New Report from the Libraries.Today May 2022 Convening
The EveryLibrary Institute is releasing the new report "Level-Setting the Conversation" about the May 2022 Libraries.Today National Forum on Current Challenges and Future Opportunities for School Libraries.
Libraries.Today is conceived as a systematic way to record and reflect on the lived experience of school librarians as they grappled with significant disruptions to their programs and work during COVID. The first convening in May 2022 was designed to solicit stories of COVID-related disruptions to schools, family life, and society that is only now beginning to be expressed in the education sector and across school libraries. "Level-Setting the Conversation" is a comprehensive look at the proceeding of the three-day online conference and includes recommendations for the Libraries.Today steering committee and community for further exploration and study.
The EveryLibrary Institute has been invited by the project team to write reports on each convening and provide professional reflections and recommendations. Christopher Harris, project lead for Libraries.Today and Director of the School Library System for the Genesee Valley BOCES said, "This report provides a comprehensive review of the heroic successes realized in school libraries across the country. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and ongoing attacks, school librarians pivoted rapidly to meet new demands from their schools and communities. I am grateful for the work done by EveryLibrary Institute to capture the voices of school librarians from across the country in this report. I am also excited to look ahead to the next work of the Libraries.Today project."
The Libraries.Today project is conceived with three complimentary goals in mind. The first goal is to provide a context to investigate and reflect on the changes to school library programs and the practice of school librarianship during the pandemic. The second goal is to provide a context for evaluating the efficacy of the COVID-impacted changes and create a framework for either integrating changes into the praxis or discarding practices that are inappropriate to the profession. The third goal is to see the National Forum discussions, reflections, and evaluations widely disseminated to the profession in a way that encourages the integration of best practices into school library programs across the nation. Taken together, all three goals of the project are intended to improve the effectiveness of school libraries in the post-COVID era.
"Level-Setting the Conversation" is available as a free download from the Libraries.Today site. You can register to view any replays of the recorded sessions from the May 2022 event. The next Libraries.Today forum will be in October 2022. Please RSVP now to stay informed.
Libraries.Today is made possible in part by support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services through a National Leadership Grant to the School Library System of the Genesee Valley BOCES, IMLS NLG-L Recipient, LG-250060-OLS-21