Today's increasingly interconnected and globalized world demands that students be taught to appreciate human diversity and recognize universally held values and beliefs. Authentic, culturally based folktales can lay the foundation for this cultural understanding. Professional storytellers like editors Sherry Norfolk and Lyn Ford are deeply committed to bringing people together through story. In this book, they have identified a group of culturally diverse storytellers whose carefully researched tales authentically reflect the cultures from which they come. The book includes well-crafted, culturally authentic folktales contributed by storytellers of varying cultures and ethnicities. Commentaries from the contributors follow each tale, reflecting on the story and its significance to the culture it represents. Sets of questions for teachers and librarians also accompany each story to facilitate discussion. Teachers, librarians, and information specialists find that stories engage students' attention and empathy. The commentaries provide insights into the significance of cultural norms, customs, and beliefs represented in the story, and the discussion questions and guides help them drill down with students to achieve deeper understanding. Resource lists of additional relevant materials at the end of each section promote continued learning. Demonstrates how folktales are engaging, non-didactic, and entertaining-they captivate students' attention while allowing them to explore other cultures and value systems Provides commentaries that offer insights into the significance of the cultural norms and beliefs represented in each story Includes thoughtful and effective discussion questions and guides that save librarians and teachers time Offers resource lists of relevant materials for further study

How do you supervise a graduate student working in a library—and not just adequately, but well? What is a valuable and meaningful work experience? How can libraries design more equitable and ethical positions for students?Learning in Action: Designing Successful Graduate Student Work Experiences in Academic Libraries provides practical, how-to guidance on creating and managing impactful programs as well as meaningful personal experiences for students and library staff in academic libraries. Fourteen chapters are divided into four thorough sections: Creating Access Pathways Developing, Running, and Evolving Programs for LIS Students Working with Graduate Students without an LIS Background: Mutual Opportunities for Growth Centering the Person  Chapters cover topics including developing experiential learning opportunities for online students; cocreated cocurricular graduate learning experiences; an empathy-driven approach to crafting an internship; self-advocacy and mentorship in LIS graduate student employment; and sharing perspectives on work and identity between a graduate student and an academic library manager. Throughout the book you’ll find “Voices from the Field,� profiles that showcase the voices and reflections of the graduate students themselves, recent graduates, and managers.   Learning in Action brings together a range of topics and perspectives from authors of diverse backgrounds and institutions to offer practical inspiration and a framework for creating meaningful graduate student work experiences at your institutions.

Helping readers understand the challenges and barriers faced by teens in urban communities, this one-of-a-kind resource offers real-world recommendations, case studies, and experience-based programmatic solutions for fostering crucial media literacy skills. Information and digital literacies are essential skills to survive and thrive in today's media-saturated world. But minoritized and economically disadvantaged youth in urban communities often lack these critical media literacy competencies. Offering a multi-faceted perspective, this book guides those who serve teens in libraries towards implementing innovative and transformative learning experiences. Librarians and YA specialists who serve urban youth in public, school, and academic libraries will gain insight on how factors such as lack of information and communication technology proficiency, inadequate technology and internet access, and instructional inequity place urban teens at high risk for media and informational illiteracy; receive hands-on and strategic guidance for connecting successfully with and creating spaces for teens in urban communities, illustrated through teen reflections, narratives from librarians and educators across the US, and voices from scholars in the field; learn about several successful media literacy programs that have been implemented in libraries and communities, from Hip Hop Studies at Virginia Tech to youth podcasting, a zine club, Black Girls Film Camp, and others; and find a toolkit of additional resources such as handout templates, sample lesson plans, and information about books and websites.

High school students, teachers, community members, and leaders come together in this innovative book to share the profound influence of artmaking and justice- oriented work. Authors paint vibrant images of being empowered and engaging in social change. Throughout their art-based meaning making, authors pose critical questions and unlock possibilities. Their first-tellings regarding the power of art provide readers with a lens to understand how they navigate injustices they endure and ways in which artmaking is a vehicle for transformation. Their artmaking is a call for change. Authors emphasize how artmaking bridges relationships and brings diverse community members together with purpose. Together, they engage in new understandings of self and other. Authors identify how their arts-based collaborations publicly showcase their justice-oriented work, but more importantly, promote possibility and hope. Youth explore how artmaking plays a vital role in promoting collective efficacy and engaging diverse communities in social transformation. Artmaking mobilizes people. And once activated, these authors utilize their newly cultivated communities to foster justice-oriented work throughout schools and communities. Their justice-oriented artmaking affords community members opportunities to respond in new ways by embracing community strengths and students' lived experiences. This authentic collaboration empowers the artmaker and community to promote justice-oriented work and practices centered on diversity and inclusivity.

