Tag Archives: collection development

Not Broken: An Aromantic/Asexual Spectrum Booklist

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The other day, I was (re)watching the Netflix show Heartstopper, based on the Webtoon/ graphic novel series by Alice Oseman. I was glad the plot put some focus on the character Isaac, who comes to understand he’s aroace (aromantic/asexual). Aromantic means he feels no romantic attraction to anyone, and asexual means he feels no sexual attraction to anyone.

Often the A in LGBTQIA+ feels as much of an outlier as students struggling to understand what’s different about them; trying to define a personality trait by an absence rather than a presence of something. Though everyone on the ace spectrum experiences it differently, it can be common for kids to feel that they are “broken” or lacking in some way. Also common is worrying, quite realistically, about their future: being alone, not being anyone’s priority, not being “enough” as just themselves, and dealing with the aphobia of people trying to “fix” them or make them “normal.” Many may also mourn the loss of a future they assumed they would have, in our geared-for-pairs adult society.

For these students, knowing they are not alone in feeling the way they do can be a huge relief, as can reading about how other aro/ace people have handled their own challenges. Knowing that relationships and futures don’t need to follow set courses to provide satisfying lives is the first step on the path to building those futures. And fortunately, there are more resources and representation available to students on the ace spectrum than there have been in the past. Below is a lengthy list of books with middle school, high school, and college level protagonists on the aro/ace spectrum. Check them out!

For more information about the ace spectrum, check out AVEN, The Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

Middle School

Some of these have high-school-age protagonists, but are appropriate for 7th-8th grade.

Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid.

Eighth grader Lizzie’s study of asexuality in science class leads her to understand her own asexual identity as she embarks on a journey toward self-discovery and self-advocacy.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger.

Elatsoe lives in a slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered, in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry.

Rick by Alex Gino.

At 11, Rick is growing uncomfortable with his best friend’s explicit talk about sex and his father’s jokes about girls, then he discovers the Rainbow Spectrum club at school, where he can explore his identity and learn that maybe he is asexual.

Clariel: the lost Abhorsen by Garth  Nix.

In the Old Kingdom, Clariel has blood relations to the Abhorsen and the King. She dreams of a simple life but discovers this is hard to achieve when a dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan.

A-okay by Jarad Greene.

“When Jay starts eighth grade with a few pimples he doesn’t think much of it. But when his acne goes from bad to worse, Jay’s prescribed a powerful medication that comes with some serious side effects. Meanwhile, school isn’t going exactly as planned. All of Jay’s friends are in different classes; he has no one to sit with at lunch; his best friend, Brace, is avoiding him.” –Publisher.

Hazel’s theory of evolution by Lisa Bigelow.

Hazel loves reading encyclopedias, but has no answers for the questions of eighth grade. How can she make friends when no one understands her? What’s going to happen to one of her moms who’s pregnant again? Why does everything have to change?

Every bird a prince by Jenn Reese.

After she saves the life of a bird prince and becomes their champion, seventh grader Eren Evers must defend a forest kingdom, save her mom, and keep the friendships she holds dear–if she is brave enough to embrace her inner truths.

High School

The lady’s guide to petticoats and piracy by Mackenzi Lee.

“Felicity Montague must use all her womanly wits and wiles to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor–even if she has to scheme her way across Europe to do it.” –Amazon.com.

Arden Grey by Ray Stoeve.

“Sixteen-year-old Arden Grey finds escape in her love of film photography as she navigates toxic relationships and how they influence her identity.” –OCLC.

All out: the no-longer-secret stories of queer teens throughout the ages edited by Saundra Mitchell.

“And they don’t kiss at the end” by Nilah Magruder. Maryland, 1976. Dee loves roller-skating but has been avoiding the rink ever since she broke up with Vince. No one can understand why she did it, and she does not know how to explain it. It’s just that she does not understand why people like kissing and dating, and she has no words to express that.

“Walking after midnight” by Kody Keplinger. Upstate New York, 1952. At 18, Betsy is a washed-up movie actress stranded in a small NY town, at midnight, having missed a train. While looking for a hotel, she encounters a diner waitress named Laura. Even though Betsy has never felt any urge to do anything even remotely intimate with anyone, maybe Laura will be different. 

Vanilla by Billy Merrell.

Told in a series of blank verse poems, two boys Van (called Vanilla) and Hunter tell of their relationship which began before they were teenagers, but foundered in high school, mostly because Hunter thinks they should be having sex and Vanilla is not so sure.

Radio silence by Alice Oseman.

When Frances and Aled spend the summer collaborating on her favorite podcast, they realize they understand each other in a way no one else does.

Is love the answer? By Uta Isaki.

Manga. “A poignant coming-of-age story about a young woman coming into her own as she discovers her identity as aromantic asexual.”

Here goes nothing by Emma K. Ohland 

When eighteen-year-old Beatrice comes in frequent contact with neighbor Bennie, she starts to question her asexual identity, her place in her friend group, and her plans for the future. Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Planning perfect by Haley Neil 

Summer vacation quickly becomes complicated for Felicity Becker as she tries to plan a perfect wedding for her mom, figure out her feelings for her friend Nancy, and wonder what dating will look like for her as an asexual person.

Aces wild : a heistby Amanda DeWitt

After recruiting his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums—all Jack has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?

Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See

Joy starts to wonder if she has missed out on a quintessential high school experience. She is asexual, but that’s no reason she can’t experience first love, right? She writes to Caldwell Cupid to help her, and finds herself falling for the mysterious voice behind the letters. 

Paper planes by Jenni Wood

Graphic novel. After a life altering incident, Dylan and Leighton are sent to a summer camp for troubled youth. They both need a good evaluation at the camp. Otherwise, they’ll be sent away, unable to attend high school with their friends. 

Love points to you by Alice Lin

“When Angela Wu offers Lynda Fan the chance to design characters for her Otome game, Lynda discovers things she never knew about herself or her heart.” — Publisher.

Immoral code by Lillian Clark

Told from five viewpoints, high school friends Bellamy, Nari, Reese [aroace], Keagan, and Santiago team up to hack into Bellamy’s absentee billionaire father’s business accounts to skim enough money for her MIT tuition

The rhythm of my soul by Elin Dyer

Taryn Foster has her eyes set on becoming the first aro-ace ballerina in Roseheart Ballet Academy’s company of professional dancers, and all she needs to do is graduate. But she’s haunted by the ghost of her dead sister-and now she’s living for the two of them. 

Tash hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

Fame and success come at a cost for Natasha “Tash” Zelenka when she creates the web series “Unhappy Families,” a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s eternal love Leo Tolstoy.

Beyond the black door by AdriAnne Strickland

Soulwalkers—like Kamai—can journey into other people’s souls while they sleep. But no matter where Kamai visits, she sees the black door. It follows her into every soul, and her mother has told her to never, ever open it…

College

Loveless by Alice Oseman.

Georgia has never kissed someone or particularly even wanted to; at the prom afterparty she is surrounded by couples making out, and she really does not know what is wrong—but in college she comes to understand herself as asexual/aromantic, and to capture the part of her identity that has always eluded her.

Hullmetal Girls by Emily Skrutskie.

Aisha Un-Haad, seventeen, and Key Tanaka, eighteen, have risked everything for new lives as mechanically enhanced soldiers, and when an insurrection forces dark secrets to surface, the fate of humanity is in their hands.


Being ace : an anthology of queer, trans, femme, and disabled stories of asexual love and connection edited by Madeline Dyer.

Discover the infinite realms of asexual love across sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary stories. Whether adventuring through space, outsmarting a vengeful water spirit, or surviving haunted cemeteries, no two aces are the same in these 14 unique works that highlight asexual romance, aromantic love, and identities across the asexual spectrum.

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao.

Aromantic and asexual students Sophie and Jo, engaged in an online feud as the creators of popular relationship advice accounts “Dear Wendy” and “Sincerely Wanda,” unwittingly become real-life friends and navigate their shared aroace identities as they face the challenges of college life.

Tell me how it ends by Quinton Li.

Iris can predict the future and uncover secrets with her tarot cards. Marin comes to her for help to rescue a falsely imprisoned witch. Marin is aromantic, asexual, nonbinary, and has ADHD.

Until the last petal falls: a queerplatonic retelling of Beauty and the beast by Viano Oniomoh.

When Eru was eleven years old, he met an unforgettable boy, and then forgot him. Ten years later, after his parents’ sudden deaths, Eru uncovers some truths and finds that the fate of the village, and that of the boy he’d been made to forget, could lie in his hands.

Let’s talk about love by Claire Kann

Alice, who is asexual, is done with dating. But then she meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for. Is she willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood?

Ace of hearts by Lucy Mason

When a sports injury loses Felix his scholarship, bestie Hesper proposes a year-long marriage of convenience for free tuition at the college where she works. When Hesper reveals her asexuality, Felix must reassess everything he thinks about love and sacrifice.

Short Story Summaries

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Some years ago, I got annoyed by the lack of summaries in short story collections. Teachers often asked for recommendations of stories featuring a particular theme, but most short story collection reviews or summaries did not detail the plots of each story. While asking AISL colleagues was a good work-around, I decided that I needed to start summarizing and reviewing every short story I read in a collection, and post my reviews on GoodReads. So I did. While it certainly takes more time to stop after each story (whether read in print or listened to in audio) and write up a summary/review, I’ve now amassed a decent if somewhat eclectic collection of short story summaries that I can share with teachers.

Then it occurred to me that I could share my summaries more broadly by posting them on a LibGuides page. I cobbled that together a few days ago, though I don’t think the organization or layout is the best. Perhaps someone reading this will offer some good advice? I ended up posting the books in a tabbed box, with tabs for different genres, and a table of contents on the side. I wish the lengthy texts didn’t sprawl all over the page, impeding browsing, but the two options for hiding text remove all of the line breaks differentiating the stories. For ease of reading, I capitulated to the text-on-page option. In addition, middle school and YA titles share space in some genres, so I put the middle school titles at the top.

As an example, here’s the text of my reviews for “You are here: connecting flights” by Ellen Oh.

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“Paul: Something to declare” / by Christina Soontornvat. Paul and his family are flying to Thailand, his parents’ and his grandmother’s home country. Paul is very close to his grandmother, who does not speak English. She has something unusual in her carry-on that she doesn’t want Paul’s mother to know about. That will change when they get to security. I liked this one. It was affecting and touching, to see the close relationship between Paul and his grandmother, and the way he wonders about his own connection to a place that he’s only ever visited. And, of course, the microaggressions, always, and always—but also those who understand.

