I got in a Twitter argument on Saturday. Or discussion. When it comes down to it, it really was a discussion because in the end, I felt heard by those I was discussing with and we had new ideas and points. It was good. Here's the Tweet that started it:
If you're a librarian, it's your job to do your job and it's your job to HELP THESE BOOKS SUCCEED ffs. pic.twitter.com/09IMeCELDy
— Kelly Jensen (@catagator) February 7, 2015
First, you can find my points under there easily, so I'm not exactly going to rehash all of those. What I am going to do is bring up the points that I've come up with since reading the Story Time Underground Facebook Group and So Tomorrow's Blog Post.The first point is this: CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT. Since Saturday morning, I've read the Story Time Underground Post, I've read the blog post above, and I've read more twitter stuff like Justina Ireland's Storyfied post. Honestly, her posts sum up my philosophy easily.
The more I read, the more I think about how this is one singular comment posted on Twitter for all to see and here's how I see it: it is a relatively harmless comment on its own (please be patient with me before you go commenting. This is very, very complex). I say this because I understand this response. I had the same thing happen in my picture book collection when I started. Since then, I've bought more picture books with POC and I include them because of their topic, not the color of skin: i.e. moving because it is a very well done story about moving, opposites because it is a fun story about opposites, etc.
My community reads diverse books for the story.
So the answer given by others to the issue of The Crossover being a hard sell is to... hand sell it? Fine. That can be done, but sometimes, no matter the amount of hand selling, the book (and I'm talking generally here because I can think of one Newbery that appears on my weed list occasionally) is still going to be a hard sell. It goes out once or twice or not at all.
If the book (general, again) won an award, it'll stay, and maybe in 3 years, it'll be crazy popular again because I have that population and readership. In the meantime, there are over hundreds of other books to chose from.
In fact, that's part of the issue: there are so many books coming out. When it comes to diverse books, I look to content over characters. Is the book getting a favorable review? Check. Is the topic of the book something my readers would like such as a love story, fantasy, family moving, topic my parents have asked for, etc? If so, then I'll get it because my community will probably read it for the story.
From my experience, which is how I'm relating to this, I only do reader's advisory when kids or parents ask and I pick books that match their question. If there is a diverse book on that topic and it is in, I'll share it. If it doesn't match or it's not in, there are a bunch of other books to chose from.
Does that mean I ignore diverse books in my collection? No. I put them face out on displays whenever I can and let readers discover them. I will include them on books lists when I make them. I treat the books by their stories.
What I see happening is two camps: one that says librarians must promote books, authors, and particular ideas, while another says we must promote and provide to our community and what they like. Unfortunately, librarianship is not so black and white. We all fall onto a continuum of this and it depends on your readers, your collection policy, your mission statement, and your statistics.
Does this mean I don't purchase diverse books for my collection? No. I treat all book reviews equally and keep my readership in mind. Again, this is my community I'm purchasing for and I want to have what they want and what they might be willing to read to broaden the mind. Again, they read diverse books because they want to read a story.
Community is, I think, a great part of the book purchasing equation. We need to include things to broaden the mind, but also provide what they want. It's a balancing act which means some great starred books will be passed over for something that had a decent review and better suits the readers. Public libraries cannot buy ALL THE BOOKS. Gosh, if there is a library that has that kind of budget and does buy ALL THE BOOKS, I'd like to see this library. (Hold on. I think I have. How about a library in an average service community, though?)
On the flip side, a great collection is diverse and will have at least one book or item that offends someone. If you are not offended by one thing in my collection, I have not done my job. If I'm not offended by something in my collection, I also haven't done my job.
I don't love all graphic novels. This One Summer is not one of my favorites. Does this mean I'm not going to have it in my collection? NO. I recognize the merit of the book and it's getting a bunch of press so I got it. I got The Crossover after it was announced as the Newbery winner, but am I a bad librarian because I didn't buy it the first time around? I did purchase How It Went Down when it first came out because of the story. Basketball does not come up often for middle school and high school RA at my library. Baseball and football are more likely the stories they want.
Librarianship and libraries are changing. We're in uncertain times. Diversity needs to happen in books. That is true, but we also need to be careful we don't alienate our readers and each other. By this, I'm saying we need to be sure we're striking the balance between what they want and what might push their boundaries. If we make a point to get diverse books but if our readership doesn't relate to them in some way, they'll go somewhere else.
On the other hand, this is just part of a discussion I've seen happening for years: some award winners are a hard sell to the community, regardless of what's between the covers. I can think of a Newbery winner a few years ago that someone told me they tried to read and couldn't get into it. I can think of Printz winners I wasn't sure would go (one of which didn't go when it came out, but years later has found a readership). I have books I love, authors I love, but no matter how much hand-selling I do, sometimes the readers just don't find it appealing.
So what should librarians be doing: promoting books, their authors, and particular ideas, or promoting community and a love of reading? Is it our job to make particular books succeed or is it our job to make books in general succeed? Has this librarian (and I'm wondering if I have) failed for not providing The Crossover since March? I don't think so.
What I'm saying is that we need to open a dialogue about all angles of this: diverse books, our communities, what we stand to promote, the award winners that don't have a huge appeal regardless of what's between the covers, and we need to do it with an open mind and with respect to each other. Librarians are the loudest, most outspoken people I know, but seeing some of the comments that have come out of this discussion (mostly in the vein of "You're not doing your JOB") makes me ashamed of us as a profession that I have always seen as diverse, open minded, and open to discussion. Our JOBS are as diverse as the books that are out there. Our jobs are as diverse as the libraries. What is popular in one half of my state, is not popular in the other (finally attending a conference near Pittsburgh really showed me how different it is compared to Philly). This idea can even be expanded to the entire country.
Everyone is different and bringing their experience to the table. Let's have discussion and stop casting blame.
This is my philosophy of librarianship: The Five Laws of Library Science (source-Wikipedia):
- Books are for use.
- Every reader his [or her] book.
- Every book its reader.
- Save the time of the reader.
- The library is a growing organism.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider this point of view. I want to remind you this does NOT reflect my employer and this does NOT reflect the Library Association I'm part of.