Build trust with your library's users by securing their data privacy. Taking a holistic approach, this guide presents practical ways to implement privacy ethics into data practices. Libraries are not exempt from the financial costs of data breaches or leaks, no matter the size. Whether from a library worker unwittingly sharing a patron's address with a perpetrator of domestic violence to leaving sensitive patron data unprotected, patrons can also pay a hefty price when libraries fail to manage patron data securely and ethically. In this guide, readers will learn concrete action steps for putting the ethical management of data into practice, following two common public and academic library cumulative case studies. The authors explore such key topics as succinct summaries of major U.S. laws and other regulations and standards governing patron data management; information security practices to protect patrons and libraries from common threats; how to navigate barriers in organizational culture when implementing data privacy measures; sources for publicly available, customizable privacy training material for library workers; the data life cycle from planning and collecting to disposal; how to conduct a data inventory; understanding the associated privacy risks of different types of library data; why the current popular model of library assessment can become a huge privacy invasion; addressing key topics while keeping your privacy policy clear and understandable to patrons; and data privacy and security provisions to look for in vendor contracts.

Whether you're an administrator or library leader concerned about the health and well-being of your team, or a library worker excited to launch a health and wellness movement in your library, you'll find sensible guidance and inspiration in Newman's handbook.As part of their dedication to improving the lives of their patrons, libraries have long offered services, programs, and outreach dedicated to the health and wellness of their communities. There is a growing recognition that library workers themselves are in urgent need of such attention; low morale, and complaints of burnout and a toxic work environment, are only a few of the obvious symptoms. The good news is that by turning inward, libraries can foster wellness in their workplace and make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of their staff. Newman, who has led a popular course on the subject attended by workers from many types of different libraries, here takes a holistic approach to examine why and how libraries should focus on improving the health and wellness of employees. Filled with hands-on advice, examples of successful initiatives, and suggested action steps, in this book readers will learn: How to define health and wellness, including its physical, psychological, and social aspects, and why they touch upon nearly everything that happens in the workplace. What a workplace looks like when it strives to ensure the complete physical, mental, and social well-being of workers, and the ways in which this approach to a work environment benefits both the library and the community it serves; the role played by the physical aspects of the workplace, such as the ergonomics of sitting and standing desks, the effects of air quality and smell on worker health and productivity, and noise levels stemming from open plan workspaces. About key policies relating to wages, working schedules, where employees work, and child and elder care. Real-world advice on addressing complicated workplace issues like emotional and invisible labor, with a look at the part that burdensome or indifferent policies and practices can play in contributing to compassion fatigue and burnout. Ways to make healthy choices for oneself and encourage healthy choices in co-workers and staff; concrete, evidence-based steps that libraries can take to improve workplace wellness. How to make a lasting difference by focusing on one aspect they can change personally and one that they can advocate changing library wide.

'Every day is a perfect day to read this.' Shari Low Eleanor Sharpley has been living a lie... Needing to escape her London life quickly, Eleanor throws her things into the back of her car, and heads to her erstwhile best friend Charlie's family farm. But Charlie isn't there. Instead she finds Charlie's grieving brother Daniel, her eight-month old daughter Hope (a daughter Eleanor had known nothing about), and a crumbling and unloved Damson Farm. Damson Farm lies at the edge of the village of Ferrington, with the river Maddon flowing at its heart. But Ferrington is a village divided by more than just a river - it is split in two by an age-old feud - between the Old Side and the New Side. Eleanor has run from her problems, straight into a family and a world that has problems of its own. But Damson Farm has magic too, and as winter gives way to spring, the old farm starts to come to life under Eleanor's love and care. The orchard starts to blossom with daffodils and bluebells, and the sound of bees busy in their hives fills the warming air. Can Eleanor bring Daniel and the feuding village of Ferrington back to life too, or will her secrets catch up with her first? Beth Moran's books are heart-warming, funny, and completely addictive. Perfect for all fans of Jill Mansell, Julie Houston, and Jenny Colgan. Praise for Beth Moran: 'Life-affirming, joyful and tender.' Zoe Folbigg 'Every day is a perfect day to read this.' Shari Low 'A British author to watch.' Publisher's Weekly

Complete with illuminating case studies and worksheets that guide readers to develop a personal framework for individual learning, this toolkit is an easy-to-use handbook of the basic HR functions of a public library. Human resources is an area of leadership that requires its own specialized knowledge, but many library managers and directors assume their roles without any background knowledge of HR or adequate training. This comprehensive toolkit, which has been vetted by HR professionals as well as an attorney who specializes in employment law, is here to fill those gaps. Taking you through the lifecycle of an employee, and also providing a framework to develop skills and confidence, in this book you will learn: ways to incorporate an EDI lens into your employee processes, starting with accurately crafted job descriptions that are posted on diverse job boards; tips for hiring and onboarding new staff; advice on individual employee development and retention, from the importance of continuing education to methods for increasing staff engagement and strengthening morale; considerations for treating all employees equitably to maintain a welcoming and inclusive space for staff from marginalized populations; an overview of the essential HR laws that come into play, helping you navigate difficult situations like discipline and termination; first-hand accounts of HR successes and challenges; and how to create a personalized structure around your HR learning and put it into practice, using a variety of worksheets, questions for reflection, templates, and tools provided in the book.

