Socially Shiny

Since accepting Storytime Underground’s “Resolve to Rock” several years ago (but in my own sparkly way), I have come to look forward to January’s reflection and goal setting. I’ve never been a fan of New Year’s resolutions, but having a library-centric/professional focus has helped me really appreciate their power.

This year the SU Joint Chiefs have a different challenge: Storytime for Social Justice. Basically, we need to focus on and bring awesome aspects of social justice into our libraries and programming in only ways that YS-peeps can. Even if you don’t have a blog (which you totally should) you can still join in on this.

There Went 2016

While 2016 was a very difficult year overall, my professional life went through a metamorphosis. I discovered a lot about myself, how I view myself, and what I want to do in the library world – and for the world at large.

• My biggest fail was not following through on my plan to write a nice note to each Nebraska youth service librarian that I could find. It was like turning this hope into a resolution totally took the wind out of my sails. But, over time I realized that I still want to do it, but as a Punk Rock Book Jockey, and not as the Chair of the School, Children, and Young People‘s section of the Nebraska Library Association.

• My biggest successes really boil down to figuring out what I truly meant by being shiny in the library world:

•  I spoke on behalf of my library in front of the Nebraska Senate General Affairs Committee (you can read it on page 75 of the transcript). I sort of stumbled into doing it, and now that I’ve done it, I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

•  I gave my first presentations. It was rough going for awhile, but ultimately had a happy ending. This, in turn, led to me co-presenting at the Nevada Library Association‘s annual conference (which was friggin’ AWESOME).

•  The idea for Punk Rock Book Jockeys was formed.

•   I became a published artist! I submitted this artwork based on Banksy’s The Flower Bomber to Resist!, and it was accepted.
  I must give another heartfelt thank you to Jessamyn for both telling me about the call for entries and encouraging me to submit.

Here Comes 2017

Here’s a small sampling of my hopes and goals which, shockingly – I know, tie in with social justice:

• Finish writing my Accessibility Series post for Bryce Don’t Play (now Bryce Kozla Blog). This has been a tough piece for me to write on many levels, and so I tend to distract myself with other things and procrastinate. ::has a moment of self-realization while typing this post:: Heh.

• Continue working on Punk Rock Book Jockeys.

• I have a massive artsy-early-literacy-skills-diversity thing I’m hoping to get going. OooOOOoOoooo…mysterious vagueness…

• I’m gonna continue adding more diversity to our library’s collection. Tied in with this is that I want to make sure that more diverse titles get featured in our displays.

• Become fluent in conversational Spanish. As a fibromyalgia manager, it can be a struggle to do physical things to help during this uncertain and downright terrifying time in our country. While watching the January 21st protests I thought, “at least I can still raise my voice,” and that’s when this goal occurred to me. If I succeed, then I want to try to also gain fluency in Arabic. This world could use more understanding in a multitude of ways.

• Learn more children’s names who visit the library. I’ve been working on this for a few months already, and the reaction from both the kids and parents has really inspired me to work harder on this. If I draw a blank, I do what Reading with Red’s Brooke does and say “friend.” Like, “Hi, friend!” Even that can get a beaming smile.

And there you have it: my super-shiny mostly social justicey goals for 2017! If reading my goals somehow sparked your own, then I’d love to know. Please feel free to email them to me. I hope to touch base with you around this time next year to see how you did.

¡Listo o no aquí voy!