“Jae: Ground rules” / by Linda Sue Park. Jae’s mother works at the airport, and when his babysitter fell through, she had to take him to work with her. Her supervisor is mean about it, but Jae promises to stay in the break room. While he is watching the airport monitors, though, he sees a toddler wander away from her family at security, and they don’t notice. He decides he has to rescue her. I liked how this one showed how different people regarded Jae, so totally differently in such a short period of time. It really illustrates the stereotyping and racism people in his position face every day. It’s also a good story to talk about when is it a good decision to break the rules?

“Mindy: Standing up” / by Meredith Ireland. Mindy was adopted from Korea as a baby by her two dads. Now they are in the airport on their way to Korea so she can “reconnect with her culture.” Problem is, she really doesn’t want to because she feels no connection with it at all. After a racist incident on the concourse, in which her fathers stand up to the racist and make Mindy feel uncomfortable because she is just not the stand up and be noticed type, she runs off to be by herself. And she’ll learn something about herself. I liked this one too. I liked the tension between what Mindy thought she should be like and what she really was like, and how she found a way to understand that and still do something about it, I also thought that her feelings about being either too Asian or not Asian enough were poignant and understandable.

“Lee: Jam session” / by Mike Chen. Lee is 12, it is flying by himself to see his uncle. Lee has his Stratocaster guitar with him, and two security guards hassle him because “of course” no Asian kids play guitar. This was a painful one to read. I hate it that some adults in positions of authority can be so mean to children and so racist at the same time. I really liked Lee’s perspective, which I think will resonate with a lot of kids. I also thought the details were really well done.

“Ari: Guidelines” / Susan Tan. Ari is traveling with her six year old brother. When their flight is diverted because of weather, she is stuck with trying to entertain her brother, and also stuck with someone from the airline as a chaperone, who, like, seemingly everyone else, is totally confused how Ari can be both Asian and Jewish. In the Food Court, something happens that makes Ari realize that maybe she is ready for her bat mitzvah after all. I liked the plot of this one, and can see how frustrating it is when people stereotype you, and think that there’s no way you can be something you are. What I found irritating, in terms of the writing, were the endless numbered lists. I realize that was a representation of how the main character thought, but I found it annoying—though that’s only personal taste!

“AJ: A kind of noble” / Randy Ribay. AJ’s mind always lingers on ways that he has failed. Now he’s at the airport with his basketball team, thinking about how badly he played in the last game. Then he stands in line behind two of his meaner teammates, and hears them being racist and trash-talking the only other Filipino kid on the team, who could not come to the international tournament with them. That kid also happens to be AJ’s best friend. Will AJ be strong enough to stand up and say something? I liked how this showed how small acts, both negative and positive, can affect you, and how you can build on the positive acts and change the highlight reel in your mind.

“Natalie: Costumes” / by Traci Chee. Japanese American Natalie is going on vacation with her white best friend Beth, and Beth’s family. While at the airport, Natalie has a lot of uncomfortable feelings with some of the comments Beth’s parents make, as well as comments that Beth makes. Can she get Beth to understand why it’s not OK to say things like that? I like this one as well, with its vivid ways of describing the different feelings that Natalie has in different situations. I also liked the up to date knowledge about Manga and anime. This is another situation that I’m sure happens all the time in friendships among kids, and it is good to see a representation of it, and a representation of how Natalie decides to deal with it. One of the most memorable quotes from the book, for me, was: “My face is not a costume.”

“Henry: Grounded” / Mike Jung. Henry is with his dad in the airport. They are both Korean, American, and autistic. Henry wishes there were any books about characters like him, because both he and his dad, who is a librarian, love books. Henry has an idea about what his book character would be like, and that serves him well when a bully tries to mess with him. This was a quiet story, with a lovely relationship between father and son, understanding each other. I liked the intersectionality of it, because Henry is right.

“Camilla: Big day suitcase” / by Erin Entrada Kelly. Camilla‘s mother is Filipino, and her father is white. Camilla and her sister Greta, are in the airport with her mother, on their way to the Philippines, so they can see where they came from. Camilla does not feel Filipino, since she is white-passing, as she learns when her best friend says that she looks “normal.“ Then Greta tells Camilla about always having to be “it” when kids at her school play Chinese tag about Covid. It gets Camilla thinking. This was another fairly quiet story about family relationships and those microaggressions that kids like Greta face every day, and Camilla realizing what is happening. This is a good one for kids who don’t feel part of their genetic heritage.

“Jane: Questions and answers” / by Grace Lin. Jane is Taiwanese American, and she is in the airport with her mother, her little sister, and her grandfather, who was injured in what he and Jane’s mother insist on calling in “accident.” Jane knows it was not an accident because she was there, and she wonders if it really is the right thing, not to call attention to themselves and to the bigger issue at hand. Jane’s family is reflective of many of the other families described in this anthology, in not wanting to draw attention to the anti-Asian microaggressions and hate. I liked Jane really thinking about it and making her own decision.

“Khoi: Lost in translation” / by Minh Le. Khoi is Vietnamese American, and he is at the airport with his parents, getting ready for his first trip ever to Vietnam. He’s worried that he will be a disappointment to everyone, but a strange dream helps him sort some things out. This was a short one, and the only one so far without any microaggressions or bullying. I think a lot of kids in Khoi’s situation probably have this same feeling, so they can sympathize with him, and hopefully also come to feel as he does about his trip.