Outcome-based planning and evaluation (OBPE), with its straightforward approach built on a flexible framework, is the perfect model to enable youth services professionals to deliver effective services regardless of uncertainties. An outcome-based approach can help youth services stay grounded in producing desired outcomes with and for youth through responsive programs, services, and processes that can adapt to changing conditions. Clarifying the relationship between planning, program development, and evaluation, the five simple steps outlined in this book will help youth services staff conduct solid community assessments and integrate OBPE into their work. Inside its pages you will learn a short history of OBPE and its evolution; why it is crucially important to involve youth in all stages of program development, with guidance on navigating challenges; how to think about planning as the need to react quickly, whether due to natural or human-made disasters, changing demographics, or economic swings; the five steps of OBPE, from gathering information about your community and determining the outcomes that will serve your community to crafting accurate outcome statements, developing an evaluation plan, and maximizing the results of successful outcome-based programs; how to visualize the steps needed to successfully plan, implement, and evaluate an outcome-based program, using the template included in the book; ways to share your data to let people know the library's important role in the community; and additional useful tools to bolster your work, including environmental scan forms and ideas for creating relevant family storytimes.

Librarianship is still a predominantly white profession. It is essential that current practitioners as well as those about to enter the field take an unflinching look at the profession's legacy of racial discrimination, including the ways in which race might impact service to users such as students in school, public, and academic libraries. Given the prevalence of implicit and explicit bias against Black and African American people, authors Folk and Overbey argue that we must speak to these students directly to hear their stories and thereby understand their experiences. This Special Report shares the findings of a qualitative research study that explored the library experiences of Black and African American undergraduate students both before and during college, grounding it within an equity framework. From this Report readers will learn details about the study, which focused on the potential role of race in the students' interactions with library staff, including white staff and staff of color; gain insight into Black and African American users' perceptions of libraries and library staff, attitudes towards reading, frequency of library usage, and the importance of family; understand the implications of the study's findings for our practice and for librarianship more broadly, including our ongoing commitment to diversifying the profession; and walk away with recommendations that can be applied to every library and educational context, such as guidance for developing an antiracist organization and more equitable service provision.

Library instruction is like acting: There's a live audience, in person or online; you may be doing a one-shot, limited engagement, or play to the same crowd repeatedly over the course of a term; and you usually expect reviews. Most important, instruction is like acting in that you're playing a role, and it's crucial to prepare your performance before you go on in order to shine and connect authentically with students. Your Craft as a Teaching Librarian: Using Acting Skills to Create a Dynamic Presence -a revised and expanded edition of The Craft of Librarian Instruction-captures how acting techniques can sharpen your instructional skills and establish your teaching identity, enliven your performance, and create an invigorating learning experience for your students. It's divided into three entertaining sections: Prepare and Rehearse: Centering yourself, physical and vocal preparation, mindfulness, and avoiding stage fright Perform and Connect: Role playing, identity, action/reaction, and information literacy Reflect and Sharpen: Assessment and adaptation Chapters feature exercises to explore on your own or with a colleague, question and answer sections to help you identify potential challenges and solutions, and tips on deepening your teaching skills. A glossary of acting terms and a "learn more about it" bibliography provide additional context for the methods and techniques presented. Your Craft as a Teaching Librarian can help you personalize and characterize your teaching presence and help those with little to no teaching experience, instructors dealing with shyness or stage fright, and more experienced librarians in need of a refreshed perspective, adding an undeniable star quality to your instructional performance.

With the help of this book's adaptable storytime activities, tools for self-reflection, and discussion starters, children's librarians will learn how to put anti-racism work into their professional practice while fostering an environment that celebrates all identities. As the weekly lists of best-sellers demonstrate, many people want to engage with racial issues. But when it comes to talking about race, they often don't know how or are hesitant to take the first steps. This includes children's librarians, who are taking seriously our profession's calls for diversity, equity, and inclusion. They already know that popular storytimes can be an effective way to increase community representation and belonging at the library. Incorporating race into storytimes is an ideal way to foster inclusion by normalizing conversations about these issues. This book will help public and school librarians face their own biases, showing them how to have honest discussions with children, their caregivers, and storytime attendees, as well as their colleagues.

This unique guide offers fresh insights on how graphic novels and comics differ from traditional books and require different treatment in the library-from purchasing, shelving, and cataloging to readers' advisory services, programs, and curriculum. Challenging librarians to rethink some of their traditional practices, Maximizing the Impact of Comics in Your Library provides creative and proven solutions for libraries of all types that want to get comics into the hands of fans and promote readership. The author describes how libraries would benefit from an in-house classification system and organization that accounts for both publishers and series. In addition, acquiring comics can often be tricky due to renumbering of series, reboots, shifting creative teams, and more-this book shows you how to work around those obstacles. Shelving and displays that reflect comic readers' browsing habits, creative programs that boost circulation of comics and graphic novels, and how comics can play a vital role in educational institutions are also covered. Addresses common challenges librarians face with comics and graphic novels collections and shows how to surmount them Offers a solutions-focused approach Describes how comics can be used to better engage your community and to educate youth Fills a gap in the professional literature, covering topics not touched upon in the existing literature Serves as a vital resource for public, academic, and school libraries