“In Praise of School Libraries & Librarians” by K.C. Boyd

“In Praise of School Libraries & Librarians:  Being a SCHOOL LIBRARIAN is a labor of love, even if it means getting into “good trouble” 

DA op-ed: In praise of school libraries—and librarians

👉🏾https://districtadministration.com/da-op-ed-in-praise-of-school-libraries-and-librarians/ 

Being a librarian is a labor of love, even if it means getting into “good trouble”

By K.C. Boyd

I love libraries. It’s a love that began when I was in preschool and continues to this day. My love of listening to and reading stories dates back to my early childhood in suburban Chicago. Libraries sparked my curiosity and imagination so much that every day I would beg my teacher for a pass to the Hickory Elementary School library. 

I enjoyed reading the works of Virginia Hamilton, Judy Blume and Paula Danzinger and anything that had a Disney stamp on it. And I spent hours reading books after school and on weekends at the public library.

My parents, both teachers, were born and raised in the Jim Crow South: Shreveport, Louisiana, and New Orleans. Along with their ancestors, they were a part of the great 1960s migration of African Americans who escaped the Deep South for the promise of a better life and better jobs in Chicago.

For them, libraries served as a conduit to freely dream, imagine and excel academically. They were ecstatic that my school library and the public library were well stocked. And they were relieved that I would not be denied the ability to enter and take out books because of the color of my skin. 

My joy every couple of days was visiting the library to check out unlimited books and magazines. The library was a place of solace for me—an introverted girl. 

Libraries gave me a voice that I didn’t have before and strength that I didn’t know existed within me.

Finding my passion

In college, I majored in mass communications with an emphasis on broadcasting for television. I worked for a couple of years for a local origination satellite company, and then I moved on to corporate America.

But then I had enough, and it was my late father who sat me down and made me realize that I was not working in a field that I was passionate about. When he suggested school libraries, it made sense—but I didn’t want to go back to school. 

My father eased my fears and assured me that because I was passionate about reading, I would breeze through school, and he was right. But I quickly learned that sometimes the path taken is filled with challenges, confusion and events that make you stronger.

Getting into ‘good trouble’

I have served children, teachers, staff and communities for more than 20 years through school libraries. My experience spans three school districts, two district library managerial positions,  five schools, two departmental directors, and 13 principals. I have learned to adjust, bend and comply. 

And from time to time, I even got into what civil rights hero and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., has famously called “good trouble.” As Lewis has explained: “Sometimes you have to get in the way. You have to make some noise by speaking up and speaking out against injustice and inaction.”

All but one of the schools that I served were designated as Title I, and in all of these schools, I had to clean up and rebuild the library. I was often the lone voice that defended student choice, The Right to Read, and student access to technology.

Riding a roller coaster

Working in school libraries is not easy. It’s a roller coaster of events and emotions that are not for the weak. Committed warrior librarians possess the same driving force: a deep and abiding love for libraries. 

It’s also not easy to remain focused at a time when school librarian positions and programs are being written out of the district budgets across the country. 

As school librarians, we serve others and provide a safe, warm and inviting haven for all students every day. 

I want all of my students to have the same feelings and experiences that I had as a child each time they walk through the doors of my school library. 

I see small pieces of myself in each of the students who attend Jefferson Middle School Academy in Washington, D.C.—from a smile, a laugh and a love of hip-hop music to even a side-eye of frustration when they learn that the copies of The Hate U Give, Amulet or Thirteen Reasons Why are still checked out. 

I love being a school librarian because I believe it is the best job on the planet. Getting into  good trouble is worth it because my students deserve the best. I am a school library media specialist, and I’m proud to serve.

K.C. Boyd is the library media specialist at Jefferson Middle School Academy in Washington D.C. 

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 “Originally published in District Administration magazine, August, 2019. Used by Permission.”

District Administrator District Administrator

Easy Like Sunday Morning: #JAVillaLife

This post is long overdue!  Life has been hectic and time is often not on my side.

Jefferson Academy

My school, Jefferson Academy is currently under modernization.  Jefferson Academy is located in Washington D.C. - southwest and is next to the popular District Wharf.  The teachers, staff and I moved out of the 78 year old building at the end of the 2017-2018 school year and moved into 'villas.' during the two year project. 

