discusses the lively issues of interest to Southern California folks.

 

Other news sources bring out interesting - and scary - items to note:

 National Education Association article  by John Rosales

This compelling story will break your heart:

Ms Murphy's Blog: The library is not a fruit

 

Then, there's an article from NBC L.A. news about the new hires at the LAUSD administrative offices:

This NBC LA article is downright scary.

 

School Library Journal also tells the story.

Nora Murphy writes an eloquent op-ed piece for the L.A. Times

A open letter from ALA/AASL presidents.

Beverly Goldberg authored this post in American Libraries Online,

Here's the Washington Post  weighing in.

 

Interview with Superintendent John Deasy: "Big Man on Campus: Q & A with LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy"

e-SCHOOL News offers another view of the LAUSD story. They cite the ALA/AASL letters.

Support from CARL: California Association of Research Librarians

American Libraries report on the activities in LAUSD

Washington Post article

The GLOBE and MAIL

 

Jane Yolen, author deluxe, sent this letter:

From Jane Yolen:
 
FYI: I wrote this yesterday, posted it on my FaceBook page with permission to send it everywhere:

Letter to the administrator in charge of firing LA school librarians who had the Board of Ed's lawyers take the librarians into the school basement and asked them to prove they were teachers with such questions as "Do you take attendance?".
 
Dear Mr. Deasy:
 
As the author of 300 published books (yes, that is not a typo!), many of them winners of the highest awards given for children's and adult books,
I have to commend you for closing libraries. You are turning out the lights in children's minds. It will make them much easier to recruit as cannon fodder,
much easier to move them on conveyor belts, much easier to treat them as cattle.
 
Of all the people who work in a school, teachers and librarians are the heart and soul of the place. Not administrators. My late husband
was a professor and later on an administrator. You should have heard what he had to say about top-heavy administrations. I suggest you
take the administrators (yourself included) and ask them the same questions the lawyers are asking the librarians in the basement: do
YOU take attendance? Do YOU teach in the classroom? Perhaps you should fire the administrators first. And the overpriced lawyers. And
when you do, you will no doubt find you have the money to keep the librarians.
 
And the library.
 
The ones who turn on lights in children's minds and guard the flame in their hearts. With or without taking attendance.
 
 
Yours very truly and to tell the truth angrily as well,
 
Jane Yolen

Today I got this letter in return. Blame the system, the budget, the unions. Not my fault. Etc. But who, I wonder, twisted his arm to send the lawyers down into
the basement to interrogate the librarians.

THIS just arrived in my email: Thank you for your email and sharing your thoughts. As you are most likely aware our school district, state, and nation are currently facing a serious budget shortfall. While librarians and library aides are extremely important, there is not an area in the school district that has not been cut. If all Unions agree with the Furlough Agreement, we may be able to rescind notifications.
 
Thank you,
 
Patricia Carranza on behalf of
Dr. John E. Deasy, Superintendent
Los Angeles Unified School District
213) 241-7000

  

SPOTLIGHT ON DIGITAL MEDIA takes a look at why we need librarians now more than ever...

 

 

The American Library Association (ALA) has created several videos of authors who are speaking out for libraries of all kinds.... 

She mentions the importance of instruction in creating information literate citizens... THANK YOU Pam!

BACK STORY:

Pam wrote a most eloquent letter which was published in the San DiegoUnion newspaper. Read it...and then pass it on.

 

 

Do you see the smiling face on the beginning of  Marie's video in the previous post?

That's Glen Warren. He's a self-proclaimed "convert" to libraries  and librarianship.  In our audio story, we started with Glen's story because we had been wondering just what were the issues facing kids today in schools... and we loved his answer:

BACK STORY

Having visited Google several times, I absolutely love the idea of 20% time and how it cool it would if schools did, indeed, create a space of time for projects. Senior projects seem to me to be on the right track, but how cool would it be if students were allowed to think of their idea, and then advertise it to the rest of the student body? Then anyone who wanted to join in, or choose a project that dove-tailed with it could also work alongside, thus creating a deeper, richer experience for all. 

I've been contemplating making a "20% space" or, if I can carve it out a "20% room" for students in the library.  This space would house as many tools as possible for creating: the usual suspects like computers, video recorders, voice recorders, but also paper, glue, and paint.

Next time you go to your curriculum committee meeting, mention 20% time... and see if a conversation can build from there. I'm working on that one myself! :)

 

Joyce Valenza published a blog post entitled: "What librarians make: A response to Dr. Bernstein and an homage to Taylor Mali" .

 

It's an excellent statement about all things library. One statement I particularly love is: "I am here to introduce young people to a rich world of books and literature, options they can select themselves.  I am here to see the joy on a kid’s face when she shares that she loved the book she borrowed last week.  The one she stayed up all night reading."

Then, not long after, Marie Slim, a southern California school librarian made her own homage to Joyce's post in creating the following video.... and while I don't usually publish video... this one absolutely says it all:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging out with students is probably one of the biggest reasons why we become school librarians.

 

BACKSTORY:

I knew Sophie when she was a 7th grader at the Junior High School where I worked at the time. She was a true 'library girl' who read voraciously all the way through her two years with us. Moving to high school, she hung out at the library and even volunteered there during summer breaks. Her story reminds us that the best of what school libraries have to offer includes not just the 'stuff' that's there, but the librarian, library staff and the welcoming environment that they create.

Where would libraries be without all those books? We spoke with   April Halprin Wayland, author of several children's books

including:

Girl Coming in for a Landing

and

It's not my turn to look for Grandma

 

about her experiences as an author visiting the library and how important that connection is: author to reader.  Librarians often make those connections for their students by inviting authors to the library and create exciting celebrations out of those visits. 

 

Here's what she had to say:

Dr Lesley Farmer, of CSU Long Beach offers some insight into why it is that more folks don't know about what it IS that school librarians do....

...and then,

Dr. Jeanne Nelson describes what the TEAM of librarian and library assistant does  - those things that we ALL tend to think will always be there.

When the TEAM aspect goes away, then 1/2 of what makes a strong school library disappears.

 

BACK STORY

A "singleton" school librarian still has to be there at the circulation desk checking books in/out; repair the books, shelve the books, and all those "gotta be done" things.... while missing out on opportunities to teach, provide professional development and collaboration with their classroom colleagues.

A "singleton" clerk is there handling those same duties...while the students have no access to instruction, the faculty has no one to collaborate with and there is no one to provide the 'big picture' approach to the school site curriculum that a librarian can provide. There is no one to provide the professional administration of that library. 

 Our students need the team.

I attended a meeting where one of the "Washington Moms" noted that no one doesn't like libraries... they're disappearing through neglect - through the assumption that they will always be there.   But as we, in California are discovering... that's just not true. The threat occurs each year - March 13th notices are handed out and each year school librarians find themselves facing the budget ax...