Why do books about the struggle for civil rights in America end up in social sciences (3XX) rather than history (97X)?  The same way lots of books end up in “weird” places in school libraries: the original cataloger followed the rules for assigning Dewey call numbers. The most basic rule is that you catalog to describe the content of the book and to fit that content into an imaginary library of all published knowledge using the scheme Dewey laid out. It means catalogers don’t consider the intended audience, the context in which a work might be used, or where any given individual might expect to find it shelved. Often, this does not bode well for small, specialized libraries such as our school libraries which carry books with simplified content that caters to a young and still intellectually developing patron group. ​

Deeth Ellis is the Head Librarian at Boston Latin School in Boston, MA, and a Doctoral Student, School of Library Science, Simmons University. 

When school library studies began to emerge more than 50 years ago, they focused on the establishment of libraries in the school environment. Over time there was a shift from studying the physical space to measuring the library’s impact on student learning. Our roles have changed dramatically with the growth of the Internet, an increased access to information, and educational trends toward accountability and evidence-based practices. Beginning in the 1990s a number of states conducted quantitative research studies to explore the impact of school libraries on student achievement, often measured as performance on state standardized reading tests. Simmons University professor James Baughman presented his paper School libraries and MCAS scores (2000) sharing his findings of research in this area, and, after 2003, more qualitative methods were used to capture a more holistic picture of student learning from interactions with and instruction by the school librarian. Most recently, Gordon & Cicchetti (2018) documented the inequitable access to a fully functioning library with certified librarians in The Massachusetts School Library Study:Equity and Access for Students in the Commonwealth.

Jessica Bombardier is the Library Media Specialist at Swampscott Middle School, in Swampscott, MA, and  and a recipient of a 2021 Audrey Friend Scholarship Award.

It’s been all over the news lately – book challenges; book bans. If you work in a school and/or district without a collection development policy, you might feel overwhelmed about where to start. The purpose of this article is to give some ideas and a basic understanding of all of the elements included within a collection development policy. To start, it might be worth asking whether or not your school or district has a collection development policy and also whether or not the school committee supporting your work has a policy in place for book challenges.

Marti Smallidge is the Computer Technology Long-Term Substitute Teacher at Stoneham Central Middle School in Stoneham, MA, and Meghan Stellman is the Research & Teaching Librarian at Rising Tide Charter Public School in Plymouth, MA, and a Library Media Studies M.Ed student at Salem State University.

In a personal conversation, a stranger expressed that a school librarian must “like the quiet.” When he was told that school libraries are often active places, where students learn and interact with each other, he then summed up the role as that of “a babysitter.” (M. Stellman, personal communication, 15 March, 2021). Unfortunately, this attitude is encountered frequently. This prompted us, in the spring of 2021 while studying for our MA in education at Salem State University, to conduct a study to determine the services that school librarians must promote in order to boost their public image and to retain or increase funding. School librarian advocacy focuses mainly on the school administration, but many funding questions are decided by those outside the school building. Little has been written about advocacy directed toward those constituents; this study addresses this gap in the literature. Our study of 88 adult participants from Massachusetts revealed that three-quarters of this sample valued school librarians and more than half understood most of the roles of the school librarian, showing that community members outside of the school library field can act as advocates.

Liza Halley is the Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA

Many schools turned the lens on social emotional learning (SEL) as the stress of COVID impacted students’ lives. As a librarian, you can serve as an asset to teachers within these SEL initiatives. I urge you to keep in mind graphic novels for your own lessons and as you recommend tools to teachers, social workers, and support staff in your schools.

Michelle Laflamme is a MLIS Graduate Student, Simmons University School Library Teacher Program and a recipient of a 2021 Audrey Friend Scholarship Award. 

Recently I found myself talking to a colleague, speaking in broad, sweeping statements about social justice and school library programming – a tune I’ve been humming ever since I began my LIS studies. And as we discussed the ways in which library programming and services can support, and even lead, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives in schools, we found ourselves on the subject of collection development and, more specifically, diversity audits.

Deeth Ellis is the Head Librarian at Boston Latin School in Boston, MA, and a Doctoral Student, School of Library Science, Simmons University.

Introduction

As a doctoral student at Simmons University, my teachers and advisors stress the importance of choosing courses and  topics for assignments that will eventually guide you toward a dissertation topic.  One such assignment last year was a conceptual framework, or a visual representation of an information phenomenon underpinned by theory.

Jennifer Edwards is the Library Media Teacher at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School and a recipient of the 2021 Judi Paradis Action Grant.

The pandemic afforded an opportunity for the school library that, in a regular year,  would never have happened. In many schools the individual departments are somewhat isolated from each other. Teachers do work cooperatively with their own department colleagues, but libraries can have opportunities for inter-department co-teaching and cross-curriculum projects which help to promote the school library program and to connect patrons to resources.

In this new column, we're thrilled to feature a librarian new to the profession. We hope you enjoy this chance to meet someone at the start of their school library career!

1. What's your name, title and school?
Sarah Murphy, librarian at Kennedy Middle School in Natick.

2. How did you come to librarianship?
After spending time as a second grade classroom teacher and a middle school reading specialist, I realized my true passion was literacy and wanted to be able to share that with a whole school community and not just small groups of students.