During my 20 year career working in school libraries, I've experienced allot of things.  Working in a villa was a definite first.  In the beginning, it was a little hectic setting up the library.  Boxes of books were all over the place and shelf clips were missing for three days.  I can laugh at this now but then I was ready to roll but couldn't and was frustrated.

In time, I was able to get the library set up to my liking with the help of my students and a staff member who moved the bookshelves into place for me.  After struggling to get my decorations and supplies out of storage, I began making the library a home away from home for the children.

Then the children began visiting and checking out books...

Playing games and making origami...

It was a slow start but the #JALibrary is up and operational, ready to serve #JAReaders.  

That's all for now!

Easy Like Sunday Morning: Arrogant

     During various periods in my life, I've been told that I'm arrogant.  No one has said anything to me lately, nor has a argument ensued so to my Chicago homies....fall back!  This is merely one of those, 'Easy Like Sunday Morning,' posts that forces me to deeply reflect on things from the past and how they can influence my practice in the future.  I started thinking deeply about the word, 'ARROGANT,'  and according to Google's dictionary, the definition of 'arrogant,' is:

       ar·ro·gant - having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.   

Now I ask the question, 'Am I arrogant?'

I was named recognized as a
Chicago Public Schools,
 'Hall of Fame Librarian'
in 2014 while at @Phillips High School.

     A wonderful principal I once worked for often said that people often accused him of displaying a high level of arrogance.  He further explained that observers mistakened arrogance for his self-confidence, a tool that his mother instilled in him at a early age.   Given where he was raised and childhood experiences, he said that he needed every tool just to survive and remain motivated.   My late friend would often say she was called arrogant in response to people who could not handle her high level of intelligence and she was often 99% right.  Guess what?  She was right 99% of the time!  I began thinking deeply about 'why' I have been called arrogant by others.

    My late mentor once gave a professional development sessions for school librarians where she left me with a indelible motivation.  She discussed how sometimes librarians were viewed as weak, soft spoken, and timid by others within the school community.  She further commented on how we as school librarians were such a rich and invaluable resource to the learning community and how we possessed a natural knowledge and strong

My wall of appreciation
@Jefferson Academy

skill base that would add to the success of any school.  The key was understanding that WE held the power and it was up to us to execute and show others what we could do.  We were school librarians and we stood only for excellence.  I swear I remember that motivational speech she gave like it was yesterday.   It was this speech that motivated me to become more of a self-starter.  Give myself a pat on the back and toot my own horn.  Because seriously, if you don't know how to compliment yourself, who's going to right?

     Throughout my career, I've worked at some schools where my work as a school librarian was overlooked and sometimes ignored.  The focus was on the classroom teacher, sports or technology program.   I'm not trying to be funny but when I compared the work of others to what I had done, it wouldn't compare.  Examples of this are rebuilding the school library program, creating and developing a library culture (this is NOT easy!), getting kids excited about reading, raising reading scores through access to books and leisure reading, bringing in thousands of dollars in donations and free resources and wait for it.....CLEANING UP and REORGANIZING  JACKED UP LIBRARIES THAT HAVE BEEN DOGGED OUT BY THE ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF.   Whew!  Yes,  I had to get that last one off of my chest!

2015 East St. Louis Senior High School weeding project

     My late father used to say, "You need to check yourself, your actions and how you come off to other people."  In other words, you need to smell yourself first and if you are foul, pull up and correct yourself.  To the core of my soul, I'm not a arrogant person.  If anything, those who know me very well are often pushing me to do more but my timid, shy and introverted self constantly digs her heels in the ground when challenged to go to the next level.  This is exactly why libraries and social media is the perfect playground for me because I can push myself to share my views and things that have taken place in my crazy life that I would not normally do in a face to face situation.  

This is a slide I created for my bi-monthly/monthly library newsletter
@Jefferson Academy.  Proud to be recognized in the same company of
these respected library practitioners.
Scholastic Top 15 Librarian Instagram Accounts to Follow  

     I believe I'm more of a promoter of what's good.  I promote the authentic experiences and the unique things that are taking place in school libraries whether it be in my library or my colleagues.     A click, re-post, comment or recommendation is an example of this promotion.  Promotion is what is needed now given the climate of some school districts  removing credentialed librarians from school libraries due to poor budgeting or not trusting the judgment of librarians when making purchasing decisions.   I promote my accomplishments because I'm happy that I have ascended to a level I've been trying to reach for some time.   I talk about school libraries because it is my sincere hope that others will see the beauty in this field and choose to join me and the thousands of librarians across the country behind the circulation desk.   