“Soojin: You are here” / by Ellen Oh. Soojin and her parents live in New York, but after a hate crime destroys their business, Soojin’s mother insists on moving back to Korea, while her father insists on staying. Soojin desperately wants to stay in New York, but her mother is dragging her to Korea. When they get stuck in the Chicago airport for a while, they encounter all the other characters from all the other stories, and Soojin’s mother begins to see that perhaps there are more reasons to stay and then go. I liked this one for all the people who stood up to the bullies, and for the hope that there’s still enough good in America to make it worthwhile. I thought the author incorporated all the other characters really well, and it was fun to remember their stories as well.

“A note from the editor” / by Ellen Oh. The author talks about why she decided to put this anthology together, the origins of the term “Asian American,” and why it’s so non-descriptive of all the people from that part of the world.

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Feel free to explore my reviews if you are in search of stories with specific themes for your teachers or students!

Promoting a Diverse Collection

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When a parent asked if I could contribute some booklists to a weekend cultural fair she was planning, I was thrilled. The event offered an excellent opportunity to further the library’s promotion of reading culture at the school, as well as to share our dedication to building a diverse collection. In addition, it provided motivation to review and reflect on our previous collection development efforts. As I’m passionate about building a diverse collection, I decided to go overboard, knowing I could use the results in future aspects of my work. I focused on two things: 1. Our vision of having mirror, window, and sliding glass door books, as described by Rudine Bishop Sims. 2: Avoiding a “single story” collection, in which, for example, we only had Jewish books about the Holocaust, or Native American books about the frontier.

In the end, I brought the following lists, items, and links to the fair:

  • Printed articles about mirrors/windows/sliding glass doors, and the “single story.”
  • Two poster-sized grids, one for middle school fiction and one for upper school fiction. These featured diversity on one axis and genre on the other. I filled the grids with covers of relevant books from our collections, either print or eBooks. I felt proud that out of about 162 books, only three did we not own. I wanted to demonstrate that if you wanted a fantasy book with Native American characters, we had it. If you wanted a horror book with characters with disabilities, we had it. I realize that the categories are broad strokes, and you could get more and more granular, just as with a diversity audit. In addition, what if you wanted a science fiction book featuring a Black character with a disability? So the grid is not perfect, but it was a start to represent what we value in building our collection.
  • Double-sided printouts of the grids with only the titles and authors.
  • A LibGuide featuring all of the books in tabbed boxes, with summaries and links to the eBook if we had it. I created boxes organized by diversity and by genre. The LibGuide also included the DEI list for parents and families, and other sources of diverse booklists.
  • Bookmarks created by my colleague with a QR code to the LibGuide.
  • A cart with thirty middle school and thirty upper school books, plus a scanner so I could check out books at the event.

I ferried many of the items to our Campus Center on the Friday before, including the cart of books, my easel with the two grids, and the booklists. On Saturday, I arrived early with the parents who were setting up. They assembled a cornucopia of tables representing various cultures, including a ton of delicious-smelling food! The event itself was lively (and tasty!), and I did get on the “stage” to present a one-minute explanation of what I’d brought. Though I didn’t get a lot of attention, I talked to a number of people and checked out a few books. I now have the grids posted in the library, and hope my work will be featured in one of our weekly parent newsletters. I really enjoyed the opportunity to consider the diversity of our collection, and look forward to using what I’ve learned to further build a collection that will best serve our students.

Fiction Genrefication

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I have long been in favor of genrefying fiction collections so students will be better able to find books they know they will enjoy. With our school, we took the plunge starting in the fall of 2019, and here are the steps we went through to complete the process.

1. Genre Stickers

We started with our middle school fiction, and for step one, added genre stickers to every book. Although we had stickers for fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, adventure, humor, historical, realistic, romance, sports, and graphic novels, we combined realistic, romance, and sports into one “realistic” section when we moved the books. We also kept graphic novels intermixed by genre, but in their own separate collection.

2. Tally Books

For step two, I went low-tech, though I’m sure there are more sophisticated options out there! I printed out a form with spots for each genre, then took a clipboard and pen and went into the collection and did a hand-count of titles in each genre. That gave me a rough count (assuming some books were checked out) of the numbers for each section.

3. Estimate Shelf Space

I estimated how many feet of shelf space each section would need, based on number of books plus extra space for growth. Then I measured our shelving, which, as you can see from the image (MS Fiction in purple), is divided into a number of different places and sizes of shelf. I noted how many feet of shelf each unit contained, front and back for double-sided units, and then figured out which section would fit where. For many of our shelving units, continuing to a second unit would create a non-intuitive flow, so we avoided that as much as possible.

4. Move Books

We moved books during winter break, when no students were around; we had the three library staffers plus one volunteer. Starting with the shelves on which our alphabetized collection started, we moved all the books from the shelf space needed for the new section up to the tops of the shelves, leaving them in order. Then, using book carts, we went through the whole collection and pulled all the books for the new genre section. As our fiction was already in alphabetical order, pulling them by genre sticker did not disrupt that order and allowed us to move them to their new shelves without much reshuffling. I believe eventually we each started moving different sections, which worked so long as the books removed from the shelves to make space for the new sections went to the top of the shelves in order. The process went reasonably quickly, and I think we moved the collection in a couple of days.

Here are some photos of our current genrefied collection.

Humor on the left, the start of Fantasy on the right

One side of the Fantasy collection

Graphic Novels and Thrills & Chills

Realistic and Adventure

5. Change Location in Catalog

The part that took the longest was changing each book’s sublocation in our Follett Destiny catalog. We all worked on different sections over a couple of months, going book by book.

