MSLA Podcast

A bunch of us went to the conference in Amherst, MA on March 19th and 20th of this year. It was our organization’s first in-person conference in four years. Ella and I captured a few on-the-floor interviews during our time there, and then had Conference Committee Co-Chair Alix Woznick speak to some of the reactions members had to the conference, including about locations, days, keynote speakers, food, and next year’s planning schedule.

“I think the dirty little secret here is that parents are assuming that kids have access to libraries and school librarians and districts are not telling them otherwise, but the data speaks for itself,” says Project SLIDE Director Debra E. Kachel, a faculty member at the School Library Media Endorsement Program at Antioch University Seattle. She joins us from Pennsylvania along with SLIDE Principal Investigator Dr. Keith Curry Lance, a consultant at the RSL Research Group, joining us from Colorado. Co-host Deeth Ellis is the Head Librarian at Boston Latin School and a doctoral student at Simmons University who volunteered on Project SLIDE. Deeth joins Luke for a look at data and possible avenues for addressing uneven development and equity around school librarians in Massachusetts. We begin with background and a discussion of the health of data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics, and move into Massachusetts-specific elements of the study and resources to access them, and, finally, possibilities for advocacy. We hope the episode provides some talking points for you in your district, and use the links below for additional context:

School is stressful for kids and adults and the phenomenon of school refusal, which is often caused by that stress, is nothing new. But has it been kicking up more dust in our post-lock down educational rebound? What can libraries do? Well, we discuss relationships and collaboration as a way forward with Ariel Dagan, from Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High school in Franklin; Bonnie McBride, Fenway High School in Boston; and Laura Gardner, Dartmouth Middle School. What do we mean by triage? How can books help? How are libraries complicit in refusal? Listen and find the balance...

Discussed:

Ariel Dagan asks his students: “What are you gonna access next?” as part of his lessons on mobile phone addictions, where he colalborates with the health department; and with gamifying discovery of the various career departments offered at Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High school in Franklin. He was awarded the first annual Carolyn Markuson ​School Library Innovation Grant Fund from the New England Library Association. Ariel talks about TC PRIDE and the school's motto, “Work Hard, Today Counts'; also his philosophy around collaboration and the role the various media available in the library has in that collaboration.

Suzanne Larson and Felicia O’Keefe discuss two other MA Teen choice Book Award nominees, books which rewire the heist genre and the self-help genre and teach us a lot about friendship.

Morgan Keohane secured a maker space for her library at PA Shaw Elementary in Dorchester. Heart of America provided the grant and the volunteer-led upgrades went in this June. Before it happened, Morgan came on to discuss the grant process, how she plans to apply the new resources to her Guided Inquiry Design curriculum next year, and what the maker space means for a culturally responsive educational institution.

Ella and Westwood Public Library Teen Services Librarian Felicia O’Keefe discuss two culturally relevant, timely books dealing with the mid-20th century.

Colleen Simpson teaches at a decentralized library in the Lester J. Gates Middle School in Scituate. She wrote an article describing the layout and process of her day, but we dug further and discussed her involvement in the design and implementation of that space, through media literacy and research curricula. The sets of skills and hacks Colleen has gleaned from this decentralized space and responsibility get into areas of circulation, programming and administration.

Suzanne Larsen (Seekonk High School Library Media Specialist) and Barb Fecteau (Barb) lay out the stakes of the newest game in town: the MA Teen Choice Book Award. Listen up for how to get involved and get excited about this new statewide program. The MTCBA book list will be unveiled at the conference at the end of this month! We have a great discussion about the ins and outs, what to expect as we roll into April with this program, and what perspectives the work on this committee have given them.

We talk to Alix Woznick, school librarian at Beverly Middle School, about her role as the chair of the conference committee. If you still haven't regiestered, here's the link:

MSLA's Jennifer Mason Stott, librarian at Graham & Parks School in Cambridge; Gillian Bartoo, a cataloger from CPS, and Maya Bery, librarian from Carlisle Public Schools join a conversation about the Dewey Decimal System.

Relevant links:

In sharing our conversation with Gardner, Ella and I hope to dispel some of the anxiety you might be feeling about... well... climate anxiety. But also, anxiety about scheduling something around Climate Preparedness Week, which runs annually from Sept. 24th to 30th. Gardner is a tireless advocate for this issue, and she discusses resources, programming ideas, and how climate change is, for some, still discussed as an abstract concept. With her students at Dartmouth Middle School, Gardner uses the curriculum to move past concepts into action and service.

Initiatives discussed:

For our debut episode, we invite MSLA President Elect Jen Varney for a conversation about her start in cataloging and academic librarianship and her move to schools in and around Boston. Jen's term begins in July. She charts her involvement in MSLA and plans for the future of the organization.

Episode resources: