I Was a Volunteer School Librarian (Here’s What I Learned About Serving Kids)
(continued from I Was a Volunteer School Librarian…)
As I learned new names and faces, I was also learning new ways of serving young patrons in the future. Through this experience, I learned new facets of:
· Library Service and Respect
· Censorship
· Collection Development
· Advocacy and Activism
Let’s begin from the beginning…
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Throughout this experience, I learned how respect is a major component of service when working with any library patron, including and especially children. I applied my years of experience in customer service roles and applied them right away by taking care to greet every single child personally when they came up to check out their books. Even if the students in the younger grades arrived with their full names on index cards, I would still make sure to greet them aloud by their first name, making sure I’d pronounced it correctly. When pulling up the child’s name in the computer system, I sorted the list by first names in alphabetical order, not by last name as other volunteer workers did. Being on a first name basis with all of the kids made it much easier to humanize the check-out process, however brief it may be.
Some kids had unreturned books, which meant that they couldn’t check out another until the previous book was returned. I would always gently inform the child that they already have a book checked out, and reminded them to look in their school desk or at home so that they could come in and check out another book. Many times, their teacher would allow them to run back to their desk to retrieve the missing book, and I was thrilled when they got to to take home their newfound book that had been placed aside.
If the idea of respect sounds simple, that’s because it is. I wanted these kids to have a positive impression of libraries and librarians, and hated the thought of them having a negative emotional experience within their school library (or any library). I noticed that my fellow volunteers weren’t always so careful with children’s feelings, informing them that they had an overdue book in an unnecessarily gruff and accusatory manner. Instances like these can color a child’s day, and I watched more that one face drop when I wasn’t the one in charge of informing kids of their missing books at check-out.
Censorship
Another factor that suppressed a child’s potential joyful experience within the library was a concept known all too well by librarians, especially school librarians. Censorship. Though this school library had a wonderful small-to-medium collection of donated children’s books of all kinds (graphic, picture, chapter, fiction, and nonfiction), this did not stop the teachers from each incoming class from restricting where certain students could browse. I had heard of instances like this from my fellow graduate library science students, but I’d never seen it before firsthand. It didn’t feel good to watch. Kids were verbally guided away from books they were browsing and directed toward a section of books their teacher thought suited their reading level. Watching with one eye as I checked out other student’s books, I saw the dejected postures and body language of kids who had their personal reading choices suddenly restricted.
The most rewarding thing about this entire experience was helping kids to find the books they were looking for. Often, a quick search for a title or author in the online database pointed myself and the student in the right direction. Sometimes it took a minute to find the right book (another student may have just checked it out), but most times the title was easily found, and the excitement I felt radiating from the child was instant and palpable.
Collection Development
I especially enjoyed the challenge of finding natural science and animal fact books for a fourth-grader who couldn’t get enough of them. Week after week, this student would ask me if there were any books on “sharks”, “ocean animals”, or “wild animals”. With my co-volunteer on book checkout duty for the moment (we often alternated responsibilities for each class), I was free to search the database and head towards the nonfiction section of the library with the student. When it became clear that this student had already taken out most (if not all!) of the books in this section, I felt that some fresh inventory wouldn’t hurt. After searching my favorite thrift store, I donated some more materials to the school library, from books on animals and nature to Calvin and Hobbes.
By seeing firsthand what kinds of books kids enjoy based on what they check out/ask for, it gives a librarian who pays attention a sense of how the collection should be developed to include new items in a balanced way. When kids have the freedom to choose any book they want in a school or public library setting, having a collection that will draw in, inspire, and fascinate them with each checkout is the ultimate goal.
An Unexpected “Vacation”
On the day that turned out to be my last day as a volunteer librarian at the school (the week before COVID-19 ended library classes, and two weeks later, all in-person classes), I had the best time I’d ever had so far in the school library. Between classes, I was selecting books to set out for the kindergartners to choose from, and writing down titles of books that I thought would work well for a read-aloud story time series. When the last class arrived for the day, some of them were wearing backwards clothing (for “backwards clothing day”, of course!), and in a precious few undivided moments, I crouched down on the floor as six kids told me about how next week was “vacation” clothing day. “I’m going to wear my bathing suit!” one girl proclaimed. I asked each of them what their dream vacation would be, and they took turns telling me some of the most favorite places they’d been.
That same day, I assisted in a group hunt for a title that seemed to be missing in a popular spooky series. I searched the computer database and verified that we should indeed have the book in question. With three assistants browsing the shelf with me, we finally found it (the text on the spine was a bit worn down)! Instantaneously, two of the searchers wanted to check it out, and they were flushed with both excitement and upset as it was decided that one of them could take it out this week, and one next week. The lucky winner came around to the front desk, beaming, to check out their prize.
All kids deserve opportunities like this to get excited about books.
All kids deserve opportunities like this to get excited about books. With many schools and libraries now under new restrictions, the importance of reading remains vital to children. Not just for academic development, but for the growth of their own personal interests, personalities, and independent minds. Alongside this volunteer experience, I also had the opportunity to volunteer for an afternoon with the independent organization Every Library, collecting petition signatures urging the Philadelphia school district to have a certified school librarian in each and every public school. Right now, there are far too few librarians serving far too many children who deserve opportunities to grow personally in ways only books can help them to.
Photo: Every Library
Right now, there are far too few librarians serving far too many children who deserve opportunities to grow personally in ways only books can help them to.
Learn more about Every Library’s call to action in Philadelphia here:
https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/rally_psla_20
Main photo by Jerry Wang on Unsplash
Inline photos: Giphy, Unshelved, and Every Library
