Catch-up!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted and I just want to share a bit of what’s been going on in my world! In December, I returned to work from a maternity leave and in an unexpected turn of events, I have taken on a temporary assignment as the Public Programs Librarian. It was (still is) a very steep learning curve - plus learning how to balance working full-time with two little kids at home - so I’ve just been flying by the seat of my pants for the past few months, to say the least!

That being said, I am thrilled with this new position and I’m having a blast doing it. I love making connections with different organizations and individuals in the community; I love thinking about how we can create programming to meet the needs of our community; I love running programming and meeting kids, youth, adults, seniors that make up our community; I love being on the library floor, interacting with people from all walks of life and answering all sorts of questions and inquiries. I especially love that I can do all of this work with a lens of equity, diversity and inclusion.

One aspect of my role is running the storytime program for young families: reading stories, singing songs, teaching rhymes - which feels like second nature at this point in my life and motherhood! I have found this to be such a great forum to talk about race, culture and diversity in subtle and informal ways. I try to include lots of songs that incorporate different languages, and I choose books that feature BIPOC characters/depictions, are written by BIPOC authors and whenever possible, feature bilingual text. In our times together, we’ve talked about Black History Month, de-centralizing English, American Sign Language, exposure to written languages using non-Roman characters, Nowruz, Holi, all the different types of families there are and how skin tones within a family can differ. I really like that these themes and topics can be talked about peripherally, without it being a lecture or the reason we’re together, but I get a chance to educate and advocate in a fun, safe and low-key setting.

Another aspect of my role is organizing a program called Indigenous Book Club, which is essentially a live virtual or in-person discussion with an Indigenous author, a reading from the author and a Q&A with the audience. I feel very privileged to get to promote Indigenous authors and their works, and to discuss important themes written from an Indigenous worldview.

I am so excited by the opportunities this role presents. I’m excited to create meaningful programming that is representative of our community as a whole - including the countless groups who have historically been excluded from public libraries. I’m excited about trying new things and embracing that libraries are more than traditional literacy in this day and age. I am not sure how LTAR fits into my life at this moment in time, but it feels like such an amazing opportunity to be able to merge my day job with my passions of anti-racism education. I trust that if I keep my priorities focused on equity, diversity and inclusion, I’ll find my way!