• I believe that all students have the right to read what they choose.  Children should have the freedom to pick whichever books that they want to read, and should not be limited by interest, subject matter, reading level, or perceived gender stereotypes.  The library should be a welcoming place to explore the shelves and one’s own interests and curiosities.    

• When I was a middle school English teacher, I challenged my students to read forty books throughout the school year.  They could choose any books they wanted, regardless of reading level, length, or subject matter.  My students frequently asked for book recommendations and shared their own with me, leading to many terrific conversations about books and life.  I’m very much looking forward to more of these recommendations and chats when I become a school librarian.

• I believe that the school library is not just for education, but for entertainment and personal growth.  A wide array of books should be available to support students’ interests and passions, and to help children understand and cope with challenges they encounter in their lives.  The school library should be a safe space for students to choose books without fear, and to ask questions without judgment.

• I built a large classroom library of over 2,000 books for my students’ personal use.  I consulted many award lists to find quality diverse books to both represent and enlighten my students.

• I believe that all students should have books that serve as mirrors and windows.  Author Rudine Sims Bishop proposed the idea of books as mirrors for readers to see themselves reflected, and books as windows to peer through and see other perspectives and life experiences (Bishop, 1990).  I think this is crucial for all readers, and most importantly for young readers.  To feel understood and valued, students should see themselves in the books that they read.  This is especially important for children that feel marginalized and misunderstood, such as transgendered or gay students, students with disabilities, and students that have nontraditional family structures, such as adoptees or children with gay parents.  Similarly, it’s crucial for children to read about people who are not like them, in order to better understand and hopefully accept those that are different than they are.  Children should read realistic and positive depictions of gay and transgendered people, refugees, people with disabilities, and stories about people from different cultures.  Reading is how we understand the world around us, and providing access to a diverse library collection can help to create a future generation that is knowledgeable, compassionate, and accepting. 

• I plan to build a collection that is representative of my students and the world around them.  Each and every one of my students should be able to walk into my library and find a book that they see themselves reflected in.  They will also be able to find a wide array of books that show them what people around the world are like, what cultural traditions they value, and what things make them similar to themselves.  I will use book displays, book talks, and activities to teach information about a variety of interesting and tough topics.    

• I believe that no one person should dictate what resources are removed from the collection.  An impartial committee of administrators, teachers, students, and parents should decide whether a challenged book should be removed from the collection, not just one unhappy parent.  I firmly believe in the American Library Association’s assertion that it is the librarian’s duty to defend students’ rights to read what they choose, as outlined in the school interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights (American Library Association, 2021).  Author Peggy Johnson asserted that “Librarians are charged with ensuring freedom to read and access to diverse viewpoints within collections while simultaneously preventing censorship of collections” (Johnson, p. 61).

• I will stand firm to defend my students’ rights to read what they choose, regardless of pressures from outside forces.  I will advocate for challenged books to receive a fair and impartial review by a diverse panel comprised of different library stakeholders.

• I believe that a library is more than just books.  The traditional concept of a library is a building of shelves upon shelves full of books.  With the advent of technology, this concept has broadened to servers upon servers full of ebooks.  However, the library is so much more than books, regardless of their format.  I believe in curating and constantly expanding a library of things:  board games, puzzles, tools, toys, dolls, telescopes, museum passes, the list goes on.  A library of things is only limited by imagination and budget. 

• I am very passionate about building a library of things for all of my students, but especially those that are disadvantaged.  This will be one of the first tasks I will accomplish when I become a school librarian.  I plan to write grants to help fund a library of things for my students, as well as appeal to the school community for donations of items.

• I believe that a school librarian should work closely with the administrators and teachers in order to best help the student body and staff.  A librarian should not sit patiently in the library, waiting for English classes to arrive for weekly library time.  A librarian should actively engage teachers and ask what he or she can do to help them.  Teachers of all subject areas, from band to foreign language, can benefit from the services that a librarian can offer.

• I got to experience first-hand the value of librarian-teacher collaboration when I interned with fourth grade students in the spring of 2022.  I collaborated with both the school librarian and the teacher to help students improve their skills with evaluating websites and finding trustworthy online sources.  I plan to foster collaborative relationships with the teachers in my school, so that I can help them and their students to the best of my ability.  Teachers are very familiar with their content, but they might not be familiar with fiction and nonfiction books that can support that content.  I can use my experience with books to help bring educational topics to life in a personal, visual, fascinating way.

• I believe that the future should be embraced, and positive changes to the library should be welcomed.  I believe that S.R. Ranganathan is correct in his fifth law of library science:  “the library must be a growing organism” (Rubin & Rubin, p. 665).  Change is a natural part of life, and the school library must be flexible and ready to reflect those changes.  Populations will change, technologies will change, and the library will therefore need to change to best serve the patron.  Books and information will always be a vital part of life, but the way in which they are searched for, stored, and shared will continually evolve and change.

• I will stay current with student interests and trends, and order books from diverse award lists such as Pura Belpré, Rainbow Book List, and Coretta Scott King.  I will also diligently weed my collection so that quality books are not lost in a clutter of outdated or irrelevant titles.  Student surveys will be a valuable feedback and assessment method to help me polish my collection and ensure that students feel represented and fulfilled.

• I believe that a librarian should be a model of lifelong learning and inspire a hunger for knowledge.

• I will embrace the National School Library Standards to ensure that I am the librarian that my students deserve.  I will regularly consult the shared foundations, key commitments, and the domains and competencies to drive my planning and lessons.  I will model inquiry, inclusion, collaboration, curation, exploration, and engagement in order to guide the future generations to think, create, share, and grow.

• I believe that the library is the heart of the school.  The library is not a stale room to house books with a shushing librarian to guard them.  Instead, it should be an area humming with life and curious readers.

• My library will have comfortable seating, inviting displays, a book recommendation board curated by students, and a Maker Space to encourage creativity and experimentation.  Shelving and seating will be designed to be inclusive, allowing for all students to comfortably navigate and utilize the space.  My library will be a warm, welcoming space where all students feel that they belong.

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References

American Library Association.  (2021).  “Access to resources and services in the school library:  An interpretation of the library bill of rights.”  American Library Association.  https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/accessresources

Bishop, R. (1990).  Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.  Perspectives:  Choosing and using books for the classroom, 6(3).

Johnson, P.  (2018).  Fundamentals of collection development and management.  (4th ed.)  American Library Association.

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/odu/detail.action?docID=6386141