S03.E07: Librarian

[Joimiaroxeu]

Ava never heard of the Negro Baseball League. Seems unlikely to me. But wow, either Mr. Johnson really is a part of African American history, or he's been finding a way to put his face in historical photos. Or he's a time traveler. 😉

Good on Barbara for realizing and acknowledging the error of her ways. She put the kids first despite it being an annoying adjustment for her. And good on Janine for standing up to her mentor because she knew Barbara couldn't be allowed to ruin the library for everyone.

So what's the deal with Cree Summer's hats?

Quote

In the beginning I thought the librarian was Essence Atkins

So did I! But A Different World kept coming to mind and I figured it out.

[txhorns79]

On 3/15/2024 at 3:06 PM, chitowngirl said:

Abbott is a K-8th grade school.

I don't know about other cities, but K-8 public schools are common in Philadelphia.

[Skyfall]

On 3/15/2024 at 2:39 PM, BAForever said:

Highlighted some of your awesome post @Night Cheese. You sound like an experienced educator. Agree with so much. 

The media center needs of K students compared to 7th graders is huge. Why are there 7th graders at an elementary school?

Barbara was very wrong as was Janine in pushing through a new initiative without teacher support, knowledge and input.

And 7th graders are going to be on iPads or chromebooks. Reference books are out of date pretty much as soon as published in certain subjects. 

And SlaughterHouse 5 wouldn't be in an elementary school library.

Not sure why in Philly, but in rural areas there are sometimes K-8 schools. I myself attended one and then we merged with the neighboring town (which had an elementary and middle school) at high school.

[peeayebee]

16 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

So what's the deal with Cree Summer's hats?

Like someone said (Melissa?), the kids would probably love unique hats. I think some librarians wear different accessories and clothes because children like that. Heck, I remember some male teachers wearing crazy ties.

[possibilities]

Wacky outfits is probably also a great way to change the image of librarians as stern disciplinarians who SHHH people. Making the library inviting and fun is probably good for encouraging reading.

Though I do worry that there will be nowhere left on the planet for people to study in peace and quiet.

[kaygeeret]

Reporting from Milwaukee:

There are both k-8 and K-6, middle school and HS situations.  Pick your poison.

My great niece is graduating from 8th grade at a K-8 Montessori school (city school) and moving on to a widely praised city HS.

Every place is different and tries to meet their needs as they arise.

Public education is being attacked everywhere and I am really tired of 'civilians (non parents, non educators) trying to demand no books, or bigger  classes (save $) or, or, or.

All I want is the kids to grow up able to read, write, perform basic math (w/o a computer), know the history of this country and an introduction to other countries and last, but by no means least, HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK aka CIVICS!

Not too much to ask for 12 yrs of school.

Keep religion for church and home.

[mrsbagnet]

The board game Drought was on the top of Jacob's box when he was moving in. Nice callback to the game night with Janine's sister.

On 3/15/2024 at 11:20 PM, possibilities said:

Strangely, I do think he might have it in him to bond with mr Johnson. The two of them have just the right amount of weirdness to find common ground

Didn't they already kind of bond in that Christmas episode? Although it's more like Jacob is Mr. Johnson's biggest fan than he is a friend.

[mojito]

On 3/16/2024 at 6:40 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

So what's the deal with Cree Summer's hats?

I just assumed it was a nod to the actress' heritage. 

Edited March 18 by mojito

[dmmetler]

On 3/14/2024 at 7:07 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I was all set to come here and harrumph about how unrealistic this was - what school doesn’t have a librarian, or at least a library aide to keep things running?! - but  several of y’all have preemptively set me straight.  

I do still wonder how they had a fully stocked library, and a functional checkout system (napkin-based, but still), and when the new librarian came in, every teacher except Barbara seemed to be on board with the system of reserving a time slot for their class… I guess it’s as simple as, Barbara doesn’t read her email. 

In one of the schools I worked at, we had a social studies lab (artifacts, costumes, videos,photo sets etc) and a science lab. Both had, at one point, had a full time teacher who managed them. Both were locked and teachers sometimes would sneak in and borrow stuff, but otherwise, they weren't used due to budget cuts. 