     So if that makes me arrogant through the lens of others, so be it.    

     

Easy Like Sunday Morning: The Work Begins

The Work Begins

Back to school professional development is finally over and now the work begins.   Those of you who are school librarians understand that 99.9% of the staff meetings take place in the library.   So this means librarians have to wait until all of the meetings have concluded so they can get to work.

Genre vs. Dewey Collections

This library has not had a certified librarian in a number of years.   Overall the collection is in good shape but needs more books that reflect the interests and culture of my students. You know I'm ordering Corretta Scott King and Pura Belpre Award winning books along with popular leisure reading books to jumpstart my readers this year.   One thing that frustrated the sheer heck out of me was the fiction collection was organized by genre and not by the Dewey Decimal System.  I will share the same comments here that I recently made on my Instagram page.

The first thing I noticed about this topic is that school librarians are split almost 50/50 and have very strong views about it.   I read a really good article written by librarian Hilda K. Weisburg called the, 'The Dewey Debate,' where she eloquently presented both sides of this argument.  I read it and realized that I have partially organized  my collection in the past by genre.  For example, I have shelved all of the Street Literature, Graphic Novels and Anime/Manga books together and in their own bookcase.  I think that is ok, seriously....(please don't call me a hypocrite!)    In my opinion, when the entire collection, including the non-fiction section of the the library collection is organized by genre, it just does not benefit students in the long run.  There is no transfer of knowledge when they are promoted or transfer to a middle school or high school where the collection is organized by Dewey.   Can you image a student asking their school librarian where are the, 'Drama Books,' located?  Now this student must learn the Dewey Decimal system, 'on the fly,' in order to search for the book that they want.  I can already see that some of my students will be frustrated with this fast paced method.  

Another issue I have with collections all organized by genre is that many of the books fall under multiple genres.  I have yet to find some sort of reasonable guidance in selecting the 'dominant' genre to classify it under.  For example, Sharon Draper's pre-teen novel, 'Out of My Mind.' could be shelved under, 'Drama,' 'Realistic Fiction,' or 'Stories About Girls.'    Having a school library collection organized by Dewey means that YOU the librarian must educate and demonstrate to the students how the collection is organized.   School librarians should have a strong knowledge of the books within their collections and can help their students connect to the books they would like to read.  I'll be honest, now that I'm back working with a middle school population, I have to re-familiarize myself with the literature while learning what has been written for this age group in the last five years.   When it comes to finding 'read-alikes,' and I'm not that familiar with the book that my student is reading, I use TeachingBooks.net, Good Reads and Book Browse.   All have a 'related-booklist' or 'read-alike- database embedded in their websites.

TeachingBooks.net

GoodReads.com

BookBrowse.com

I've also heard that genre organized library collections can increase circulation because the books are found in the same geographic area of the library.  This may be so however I have a tool that I use that seemingly gets kids reading:  book displays.   Yes, they are timely and sometimes expensive but definitely worth it because now you can direct students to books written by the same author and introduce them to new ones.  But identifying and connecting kids to books is where I show my greatest value to the school community.  I'm the building expert on literature for my students, teachers and parents and I help guide readers to the books that interest them.   I want my students to have a love of reading instilled within them along with the tools to find books in the library in another library.

Tracking the Number of Books Read by Students

That's one heavy circulation desk!

After my very strong and able co-worker moved the circulation desk by herself while I was in a meeting, (much love for you!) I had to tackle another issue: writing on the back of the book.   For those librarians reading this, before you jump on your soapbox please calm down and let me explain.  This school has not had a librarian in several years.  The majority of the staff has not worked with a certified librarian, so in essence this is a clean slate and a librarian's dream come true to introduce a teacher to the skill base and work of a school librarian. 