6. Signage

We are still working on the ideal signage for the collection. Currently we have small labels above each rank of shelves, and larger signs on the endcaps, but students still ask where a section is (though they have no trouble finding the graphic novels!). Here is a sample of the cool signs Andrea designed, though we think the genre title needs to be a little larger, and arrows would be helpful.

7. YA Fiction

The procedure for genrefying our recently completed YA fiction section was spearheaded by my colleague, Andrea. It started with a previously-finished diversity audit that included the genres, then adding genre stickers to all the books. As I had done with our middle school fiction, Andrea mapped out the YA fiction according to genre, with some genres like humor getting lumped into realistic. With a volunteer, she moved books by pulling out genre-stickered titles to put on carts in alpha order, then consolidated the remaining books to make room for the new section.

8. Conclusions

I’m really happy with how the collection turned out, and while the pandemic has made it difficult to assess whether circulation has increased as a result, it has made it easier for students to browse their favorite genres and find some new books to try.

Creating a children’s collection in a high school library

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I don’t think our high school library is unique in getting requests for children’s materials from time to time. Whether for young families living on campus or our students tutoring young kids from our local community, we’ve had a number of picture and chapter books on hand for years.

This year, 2 members of our library team decided to formalize this collection and did so by harnessing the power of  Week Without Walls (WWW), an annual event when all Senior School students & staff perform volunteer service in our area, including some sites on campus. 

One month prior to WWW, a team member emailed staff & posted a notice in the parent newsletter, asking for donations of books suitable for up to 12 years of age; 10 families donated a total of 203 books.

When the week arrived, 4 students were assigned to this WWW group based on their shared passion for reading & children, and over the course of 8 hours:

  • Reviewed donations; a handful of books didn’t make the cut based on physical condition and appropriateness
  • Created a variety of materials to support the collection including identification stickers (items aren’t barcoded so the stickers highlight where they are to be shelved) and dividers noting their creative and unique categories, such as “Kids in Charge” and “Interactive” (pop-up books and I Spy), “Guide for Life”, along with some traditional genres.
  • Colourfully painted book ends (seen above)
  • Bookmarks that celebrate and encourage reading 

Initially, the students were keen to catalogue the books so that they’d be searchable in our database but time didn’t allow for this, although it was great to have students get a glimpse of how much goes into this detailed behind-the-scenes work.

I’m grateful to work with colleagues who created such a meaningful initiative for our students and for students who enthusiastically embraced the opportunity!

#BookTok: the collection development tool I never knew I wanted and now refuse to live without

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I love TikTok. Like, I really love it. Years from now, when we’re all sitting around talking about what got us through the COVID era, TikTok will be one of the things at the top of my list. It’s brought me so much comfort, joy, and humor. It’s a place I’ve returned over and over for solace and escape. For the year we were remote-teaching, it was pretty much daily that I would call out to my family  “I’m taking a TikTok bath!” and then disappear for an hour into the bubbles, aromatherapy, and TikTok trends that would soothe my weary soul. I don’t create any content, but I follow hundreds of creators, from gardeners to miniaturists to satirists to frustrated and exhausted educators. I’ve learned to hack my instant ramen, make super spicy chile paste, and marinate mayak eggs. I’ve witnessed epic thrifting hauls and seen women sewists craft exquisite period costumes. I’ve found daily affirmations and asmr creators that bring my anxiety down three notches in an instant. I’ve learned new vocabulary and word origins, toured ruins, and been exposed to obscure historical trivia. I’ve seen a lot of talking dogs. It’s been a safe haven and a gift.

Little did I know that this habit would also lead me to one of the best collection development tools ever – #BookTok! If you are not familiar, BookTok is a community of readers, book lovers, collectors, preservationists, sellers, and librarians who make videos about what they are currently reading, what’s on their tbr lists, their favorite books, their least favorites, you name it. BookTok occasionally includes controversies, just like any social media community, but mostly it’s just a lovely place to learn about new (and old) titles and authors. In some cases it has even driven books onto bestseller lists or revived the popularity of older titles. In many cases, my students have read books because they’ve seen them on TikTok, so it’s also been an unexpectedly effective readers’ advisory promotional tool that I am super grateful for. I love it!

Here are some of my favorite BookTokkers and why I find them especially informative in terms of collection development.

@the.ace.of.books

This booktokker reads a lot. She posts frequently with weekly reading updates, and also sometimes does one-off posts about specific titles or addressing questions she receives in the comments. She sometimes talks about how her ADHD and ASD inform her reading choices, which is a great way for me to think about how to best serve my neurodivergent student population via collection development. I really love the variety of titles she reads. While she is perhaps primarily a fantasy reader, she also reads poetry, nonfiction, literary fiction, memoir, and more. Also, because of her popularity, she often receives ARCs or other gift boxes from publishers and subscription services, which means I’m also kept up-to-date on what’s in the hopper in terms of new releases.

@schizophrenicreads

This booktokker also reads a huge number of books, though he focuses almost exclusively on nonfiction. He reads widely across subject areas. Most of his picks are very current, which is helpful to me because I sometimes think keeping track of new nonfiction releases is like drinking from a firehose. He makes great connections between titles, often talking about how one book he recently read reminds him of another, so many of his videos offer multiple points of entry for thinking about nonfiction curation. He also values excellent writing, not just interesting content, and so is a really good source for essayists and literary nonfiction.

