AASL Key Concept Interview: Include

 School Librarian Interview on AASL Foundation “Include”

The second interview I conducted was with my Mrs. Michelle King, the other librarian I observed for one day. Mrs. King is a middle school librarian. She chose to reflect on the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Framework foundational key competency “include.” According to the AASL framework, “include” is defined as “demonstrate[ing] an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community” (AASL, 2018).  Mrs. King chose this foundational standard because she believes it is one of the most important foundations in our framework because all students deserve to be represented in their school library (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

Mrs. King shared that she had a big “ah ha” moment a couple years ago when she did a major weeding initiative. During this time, she was embarrassed to find titles in the library that were based off stereotypes, would be considered insensitive, or used words that were completely outdated. During this time, Mrs. King made it a mission to ensure that she would be very intentional about purchasing diverse and culturally relevant texts with all future orders (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

Since “the major weed” (as she calls it), she said that she tries to be diligent about paying attention to the demographics of her school community when making purchases as well.  For example, she discussed how the district did a major rezoning a couple of years ago. When this happened, she analyzed how the demographics changed in her school community. She said that the Hispanic population grew to be three times bigger than it had previously been. Therefore, she made sure to be very intentional about purchasing books with Hispanic characters and about Hispanic cultures (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

Mrs. King also said that on many occasions, students have started conversations with her about the representation in her library and how they had not been at schools where they saw characters that looked like them. This was a crucial moment for Mrs. King because she believes all students deserve to be seen in their library collection. Mrs. King’s favorite part about her job is creating and fostering relationships with students. Therefore, she tries to use her collection to ensure that all students feel like they are welcome and seen in their school library (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

On top of ensuring that she purchases diverse texts, she also said that she works hard to make sure that she creates diverse displays as well. She said one of the main reasons she does this is because, otherwise, students may not know diverse books exist in the library collection.  On top of students being able to see books that represent themselves, she said it’s important for students to be introduced to books that represent other cultures (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021). She also tries to promote diverse pieces to teachers to read as well.

I found Mrs. King’s whole narrative about the importance of “including” diverse perspectives in the library to be incredibly insightful. It reminded me a lot about how students need to have “mirrors and windows” in the library collection. Mirrors are important because students have the right to feel represented in the library collection, but windows are just as vital because students need to be introduced to other cultures as well. Overall, this has motivated me to want to audit my future libraries even more than I had already wanted to before because it’s apparent that Mrs. King can speak to how a diverse collection can positively impact the students in her learning community.

In terms of resources, Mrs. King uses Junior Library Guild and Titlewave when looking for diverse fiction titles that are current. She said she also asks students what they are interested in and asks for their input when it comes to making purchases as well. She often uses SC Discus when doing lessons with students because it often has a wide range of diverse resources.

In terms of collaboration, Mrs. King said that she implicitly uses “include” when working with teachers because it is sometimes not necessarily relevant to explicitly talk about diversity. For example, she is helping a teacher with a unit on hurricanes and does not feel like there is an explicit need to talk about diversity in this unit because it could be off topic. However, she tries to use resources that share a wide perspective of views and cultural impacts as an implicit way of introducing students to diversity (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

As far as challenges go, she said that one of biggest challenges at the middle level (on a flexed schedule) is finding the opportunities to build relationships with students because they are not consistently in the library. By building relationships with students, she would be able to truly understand the needs of her students and what they are interested in. This would help her purchase materials that she knows will be circulated. This is also important because “include” means for students to physically feel included in the library. Not only does this mean through a diverse collection, but also through relationships and conversation that make them feel welcome in the space. Though she does think her flexed schedule is the best option for middle school libraries, she still finds it challenging to find ways to build relationships with students (M. King, via personal communication, November 2, 2021).

Overall, I found this very insightful because I do not know if I have ever thought about “include” in this way. I have always thought of it from a diversity perspective, but not necessarily form the foundation of what it means to actually create the feeling of inclusion in the library space. Many students do not have a good relationship with past libraries or reading in general; it’s important that we try to make the space as welcoming as possible to all students to help change previous opinions they may have about the space.

 

Resources:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). AASL standards framework for learners. Retrieved

from https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AASL-Standards-Framework-for-Learners-pamphlet.pdf

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). Shared foundation: Include. [Image]. Retrieved

            from https://standards.aasl.org/include/