Recently, my reading about reading—and about libraries—has been rather sad. Usually, it has involved a teacher or a school librarian becoming discouraged and giving up. But there’s also good news on the kids’ reading front, and I have stumbled across a big helping of it.
Tania Galiñanes, Former School Librarian, Now Indie Bookseller
A perfect example of the distressing book news was explored in depth in the November 11th Washington Post about a school librarian in Osceola County, Florida who gave up mid-career. The article, which describes her last week on the job, might furnish some clues. She spent a fair amount of time on a box of books sent to her for review, looking for sexual content and age-appropriateness. She learned that Banned Books Week had been re-tagged “Freedom Week,” and that the state was requiring that parts of the Declaration of Independence be read aloud to reinforce the idea of “individual freedom.” Mrs. Tania Galiñanes, at the age of 51, had become progressively more physically ill as the walls closed in. She resolutely left the job for the sake of her own health. The article closes on an upbeat note as she details concrete plans to open an indie bookstore in partnership with a friend. Underlying that is the fact that she never imagined a better calling than being a librarian who served the needs of youngsters.
Kate Lindley, Girl Scout and Little Free Library Builder
The highest honor that can be awarded to a Girl Scout is the Gold Award. It’s like achieving Eagle Scout rank for the boys, only nobody knows much about it. It’s also said to be much more rigorous to achieve. Kate Lindley, who is a senior in high school in Hanover County, Virginia, went after the Gold Award with gusto. She planned, organized, got financing for, and finally brought to life two Little Free Libraries at businesses in her area. These Little Free Libraries had a special purpose: To showcase books that had been banned and were no longer freely available to students of any age in her county. She titled her project “Free to Read.”
Leaving aside the nobility of her cause, she did an awful lot of work for her community in setting up these libraries. It has become traditional for winners of the Gold Award to be honored by proclamations from their local governments. The county supervisors of Hanover County issued proclamations for four Gold Award projects. The difference? Kate’s proclamation was—well, for want of a better word, it was gutted by the Board of Supervisors. No mention was made of the freedom to read concept. The locations of the two businesses housing the library were cut out. Any mention of the banned books was cut out. When people rose to defend Kate, veiled references were made to “pornography” by the supervisor from her district.
Kate got the best of things. When she rose to thank the supervisors for the proclamation, she stated quite clearly that they had honored her by censoring her. This young woman knows what’s important. She also got the better of her censors. Kate is headed off to study computer science this fall. We can’t fail to wish her well.
Mychal Threets, Librarian and Library Kid
Watch one of Mychal Threets’ exuberant videos and you might think you were looking at a 21st Century reincarnation of Mr. Rogers. His love for all library patrons shines through. His love for children is especially evident. The viewer/reader is struck, hard, by this man’s desire to make the library a place of welcome for everyone. Some of his stories of library life may be a little sad, but all of them are hopeful. The world of his stories is divided very simply between “library kids” and “library adults.” Today’s video brought home a good point: Take your time with books; take your time with life.
According to some accounts I’ve read, Mychal has been the target of the usual weirdos who haunt the Internet—the censors, the trolls, and the haters. But his love of libraries and the people who use them continues to shine through. He is taking some time off from his job as librarian at the Solano County, California Library. He is working with PBS Kids to promote reading among youngsters, and he recently testified before Congress in favor of more library funding.
Mychal has best been described by the Social Media supervisor at PBS. He is devoted to: “The importance of literacy, mental health and encouraging a sense of belonging and community.”
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