@bookpapi

This booktokker is an independent bookstore owner (Golden Lab Bookshop). He’s an excellent source for titles by authors of color, and particularly Latinx/e authors. He talks a lot about decolonizing book collections and intersectionality, and so regularly offers alternatives to mainstream titles that, while good or popular books, are representative of the dominant culture rather than exploring marginalized voices. His store’s website has really nice curations, and he offers a BIPOC Lit mystery subscription box, which is cool.

@schulerbooks

This is one of many independent bookstore BookTok accounts. I like this type of account because of the “book challenge” structure of most of their videos. One person working in the bookstore will issue a challenge to their coworkers to find a certain type of book – scariest book, book with the best ending, book that made you cry, etc – and then you get to watch all the bookstore employees go find their books and give a short ‘book talk’ about why they chose it. This is great for me for a few reasons. One, I get to hear about new books. Two, I get ideas about fun curations or displays for my library because of the challenges they do. Three, I get a glimpse into how independent bookstores organize their collections, which is helpful as I consider ways to genrify and de-Dewey portions of my collection.

There are SO many great BookTok accounts out there, I couldn’t possibly list them all. I’ve encountered so much variety and diversity on this app, and of course I didn’t even scratch the surface with this post. I’d love to know what your favorites are and why you like them!

Around the World in 80 Books

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I find upper school programming a delightful challenge, so this year I debuted a program for our upper school community to promote global reading. This year-long program–Read Around the World–started as a riff on Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, encouraging students to read books from a curated collection of books from 80 different countries.

Why? Well, in 2019, according to Statista, the top 4 US publishing companies published 98,800 new titles–a mere 737 of those titles were published in translation, fewer than 1% (0.74%). Even among those works in translation, there is not nearly the diversity one might hope for. Though there were 52 original languages of publication, 79% of the titles translated were translated from a European language, 14% from Asian languages, 7% from Middle Eastern languages, and a mere 0.2% were translated from an African language. Think of all the books we’re missing out on!

I know I’m preaching to the choir when I claim that through reading we are able to work towards eliminating what author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “the single story” and the proliferation and reinforcement of stereotypes. The problem with a single story, she notes, is the way that it “creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.” Furthermore, there are many stories that go entirely unheard when we read and engage solely, or primarily, with literature that is written by U.S. or British authors for American and British audiences in English.

That same data did make this program a challenge–to add exciting global literature to our collection that may not be readily found in our traditional lists, to read as much of it as possible, and to keep things equitable. To facilitate the latter, I selected a number of books from each continent proportionate to the number of countries within that continent.

To provide boundaries to the massive curation project that this otherwise could have become (it was big enough as is!) I gave myself the following criteria:

  • Works of fiction (most were novels, but there were some other formats too–poetry, short stories, graphic novels).
  • The author needed to be from the country and, when possible, currently residing there; there are certainly countries with extensive censorship and authors in exile. Ex-pat and immigrant authors will be another program for another time. I also preferred authors writing for their own country-folk as an audience, so I was often getting books in translation. Furthermore, in formerly colonized countries, I sought out indigenous authors.
  • They needed to be recent–most of the books were from the past few years. In a couple cases I had to dig deeper in time in order to meet my other criteria, but this was not the time for “classics;” I wanted students to be reading fresh works.

In the end, the list included 105 books from 81 countries, which allowed some elements of choice (some countries had 2 books to choose from) and permitted the inclusion of sequels. 

Digital Passport
Digital Badges/Passport Stamps

Once I had the books, it was time to make it a program. For fun, I gamified it through our school’s LMS (Canvas) by creating a class for the program and badges for each country through Badgr, which allowed the process to be pretty automated once it was all built. In order to get students into the program “course,” they were invited to apply for a passport from the main library page through a link that added them to the program course. From there, they can get their passports stamped (with the badges) for each country from which they read a book. Badgr provides a dashboard so participants can see their badges/passport stamps, and what badges/stamps all other participants have earned. Students can also earn badges like “Globe Trotter” for getting a stamp from each continent and “Region Rover” for sweeping a stamp for every book in a continent. I’ll award prizes at random throughout the year by drawing a name from anyone who is participating, as well as at the end of the year to whoever reads the most globally. 

In addition to the gamification, the global books are on display all year organized by genre, with a rotating featured display each month of a particular region. This keeps the books visible while also allowing me to put fresh subsets in front of our community in new ways through the year so the program doesn’t get stale.

Europe books on a display. Covers from earlier displays (North America and Oceana) will be joined as the year progresses.

We’re only mid-year but I’m calling this one a success already. So far, books from the Read Around the World program have 66 checkouts. For one semester, I’m thrilled. Perhaps more tellingly, our global books account for a full 25% of all fiction checkouts so far this year (through January 1). I’ve also tried out new tools for gamification, acquired great books for our collection, and personally read books from Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Barbados, Nigeria, China, and Vietnam. I have more regions yet to visit!

Do You Have?

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It sure would be nice, I imagine, to work in the Acquisitions Department of the Library of Congress. With a collection of some 138,000,000 items, it makes my struggles seem small.  Each of us, in the context of our library, has to make choices about what stuff to have in them. Often, those choices either start or finish with the question, how much does it cost? And depending on when or why you might be considering that purchase, you might also ask – what benefit does the purchase provide to the library and your school community?