In past years, the teachers were putting a short piece of painter's tape across the back of the book and writing the name of the child who checked out the book, the date and how many pages they have read each day.   This was done in the absence of a librarian who could have provided a simple print out of books from Follett Destiny Circulation System that were checked out by the student.   To track books read by the students either Beanstack.org or Biblionasium.com could be used.  This is going to be a challenge for some of the teachers because they are adopting a new norm (or one they decide to use independently) and saying goodbye to one that has been used for quite some time.  It has to be done or I will be receiving books from students that will look like the one below.  Properly taking care of library books is the expectation I have of my students.

Writing on books.....No Way!

I hope you are enjoying my adventures working in a new school library  I think you would agree, with every school, there are different challenges, victories and adventures.  Overall, it's all good because my love for libraries is infectious and I hope my students, the teachers I work with and parents will recognize this rather than the look of shock on my face when I see something I've never seen before.  Until next time!

Easy Like Sunday Morning: New District + New School = New Adventure

...and so the adventure begins!

This year will hold new adventures for me as a school librarian.  I'm looking forward to developing my library program, working with teachers and having fun along the way.  

I love LYFT

I arrived in town at 3am on the morning of the district's, 'New Teacher Orientation.'   Surprisingly, the lack of sleep did not affect me as I attend the opening session that began at 8:30am.  I got the 'hissing heffers,' Domino and Daisy Lee settled and fed, jumped in the shower/got dressed and called a LYFT to drive me to the orientation.   I did not trust myself to drive because of the lack of sleep.  

Photo Courtesy of Perkins Eastman

The orientation was held at the very beautiful and modern Dunbar High School in the north west area of D.C.   There were greetings from central office staff, the Chancellor of the D.C. Public School System, Antwan Wilson, and the Washington Teacher's Union President, Elizabeth Davis.   Unfortunately by mid-day, the lack of sleep hit me.  As I sat in the cozy chairs in the library, my chin hit my chest and the back of my head crashed against my back...I was tired! 

Common Sense Media

I somehow woke up and attended two more sessions presented by the DCPSS Libraries Department.  I was awake enough to ask allot of questions.  I know I aggravate the heck out of a presenter because I ask a million and one questions so that I'm clear and will be able to proceed forward with my agenda.  I was relieved to learn that the libraries department has adopted the use of Common Sense Media.   If you haven't heard or used Common Sense Media, consider using the site during the upcoming school year because it is a powerful tool for your library program and school.

My New Home!

A couple of days later, I attended my new school's two day, 'New Teacher Orientation.'  The school is absolutely beautiful and majestic with a huge field where the kids play sports and participate in a myriad of activities.  It was great meeting the new and existing staff along with receiving a very defined overview of the school through hands on activities.    This was very important for me because it will help me develop and align my library program with the mission, vision and spirit of the school.                

One of the staff members commented that they were a little embarrassed by the appearance of the library and items temporarily stored in front of some of the book cases.  My response was, 'I've seen 100 times worst, and no worries - I'm a librarian and this is what I do!"   I'll post before and after pictures in the weeks to come.  If it's one thing I love to do is set up libraries including book displays kids will love for student use.  

So in one week I experienced some firsts:  New District, New School and changing a baby's diaper for the first time in 20 years!!!

Until next time!

Easy Like Sunday Morning: Onward

Please note:  This post is a detailed account of some events that have recently taken place in my life personally and professionally.  This post is solely my views, voice and words of expression.  

Background

I love the title and the musical arrangement of, ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning,’ written by Lionel Richie of the Commodores for a number of reasons.  It brings me back to a time when times were good and life was simple.  I remember listening to this song over and over again with my late father.  It was the 70’s and my dad, still holding onto his precious 8-track stereo in his dodge van, would play music to pass the time while driving.  Because we were a family of five, flying was too expensive and out of the question.  Instead we piled into my father's van and traveled to 48 out of the 50 states before I turned 16.  Overall, music was our solace and made our destination seem not so far away.  

While I'm writing this post, I'm listening to, ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning,’ and yes, things will never change. 

Easy Like Sunday Morning:  Onward

My News

My family is my backbone and my greatest support.   So when family needs you, you respond.   Recently, my sister contacted me because she needed some help with her two young children.  Keep in mind, it is very difficult to support a family member who is in need when they live so far away.   After securing a library position near her home, I made the final decision move to the east coast.  With many regrets, I resigned as Lead Librarian for the East St. Louis School District (ESTL)  in East St. Louis, Illinois.   

