On Wednesday, April 8, at Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton, MA, Diane Libbey and I had the opportunity to demonstrate to a community audience how library teachers are indispensable to the learning process.  The evening event was sponsored by the Teaching American History as part of a grant from Assabet Valley Cooperative, a group of school districts in the Assabet Valley. It was intended to "inspire folks, get them thinking historically, and provide them with the opportunity to hear superb presentations by their school systems' teachers," said Yolanda Rigali, TAH Grant Co-Coordinator.

She also stated that the purpose of the TAH grant is "to support the belief that history matters! The grant is committed to not only enhancing the knowledge base of the teachers in the Assabet Valley district schools but also committed to making history become alive, visible and accessible for local community members."  This evening event seemed like a perfect opportunity to demonstrate that, in our pursuit of “history that matters”, understanding how to find, evaluate and use information sources is critical.

The overarching theme of the event - Politics and Civil Rights - was inspired by the historic presidential election of last fall.  In choosing the title for our presentation, Diane and I incorporated the @ Your Library campaign motto into the civil rights theme. We used this theme to point out that libraries are valuable resources, both for the average person who needs general information about key political topics, as well as for those who need relevant, reliable information for research projects.            

After a great performance by the Nashoba Regional High School Jazz Band, each panelist presented his/her/their topic. The presenters then sat as a panel to take questions from the audience.  The evening was moderated by William Fitzhugh, the founder of The Concord Review, a journal that selects and publishes top-quality student research papers about history.  He had the unenviable job of trying to keep each of the panelists to their allotted 10 minutes, which ultimately proved to be an impossibility!  There were a number of teachers who submitted proposals, but only six topics were selected, and the fact that we, as library teachers, were bringing something different to the table, in terms of resources, certainly helped our chances of selection. 

The panel members and their topics were:

• Tim Castner, Nashoba Regional HS. "Reverend Wright and Abraham Lincoln: Race, Politics, and Religion in American History."
• Brittany Burns, Algonquin Regional HS. "The White House: A Country's Racial Looking Glass."
• Deborah Owen, Hudson HS, and Diane Libbey, Westborough HS.  "Finding Civil Rights and Civic Action @ Your Library".
• Josh Otlin, Hudson HS. "Divine Election, Race, and Westward Expansion in Nineteenth-Century America".
• Jessica Pires, student, Nashoba Regional HS.  "The Evolution of Black Presidential Candidates".
• Leo Sakellarion, Nashoba Regional HS. "Race and Politics in the American Civil War".

Two other panelists/teams were chosen as alternates, and their topics will be presented at a later date: Jennifer Gaudet, Shrewsbury HS.  "Whitewashing History".  Brian Daniels and Heather Gearty, Hudson HS, "Busing and the Politics of Race".

As you can see, there were fascinating topics with very thoughtful presentations. The presenters included a student, Jessica Pires, who had many friends in the audience. Jessica demonstrated that history isn't just for adults; students can, should, and do, take a keen interest in the historical events that are happening. 

When I asked Jessica why she decided to present, and how she chose her topic, she responded, "This was my final project for Mr. Castner's AP US History. He gave us a list of topics to choose from but none of them really jumped out at me. I thought that since we were in 2008 and Barack had just clinched the nomination that it would be an interesting topic to research. I guess I like to do things differently. It did take a lot of work and time but it paid off because about a year later I got to present next to you guys. Honestly, this experience was great for me to finally do some public speaking. I want to major in International Studies and hopefully work as a diplomat or provide aid in Africa, and that would require giving a lot of speeches etc. and I thought this was good practice. I also learned that you don't have to be a teacher to have people listen to you. It seemed that many students were interested in my topic and learned from my presentation as well. That's what made me the happiest."

I would say that Jessica's positive experience from this event not only helped her begin to hone some of the life skills that she will need for her intended career, but it also demonstrated for the audience that they, too, can do research and presentations that make a difference in people's lives.  The message seemed to sink in immediately, because, although there were questions for the panel from adults, there were also a number of students who asked important questions, and they really wanted to know what we all thought.

Consistent with the theme of politics and race, Diane and I chose to focus on the events of 1969 in Crystal City, Texas.  A brief summary: over time, the demographics of the city had been changing from white majority to Mexican-American majority, but the way the town's and school district's laws and rules were set up, the white minority still had all the power.  In response to an incident involving discrimination on the cheer-leading squad, great numbers of students staged a month-long walk-out, which ultimately led to changes, not only in the school but also in the city. 

We tried to emphasize that young people, armed with resolve and information, can make significant changes in society.  We then had a very brief opportunity to show the community some of the free databases that are available to them simply by using their public library card. We even included how to apply for the Boston Public Library eCard.  If we had had more time we would have shown some specific searches on "civil rights" and the kinds of results that they would have gotten, but 10 minutes goes by quickly! 

In addition to the civil rights message of student empowerment, our library message was that quality research is available to everyone free of charge at their library. Resources provided by the state contain information that makes research easier with better results for both the researcher and the reader.  It was gratifying, after the presentation, to have several people thank us for giving an animated presentation in which they learned something valuable! 
I asked Marilyn Zavorski, another TAH Grant Co-Coordinator, what outcomes she had hoped for from the event.

She replied, "My goal was that there would be community involvement, and that people would get a sense of the positive things our teachers and students do in American history and in our classrooms.  That they would enjoy, appreciate, and celebrate all that is wonderful in education."  Yolanda added that "there was a synergy of the collective.  From the jazz band performance that opened the program, to the attendance of principals, superintendents, teachers, and many students, there was lots of support."  It was the perfect place to find your local school library teachers!

Debbie Owen is Library Teacher at Hudson High School