 

I can easily see the same happening with libraries in urban schools. 

[buttersister]

Thanks, Quinta, for highlighting the importance of school libraries. When bad guys want to raise an under-educated populace, under-funding public schools and book banning are good places to start.

[possibilities]

It's not just urban schools. And it's not just schools. Rural schools and small towns are also grossly underfunded. I live in a rural/small town and believe me-- we don't have resources here.

Edited March 18 by possibilities

[Joimiaroxeu]

6 hours ago, mojito said:

I just assumed it was a nod to the actress' heritage. 

Quick googling says she's biracial (Black mother/White father), her mother is an adopted member of the Cree nation of Canada, and she grew up on a reserve in Canada. So it's a nod to that?

Due to my awareness of many people trying to claim Native/Indigenous ancestry who don't actually have it, my initial, uninformed take seeing Cree Summer in those hats was that it was an affectation similar to, for example, Erykah Badu's variety of headwear.

Maybe if Miss Inez becomes a recurring character the show can address the places where African American and Native American or First Nations histories intersect. I think it's extremely likely some of the younger children would be asking about her hats without intending to be rude.

Edited March 18 by Joimiaroxeu

[kwnyc]

Janine is coming into her own at the District. She's doing the kind of work she's long wanted to do improving her school, and even dressing like a grownup.

My sister is a school librarian (sorry, media specialist) with Masters' in library science AND early childhood education. She was laid off from her job at one school so they could hire an assistant to the principal (shades of Ava!) However, she has a strong union and was able to work at another school in the district.

Also...a friend of mine is a retired Philly librarian, and has written a lovely novel called "The New Town Librarian." It's a good read.

And as a native Philadelphian, it's WOODER ice. ;-)

[Book Junkie]

On 3/14/2024 at 7:07 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I was all set to come here and harrumph about how unrealistic this was - what school doesn’t have a librarian, or at least a library aide to keep things running?! - but  several of y’all have preemptively set me straight.  

I do still wonder how they had a fully stocked library, and a functional checkout system (napkin-based, but still), and when the new librarian came in, every teacher except Barbara seemed to be on board with the system of reserving a time slot for their class… I guess it’s as simple as, Barbara doesn’t read her email. 

16-year school librarian, here. I loved this episode as it was so true to life. My district has a certified librarian AND assistant at every school, but I know there are many across the nation where there's maybe ONE certified school librarian in the entire district that basically oversees the libraries and the day-to-day operations are done by either a paraprofessional or volunteers. I loved that Jacob brought out how his students' scores improved since having the librarian program, of which there are many studies that prove that schools with a certified librarian have higher scores. I hope Abbott does a book challenge/banning episode too, because it's a huge issue in schools these days. I loved that Gregory bragged about going to the library as a kid. I get that a lot from people that I first meet and they find out I'm a librarian.  That, or they tell me how much their kids love the library. 

As much as she irritated me this episode, Barbara was very realistic too. Yes, she should be a little more adaptable and flexible, but there are plenty of teachers out there who do the same thing every year, even if a better and easier way is done. That's at every job. And yes, plenty of teachers never read their e-mails unless their addressed specifically to them. I just an e-mail to one of my teachers who was e-mailing the entire school that only applied to his grade, saying that the didn't have an e-mail group for just those teachers. Yes, you do, sir. I sent those out at the beginning of the school year, and an updated list with new hires at the beginning of this semester. Sigh.

I would've let Barbara check out more than three books, though. That was a dumb rule. Just tell her to bring them back by the end of the day. Then, hunt her down tomorrow when she doesn't return them.

Man, I love this show.

[possibilities]

My guess is the 3 book rule is because Abbott has a very small library and not enough books. Otherwise, yeah, it's a stupid rule.

[Sarahsmile416]

Adding my two cents here from Jersey - all of our librarians ended up being “moved” into different positions around the school the year before my oldest started Kindergarten in 2019.  Many of the books in the library are still there and it seems as if it’s a bit of a free-for-all because my daughter used to come home with old library books all the time.  

[LisaM]

Loved this episode. Melissa and Jacob together was pure gold. Cracked up at how much fun they had together. Inspired pairing.