While I'm happy that I will be able to support my sister better, I'm saddened that I will be leaving a great group of children behind.  Through my position as Lead Librarian, I was afforded the opportunity to visit each school library within the district.  This gave me the opportunity to interact with the children from many of the the neighborhoods throughout the city.   As a woman who does not have children of her own, I always lived vicariously through the many smiles, the energy and the innocence of the children I served.  These moments made my day and brought me inner happiness and joy.  I'm also saddened that I'm leaving my high schoolers behind, especially the students in my Anime Club.  These students helped me build a dynamic Anime collection which is truly the center of the East St. Louis Senior High School library program.   Though we are going to remain in touch, I am going to miss the daily interactions with these kids.  

The People

The city’s nickname, ‘The City of Champions,’ describes its citizens accurately because East St. Louisans are a very proud group of African-Americans.   The city of East St. Louis is located off of the Mississippi river, east of the city of St. Louis, Missouri and currently has a population of 27,000 people.   Historically the city of East St. Louis, Illinois was the scene of one of the bloodiest race riots in the 20th century.  Racial tensions and violence was at its highest in February of 1917.  During that time,  470 African American workers were hired to replace white workers who had gone on strike against the Aluminum Ore Company.  (1)  This lead to the East St. Louis Race Riots where men, women and children were killed.  

On a more positive note, there are very notable people who either are from or resided in East St. Louis throughout their career.   Some of the famous people from East St. Louis are performer Katherine Dunham, Rock and Roll artists Ike and Tina Turner, Senator Dick Durbin, and Jazz musician Miles Davis.  Known as a strong powerhouse for athletics within the St. Louis metro east area, East St. Louis is known for producing athletic talent like Olympians Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dawn Harper-Nelson and attracting recruiters from  top universities from across the country.  A current example of this is, ‘All-American,’ center Jeremiah Tilmon, a recent recruit to the University of Missouri to play for their thriving basketball program.  

Working in ESTL

I'm very proud of the work the was completed during my two year tenure.  I'm even more proud that the children now have a school library that they can call their own.   Academically the school district has had some major challenges.  Up until 2014, the district had been on academic probation for over 25 years for reading/math scores and falling in the lower 10% of schools within the state of Illinois measured.   Since 2012, the district has been under financial and operational control by the Illinois State Board of Education’s Financial Oversight Panel.   Test scores have slowly begun to rise as a result of new leadership and academic support programs that are in place.

School libraries had been previously closed for eight years within the ESTL School

Weeding project at ESTL Senior High (summer, 2016)

District.  The administration responded to requests of the community and wanted these libraries re-opened under the direction of a librarian that had prior experience with retrospective conversion for libraries.  My former principal, now Deputy Superintendent supervised the ‘re-birth’ of these libraries that began in the fall of  2015.  When I arrived two years ago, I learned quickly that there were no marc records, no electronic circulation system or research databases.  Even worst was the collections had been moved to the classroom libraries by the staff in the absence of a certified school librarian.  There was allot of work that needed to be done.

The administration and school board was very generous and financially invested funds towards a very tedious retrospective conversion project where over 75% of the books had to be imported into the Alexandria circulation system manually.   They then

purchased Gale and Teachingbooks.net and JSTOR for student research and inquiry.  Lastly, they loaded $12,000.00 per school for the purchase of Coretta Scott King, Pura Belpre and popular books students would enjoy reading.  You see, I'm a firm believer that if you want to get reluctant and struggling readers reading and improve reading scores, you must provide kids with books that reflect their race/culture, written by authors of color and books that celebrate their personal interests.  I know this is the winning formula because at every school I've worked at during my tenure in Chicago Public Schools kids reading improved, they read more and test scores rose.  You can read more about my past work in a School Library Journal article I wrote earlier this year called, “K.C. Boyd: A Leader for Readers” .