3. How would you explain the importance of your role to a nonlibrarian?
Librarians do so much more than check out books. They have the power to reach all students, whether through the lens of books, providing a safe and inclusive space, and/or helping students tackle the task of making sense of the world around them. Libraries have the potential to be the heart of a school community and I find that both thrilling and a little daunting!

4. What are you working on right now?
I am working on learning this new job, developing curriculum, and getting to know students and staff at my new school.

5. What is going well?
I truly feel like I have landed in the exact right place for me. I am enjoying this work so much already and I have so many ideas for what I hope I can bring to the table. It has been a far easier transition than I anticipated.

6. What is the most challenging thing so far?
The newness of it all has been challenging. I am working on learning new systems, new people, and a new school system, as well as trying to be seen as a resource to other teachers, develop curriculum, and gain a rapport with as many students as I can. It is all very exciting but it has been a lot!

7.  What's the most unexpected thing about your new job?
I think the most unexpected thing for me has been just how happy I am in this role. I have cried happy tears more than once since I started and I don't think I knew how fulfilling a job could be. It also surprises me how fast the work day flies by. I am working on coming to terms with the fact that my to-do list may never be finished.

8. What are you reading or watching?
I'm reading The Pants Project by Cat Clarke. I'm listening to November 9 by Colleen Hoover and I am watching the LuLaRoe Documentary on Amazon.

9. What do you hope the MA School Library Association can do for you?
I am hoping the MSLA can help me stay current, connected, and inspired in this new role.

Hello Forum Readers, 

While working and living through a pandemic has been personally and professionally challenging for most everyone, Katherine and I felt it was important to strive for some constancy and support. Which is why we decided to publish the Forum on a regular schedule, even if we didn't have our usual number of articles. The articles that we do receive from our amazing contributors have been timely, valuable, and much appreciated. We hope you continue to find comfort and inspiration in the work of your colleagues, and value in the articles that we are able to publish.

Celebrating our wins seems more important than ever, and one win that I am pleased to announce is the debut of a new Forum column dedicated to Graphic Novels. I know you will enjoy Liza Halley's inaugural column. Liza is a Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA, and has been an avid reader of graphic novels ever since she began reading Jeff Smith’s Bone and Kazu Kihushi’s Amulet series with her eldest son over 14 years ago. She reads every graphic novel for K-6th grader she can get her hands on (and is a big fan of Monstress, Hellboy, and Saga for adults). Liza began teaching PD around how to incorporate graphic novels into the classroom five years ago. She helped plan the panelists and organize the day of the San Diego Public Library’s concurrent teacher librarian Con during the 2018 San Diego ComicCon. She also helped plan the first and second annual Boston Kids Comic Fest (2018 & 2019) a free, kid-friendly comic festival filled with panelists, vendors, workshops and headliners. Welcome Liza!  https://bostonkidscomicsfest.org/

And now, on a more bittersweet note, this Spring Forum is the last edition for the indubitably fabulous editor, Katherine Steiger. It has been a privilege and a joy to work with such a dedicated professional, and wonderful human being. Katherine took me under her wing when I came on board as a co-editor, and showed infinite patience as I learned the ropes of the Forum. (Which honestly...I'm still not sure I've got everything down. Thankfully, I know how to find Katherine!) We will miss her so much, but I am confident I can convince her to be a guest contributor every now and then. So, Katherine, I know I speak for all of MSLA when I extend heartfelt thanks and gratitude for all of your service. You will be missed!  

Happy reading my Library Friends! Reba Tierney  

Liza Halley is the Library Teacher at Plympton Elementary School in Waltham, MA.

In March, I was sitting on the front porch of a friend’s house, about ready to begin the Passover seder. We had a stack of all different kinds of Haggadot - books we use for readings, prayers, and images to go along with the Seder - when a fellow adult seder attendee grabbed Jordan Gorfinkel and Erez Zadok’s beautiful Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel saying, “I’ll take this one. I never learned to read anyway.” 

Little did my new friend know, he was sitting next to a librarian who has made it her special mission to disabuse teachers, parents, administration, and students of this very notion: sequential stories - graphic novels, comics, graphic nonfiction - are really books that you read, and your brain is doing a ton of work while you read them.  They are for all readers.

Libraries are my (very beloved) second career, and it has been a peripatetic route to get here. To make a convoluted story shorter, with my MLIS I was able to qualify for a provisional Library Media Specialist certificate, but needed to complete a teacher prep program to meet the DESE requirements to move up to my initial LMS K-12 certification. 

So, although I have four years working as an elementary LMS, I still needed to enroll in an official School Library Teacher program. I chose Simmons, where I needed to complete a series of courses, in addition to a secondary-level practicum. Lucky for me, Diane McKamy, North Attleborough High School (NAHS) librarian extraordinaire, was willing to take me on as a student teacher this semester.​

While reviewing the practicum requirements, I immediately focused on what Simmons calls the Major Project, a unit with a minimum of four lessons. Brainstorming a bit, I considered what would be most practical for our current learning situation. With North Attleborough Public Schools, along with many others, in hybrid or remote learning modes, it made sense to me to figure out how students could still access reading materials, regardless of their location.