Podcast

A bunch of us went to the conference in Amherst, MA on March 19th and 20th of this year. It was our organization’s first in-person conference in four years. Ella and I captured a few on-the-floor interviews during our time there, and then had Conference Committee Co-Chair Alix Woznick speak to some of the reactions members had to the conference, including about locations, days, keynote speakers, food, and next year’s planning schedule.

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“I think the dirty little secret here is that parents are assuming that kids have access to libraries and school librarians and districts are not telling them otherwise, but the data speaks for itself,” says Project SLIDE Director Debra E. Kachel, a faculty member at the School Library Media Endorsement Program at Antioch University Seattle. She joins us from Pennsylvania along with SLIDE Principal Investigator Dr. Keith Curry Lance, a consultant at the RSL Research Group, joining us from Colorado. Co-host Deeth Ellis is the Head Librarian at Boston Latin School and a doctoral student at Simmons University who volunteered on Project SLIDE. Deeth joins Luke for a look at data and possible avenues for addressing uneven development and equity around school librarians in Massachusetts. We begin with background and a discussion of the health of data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics, and move into Massachusetts-specific elements of the study and resources to access them, and, finally, possibilities for advocacy. We hope the episode provides some talking points for you in your district.

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School is stressful for kids and adults and the phenomenon of school refusal, which is often caused by that stress, is nothing new. But has it been kicking up more dust in our post-lock down educational rebound? What can libraries do? Well, we discuss relationships and collaboration as a way forward with Ariel Dagan, from Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High school in Franklin; Bonnie McBride, Fenway High School in Boston; and Laura Gardner, Dartmouth Middle School. What do we mean by triage? How can books help? How are libraries complicit in refusal? Listen and find the balance...

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For 2023’s first episode, we discuss independent reading and school library support. Joining the pod are Nancy Stenberg, who is the librarian at Dorman Elementary School in Springfield; Sarah Murphy, Kennedy Middle School librarian in Natick; and Laura Harrington, the high school librarian in North Andover. Independent reading and school libraries is a vast topic, connecting to many things we all do everyday, yet the culmination of Emily Hanford’s reporting into the  podcast and , which outlines the scope of the problem and how some libraries are responding, has put it back into the spotlight.

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Ariel Dagan asks his students: “What are you gonna access next?” as part of his lessons on mobile phone addictions, where he colalborates with the health department; and with gamifying discovery of the various career departments offered at Tri County Regional Vocational Technical High school in Franklin. He was awarded the first annual Carolyn Markuson ​School Library Innovation Grant Fund from the New England Library Association. Ariel talks about TC PRIDE and the school's motto, “Work Hard, Today Counts'; also his philosophy around collaboration and the role the various media available in the library has in that collaboration.

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Suzanne Larson and Felicia O’Keefe discuss two other MA Teen choice Book Award nominees, books which rewire the heist genre and the self-help genre and teach us a lot about friendship.

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Titles Discussed:

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You, by Ibram X. Kendi & Jason Reynolds

Punching the Air, by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam

Visit  or email the 'cast at podcast@mascholibraries.org

Titles Discussed:

Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, by Steve Sheinkin

Titles Discussed:

Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo

Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, by Jennifer de Leon