Socially Shiny

Combination of Storytime Underground's Storytime for Social Justice logo, and my purple shiny Muppet crystal.

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 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.
A modified version of Banksy's Flower Bomber featuring a female librarian throwing Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

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.
  • 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!

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