Thomas Jefferson Building Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: https://www.loc.gov/visit/online-tours/

Depending on how long you’ve been dealing with your library budget (if you do), you will have noticed a large shift from your physical collection line items to your database subscription ones. Perhaps you’ve also decreased your magazine subscription budgets, too? Maybe, like me, your institution doesn’t wish to change the conventions of their master budget categories and you find yourself allocating certain costs that only resemble the actual nature of the expenditure. (Is an audiobook service a book or an online subscription?)

Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/Ssp6jZ

Our library is a small one – both in size, staff and, because of our school size (1.5 librarians for 350 students, grades 9-12), relative scope of services. Our budget has, largely, been sufficient. In my ten years here, however, it has been constant – that is, up until this year when I was asked to decrease spending by some 6%. The effort of looking closely at expenditures and where I might need to be more frugal has brought to the fore some of the questions I regularly ask when considering costs.

Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/9VC1C9

Is this something the library should have because any school library worth its salt should have it? Or is this something the library should have because it will be used/leveraged to such a degree to make that a value-added proposition? Should I order this book because a patron will read it but maybe they’ll be the only person to do so? Or should I buy a book that we think someone will read it but that perhaps no one will ever read? (I’ll also note that we are very lucky to have an endowed book fund that provides about 50% of our annual physical book budget.)

Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/PzvT84

On a more positive note, as I have reduced costs in areas that were under leveraged, I have been able to allocate some of those funds toward initiatives for which I might otherwise not have had funds. This year, we are trialing a couple of new services that I didn’t, in the past, feel we had funds for. One is the Kanopy movie service and another is Overdrive’s Audio/eBook platform, Sora. We were able to redistribute some of our funds from the too little used Infobase Classroom Video on Demand to help cover those costs. While CVOD is a great resource, my failed efforts to successfully promote it and for it to be used couldn’t justify – within our budget restrictions – keeping it.  We also were able to add more digital newspapers (e.g. Wall Street Journal, Washington Post) when we stopped using the NewsBank platform. Again, Newsbank is a great resource, but only if it actually gets used!

This photo doesn’t exactly go, but it’s really cool…
Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/cSKA8y

So here I am, nearly 67% of the way through my budget year with approximately 70% of my budget spent. It’s at this time of year I begin to think about purchases we made that didn’t get used to the degree I’d hoped. I also consider how to allocate what funds we have left to give our library patrons both what they want, what they ought to have, and what we hope for them to be able to benefit from. I know we won’t always have everything that everyone asks for, but we hope that we’ll be judicious with our allocations such that people can still make requests that we can fill and that not too many people will be unable to get what they need. And hey, if there’s a little money left over, I wouldn’t mind getting one of those seasonal affective disorder lamp visors…. I am seriously looking forward to daylight savings.

Hurry up, spring!
Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/nJGF2c

We See You #aislsi2019

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What a great pleasure it was to attend my first summer institute, put together by the phenomemal team at John Burroughs School in fabulous St Louis!

Our two days together were founded on the importance of acknowledging who we are so that we can participate in conversations about who others are. Having a diverse library collection allows for a wide variety of representation reflecting a range of human identifiers – reflecting diversity of content not equality of numbers.

So much important content was covered, I can’t do it justice here, so I simply offer some nuggets from the valuable presentations, engaging activities, phenomenal panels and all the wonderful ensuing conversations. (Thanks and credits below)

Deep Dive into diversity in the library

Defining diversity

I appreciated learning about “The Big 8” identifiers (most common but not exclusive and can be adapted as relevant), which offer such a useful framework:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Mental & physical ability
  • Socioeconomic status 
  • Race (skin colour)
  • Ethnicity (cultural/geographic background)
  • Sexual orientation
  • Religion

There was good discussion around the importance of recognizing which identifiers are more visible than others, and how that visibility affects our decision-making.

Representation matters

“That teenage feeling of being social awkward, the strangeness of finding love for the first time, the importance of discovering lifelong passions, and being supported by loving famiies – none of these things are exclusive to white, straight cis people and so should not be relegated to white, straight, cis characters.” – Sadie Trombetta Bustle Jan 31/18

Cue mike drop.

Booth’s work on mirrors, windows, and doors is more relevant than ever. What are my readers looking for? What will they find in our collection, and what won’t they find? 

Student Voices

One of the most amazing parts of #aislsi2019 was a panel of 12 teen readers who spoke with us about why they value representation in our collections. They were honest, articulate, and appreciative of how their librarians support them, as well as being well-read in such a wonderful variety of genres. Everyone listening left with some serious insights and solid recommendations.

It was interesting to hear that their defaults for finding good books are Google searches and asking their librarians for suggestions; they really reinforced my goal to better train my students on meaningful use of our catalogue (and how it differs from our databases). It was also great to hear how much these students appreciated curated lists for different types of representation.

Diversity Audits

I truly appreciated the time to wrestle with the logistics of preparing and performing a diversity audit. It is critical to set a goal that is uniquely relevant to our library, and achievable (it was immediately clear that there are many rabbit holes to be avoided if I want to complete an audit in the foreseeable future). Don’t be afraid to set narrow parameters to keep the audit manageable, and carefully consider the timing of the audit in your school year.

A variety of models were offered:

  • using a print checklist vs using a Google form to populate Google sheets or your own version of one or the other
  • auditing print books by hand vs auditing online (looking at a catalogue records) vs doing an audit of recent book orders

I’m excited by how local and creative I can make this process – loved the suggestion about doing an audit of a book display. I also appreciated the encouragement to start with the end in mind; think about how you’ll want to manipulate your data so that you get the data you want in a format you can use.