Bumps Along the Way

While working on rebuilding the school libraries in ESTL, I learned that the district was void of a school library culture.  Teachers and staff wanted a certified librarian but many of them didn't exactly understand all that it entailed having one.   When I arrived

Importing books into the Alexandria system manually

in the district, it was at the cusp of a teachers strike where the teacher had not had a raise in several years.  My salary was scrutinized heavily and many didn't understand why a librarian should be paid so much and to work year round. I totally understood and respected the resentment.  If I hadn't had a raise over a period of time I would have been upset too but with the administration, not any individual.   When the treatment from certain staff members became a bit, ‘too much,’ I had to keep things in perspective.  Some did not care for outsiders and some just didn’t like me at all.   To help keep me grounded, I read Luke 23:34 and focused on the goal of providing a library program and equitable access to books and technology.

Some of the teachers and staff didn't understand why I was ‘gone all of the time,’ or ‘always sitting at my circulation desk.’   The retrospective conversion project for all of the schools took eight months to complete.  I was onsite at each school working side by side with the librarians who had never had the experience of completing a retrospective conversion project.  I also had to visit all of the schools and help them set up their libraries for student use.  As for sitting all of the time, librarians understand this is an age old complaint by those who work in schools where our classroom teachers, ‘stand,’ during instruction. A librarian's work involves working with students at the circulation desk, instruction and upkeep of the collection.  In my case, along

with the above, moving/importing/deleting marc records for all of the schools called for me work at my circulation desk or in my office at my desk.   Those of us working in the library world understand this and the logic, but for a group of teachers who had never experienced a re-birth/ retrospective conversion project, it was hard to understand.  Remember prior to my arrival, ESTL lacked a school library culture.  So this meant educating and sometimes re-educating the learning community on the positive benefits of a strong school library program.  

Last year was the first year that all ESTL school libraries within the district circulated books. The librarians and I received some push back regarding books that were checked out and taken home by the students.  Despite this and with heavy emphasis by the librarians about the importance of taking care of books, we had a overall good year with circulation.  It was an absolute joy for me to see the looks on the students faces when they checked out books and returned for more.  Especially my Anime Club who were such avid readers of not only Anime but other genres.  Despite some of the ups and downs, criticisms and yes silliness, the work was still done by the librarians and I prevailed and had a great year.  You can view the before/after pictures along with our circulation numbers for the school year here.  Over 15,000 books were checked out by ESTL students at eight schools, not bad for our first year!  2016-2017 ESTL Circulation Report

I thank God for Google Maps!

Onward

The 14 hour drive from the St Louis to the D.C. area is one I will never forget.  I had very patient movers who tolerated packing all of my personal belongings, mounds of teaching supplies and listening to two screaming cats as we drove through the mountains of West Virginia at night.  I haven't seen those steep hills since I was a child!  I will miss many of the administrators, teachers and employees of ESTL who were kind and encouraging especially when we thought we would never see the end of the retrospective conversion...you know who you are because I’ve thanked you many times over and over again for your support!

New Teacher Orientation

After working for two years in a dual position of administration and libraries I learned allot about myself.  I really prefer working with children, find myself frustrated when working with some adults, yet enjoy training librarians.   This decision has helped guide me in selecting my next job.  Despite offers from a public library and the offer to teach at a major university, I have some personal goals as a librarian that I still want to accomplish while working with kids.  Plus, my opportunities to train librarians may be presented to me in the future and in a different way.  With this belief I'm happy with my decision to accept a school library position working for the Washington D.C. Public School System.  

My Loves!

I'm happy that I will be working with a group of students in this district who need it most.   Many of these students mirror the students I’ve taught in Chicago and East St. Louis so I feel like I’m on familiar ground.  I'm excited that I will be opening a new chapter in my career working in a field that has helped me personally develop into a more outgoing and outspoken person.  I'm relieved that will be closer to my sister and will be able to read and play games with my niece and nephew every day.  Overall, I'm pleased with the decision I've made to move to the east coast.  I'm still working in a library and having those insightful ‘conversations at the circulation desk,’ with students and that alone in itself makes me happy.  

References

1.  BlackPast.org.  East St. Louis Race Riots - http://www.blackpast.org/aah/east-st-louis-race-riot-july-2-1917

2.  School Library Journal. ‘Leader for Readers:  K.C. Boyd.

http://www.slj.com/2016/11/programs/a-leader-for-high-school-readers/#_

3.  ESTL 2016-217 Circulation Report.  

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10_xNeHZNZeM3vmfE-cTefhhn6YeW00nfuvTOxPGGRI4/edit?usp=sharing