Never Too Young: Why Kids Deserve Queer Friendly Libraries
by Ashlie Swicker
Book Riot, Jun 30, 2023
“I worked with young children long before my first year teaching in 2007. I have three degrees that qualify me to educate kids. Interacting with young people has been my greatest skill for as long as I’ve been a person. My biggest takeaway over the last, oh, 30 years? Kids will never fail to surprise me. It’s been proven to me over and over that kids know more, feel more, and deserve more than adults ever give them credit for.
My latest lesson in this has been around the palpable relief felt by my elementary students when I worked to make my school library more queer-friendly. This process included no fanfare. I had already been adding picture books that challenged gender norms and middle grade titles with queer characters and storylines for as long as I had been developing the collection. But as I was working to add racial and physical diversity into my library posters and signage, I knew I wanted to branch out to make sure everyone felt welcome.
The first noticeable shift was when I decorated my door with a “This Classroom is for Everyone” sticker from the Etsy artist MegEmikoArt. The sticker is decorated with pride flags and my students buzzed as they came into Media. Soon after, I bought the “Libraries are for everyone” shirt in the same design by the same artist. A 5th grader who didn’t usually stop to chat pointed to one of the flags on my shirt, grinned, and said “That one’s me.” I was wonderfully, pleasantly floored.
I thought I was adding more queer flags, using gender-neutral terms, and featuring books with queer characters to help them prepare for the real world. I thought my students should be exposed to these things in case they met queer people or to make them more comfortable with queer family structures. This was a condescending way for me to think about my students. Thank god the kids are smarter than me.
What actually happened was that my students thanked me. There was gratitude, excitement, and relief. My students already knew how to identify more specific pride flags than I did. They already knew that gender and sexuality are spectrums and each person knows what feels right to them. I had students with whom I had no previous relationship sharing their pronouns. Our STEM building materials were used to build and label different pride flags. Requests were made for the LGBTQ book section; the books had always been there. The kids just needed affirmation that it was safe to ask for them. My students did not need exposure. They needed a safe space.
I was well aware that students in high school and even middle school needed queer-friendly libraries. Despite considering myself an ally and believing that I was doing everything I could at my grade level, I was showing a lack of respect for my students by thinking I needed to introduce them to queer-friendly ideas. If I can understand that a 10-year-old cisgender child can understand heterosexual romance (featured in almost every title ever), why does it surprise me that queer kids are looking for the same kinds of representation? Most importantly, how did I let myself forget the power and agency that young people have when they are given the space to be comfortable with who they are?
In a climate where adults are constantly clashing over what kids should be taught, it’s important to remember that children are vastly more aware and in touch with themselves than we give them credit for. I’m grateful to my amazing students for reminding me that beyond teaching them, my first job is to give them a safe space to explore all the amazingness they already possess.”
We hosted a huge Summer Sizzler party Friday night! We had 125 very happy people. We could not have pulled this off without every department helping out. Lynda was brilliant with set up and break down. She is the best of the best. Book reviewing speed talkers Alissa, Andrea H., Dawn, Desiree, Susanne, and guest star Liz Whitelam were the stars of the show along with M.C. Elizabeth! Michelle helped us get the sound system up and running. The Friends got to shine; showcasing their support of our programs and selling a lot of mocktails.
Kath made fabulous flyers, Overdrive, and catalog booklists. The entire tech services department helped process all the extra Sizzlers I purchased with help from Susan.
The communications queens Desiree and Michelle marketing got patrons to beat the doors down in anticipation. Valerie and the entire B.S. department unpacked bins like the bosses they are. Meaghan C and Jocelyn helped me find and deploy pencils, and finally Jocelyn and Meghan M. helped me get the million books I ordered out for display and safely returned to their home shelves. THANK YOU, thank you, thank you, for all your support and for making this popular event possible.
We have a new addition to our Go & Grow collection in the Children’s Room (the cute name we have for our Library of Things). A Seed Library! You may get patron questions about it, so I wanted to let you know how it works.
The library has 2 small binders with info about all the seeds. We have seeds for vegetables, flowers and herbs. People can read through the binders to learn about plants and decide what they want. Then they can select up to 2 packets of seeds from the library to take home and plant. People can also donate seeds. They can do this at the Children’s Room desk.
Please note: even though it lives in Children’s it’s not just for kids! Adults can also come up and use the collection.
A male patron is asking for library staff to read the Bill of Rights or other documents over the phone because their internet provider is “not working.” This patron has called here and other libraries in the past for the same reason. They are being inappropriate.
This patron is currently asking for Kathleen W. DO NOT forward this patron to her or say that she is available.
Do not give your name and do not read it for them. Forward to a supervisor if needed. Edited by Michelle to add: Hanging up IS an option.
Copies of updated Gift Forms, as well as instructions on who to pass completed forms along to internally, are now available at all service desks and in the Forms section of the Staff Intranet.
I have saved new timesheets in the “Library Files – Employees – Staff Time Sheets – NEW” folder for use starting this pay period Monday December 5th – Sunday December 18th.
Please use these timesheets going forward rather than any older versions you may have saved elsewhere. Your printed timesheet should now say “Updated December 2022” in the bottom right hand corner.
The new timesheets are very similar to the old ones with a few minor tweaks and formatting upgrades. Employees and supervisors are still required to carefully review hours worked and exceptions. The changes are small but are meant to help employees and supervisors catch errors and streamline processing in Admin.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I am happy to provide assistance as we navigate this transition together.
The shelving in the Friends of the Reading Public Library turret is finally ready for use! In addition to the shelving in the turret, there are two bays (a total of 12 shelves @ 3ft wide) in the storage room for overflow books.
At the Ground Floor desk, there is a now a FOB with a sign out sheet for the Friends to access the storage room and staff lounge as they resume the operations of the Second Chapter Book Sale Room.
This FOB is for IN LIBRARY USE ONLY and should be signed out and returned to the Ground Floor desk using the clipboard sign out sheet. I am happy to make more copies if the sign out sheet is becoming full. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.