Diversity Audit IRL

On Day 2, we had a good chunk of time to test an audit out. We reviewed a great variety of possible goals, and with encouragement to choose a couple specific to us, we set out to independently audit a small group of books (from an available selection of print, or accessing our own through our catalogues).

I chose to audit the first 20 audiobooks in my library’s Overdrive fiction collection. Keeping in mind that this is a VERY subjective process, I chose a very small sample size, and this is my very first time doing this, I share the results in the spirit of collegiality (with a red face and gigantic face palm):

50% feature white male protagonists
30% feature white female protagonists
15% feature female protagonists of colour
15% feature indigenous protagonists
15% feature protagonists with a disability
75% written by white authors (male/female equally represented)
10% written by authors of colour
10% written by indigenous authors
40% offer own voice

I have some work to do, people.

Everyone present was very encouraging, reminding each other to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Engaging in this process will be of benefit to those we serve through our libraries, however imperfect our first kick at the can may be. I truly appreciated doing this in such a judgement-free zone (although found it hard to silence my inner critic).

Thank you to hosts, organizers and presenters Linda Mercer, Jennifer Gosnell, Jennifer Jones, Jennifer Kinney, Jennifer Millikan, Marybeth Huff, Kate Grantham and everyone else who made this happen – it was truly meaningful time together. John Burroughs is a beautiful school and St Louis is an amazing city! #gocardinals

PS: I highly recommend attending SI in the future – it was lovely having post-school time to delve into some amazing PD without being distracted by what was happening back at school 🙂

How do you solve a problem like picture books?

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When I worked in the children’s room of a public library, picture books were some of our biggest movers. Adults and children would come in and take out armfuls, anticipating times spent reading together or looking through the pictures, telling stories of their own making. I hoped for some of the same circulation numbers when I became a school librarian. In my fantasy, students in the lower elementary grades would come in and beg to take home more picture books – or come in during free time and swap out the books they just got a few days before. Well, I’m not sure what it’s like in your elementary libraries – but that scenario has not happened in mine. Yet.

I was chatting with a fellow school librarian recently and picture book circulation came up. “Do your picture books circulate?” I asked.
“Not much” she answered.
“Mostly teachers?”
“Yes,” she replied, “and few with the popular characters like Fancy Nancy or Pete the Cat.”
“Sigh”.
“Sigh”.
That conversation replays in mind constantly. There are times when I wonder if I’m just not choosing the right books for my audience. Maybe I should require the PreKs and Kindergarten to only get picture books – after all, those books are made for them! Not only can they be used for pre-literacy and literacy activities, the stories are created explicitly FOR their enjoyment.

What to do? What to do? “Sigh? Sigh.” Following are some ideas to possibly help make those picture books move. Granted, picture books may never circulate like they do in public library – AND IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT. Most school libraries are missing the second half of the dyad – the parent or guardian or babysitter that takes the child to the public library in the first place. It just makes our job ‘more challenging’ as we get those picture books to move.

Do a thorough weeding
Are your shelves stuffed? Do not underestimate the power of a good weed. Be heartless. If it hasn’t moved much in 10-15 years, it probably isn’t going to move next Get rid of anything worn. Put the worn or dated books that circulate on a list to repurchase (unless the last time it circulated was five years ago). If it bothers you to weed, take a note from Maria Kondo, thank the book for its service and let it go. Depending on your school policy, you could offer teachers first choice then put the rest in a ‘free book’ cart for students and/or find a local library or charity to benefit from your largess. If your shelves look crammed and full, students aren’t enticed to browse for that perfect picture book.

Explicitly teach that displays are for students
Have you ever set up a book display with the purpose to create circulation on some items and have students ask permission to take a book? I have. Now I make sure that I mention during library time that displays are for taking. If you have some displays that need to have books stay and some that allow circulation, it may help to let students know which ones they can take books from or offer to place a hold on a book that needs to stay in your library for a while.

Offer read alikes for picture books
If your story time has a theme or an author focus, make sure students know of picture books that share the same theme or author. I would often put up a small floor display by my reading chair of read alikes or an author’s other works, allowing students to look at them during book choosing time.

Partially ‘genrefy’ your picture book collection
While my inner feminist bristled whenever a girl asked me for a princess book, (“wouldn’t you like this one about a female astronaut instead?”), it’s hard to fight the power of the pink. Whether it’s just the holidays, or princesses, or firefighters, using spine labels or separate locations may help those picture books circulation more.

Extend circulation to parents
Again, this is up to your school’s policies, but parents are the ones gathering the picture books in the public library. Whether you stay open a little later or earlier a few days a week, advertising to parents that they can grab picture books while they’re waiting may help with circulation numbers and provide a needed service to time strapped parents.

Provide a box of books to classroom
Why do you rob banks? Because that’s where the money is. Sutton’s law can also apply to the classroom. Most students only go to the library with their class. While that’s all well and good, their chosen books tend to go home. What if you had a box of books that live in the classroom rotating the selections every few weeks? Not only are you getting some of your picture books to see the light of the classroom, you may be helping a stressed out teacher find something for a child to do when they have finished an assignment early. Granted, some teachers may want nothing to do with this, but I’m sure you can find a few that would be willing to try this with you. Especially if you try to match the books with curricular themes.

Now I’m looking for your input. What are some of the ways you’ve helped increase the circulation of picture books? Let’s get these books where they belong…in the hands of the students!