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Women in Horror Month: “She’s a librarian, ok?”

Hi, my name is Kirsten Kowalewski, and I am a librarian.

I am currently living in a state where the governor just attempted to use tax dollars to start a state-run news service and is recommending cutting library funding. The past two weeks have also been the culmination of a year of hostility from the governor and the state board of education toward our elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is, like me, trained as a librarian and school media specialist and is a certified teacher.  The state legislature is stripping her of her powers and assigning them to the state board. When Indiana Senate president David Long was asked about it, he implied that she wasn’t up to the job. “She’s a librarian, ok?” This has left me steaming.

The Librarian Avengers are putting you on notice, Mr. Long.

So, what’s all this got to do with women in horror?

A number of awesome librarians have contributed to promoting the horror genre and keeping this website alive. Many of them are women, and all of them are amazing. I have been lucky to work with Becky Siegel Spratford (author of The Reader’s Advisory Guide to Horror Fiction), Patricia O. Mathews (author of the reader’s advisory guide Fang-tastic Fiction), Lucy Lockley (also known as the RAT Queen), Kelly Fann, Julie Adams, and others, and to connect through the site with Heather Whiteside Ward. If you want horror fiction to thrive, and its audience to grow, you’ve got to have the librarians on your side, and (whether it’s right or not) a lot of librarians are women.

In conclusion, I give you Evie Carnahan, Librarian Most Likely To Break A Mummy’s Curse:

 

 

Don’t underestimate the librarian. It could be your last mistake.

Posted on February 2, 2015 by , Reply

Thank a School Librarian Today!

I missed saying anything about National School Library Month in April, which is sad, since I am a school librarian (if not a practicing one). The PTO here makes a big deal about Teacher Appreciation Week, which was in the beginning of May, and classroom teachers get appreciated that week, but somehow, when I taught (and you have to be a licensed teacher to be a school librarian) the school librarian wasn’t usually remembered (except for a few extremely special kids, who I will never forget). And I fell a little behind there too.

So now, here, we are headed into the last week of school. Yes, I know the rest of the world is in school until sometime in June, but here, school is out on Thursday. So my opportunity to say anything to my son’s school librarian this year is coming to an end very soon.

At the beginning of the year, the kids at my son’s school were supposed to choose from a selection of age-appropriate books for kindergarten. My son, used to picking out his own books, wanted the shelves where the monsters were and went bananas. I know because I got a call at home. We talked for awhile, and concluded that reading all kinds of books, with and without monsters, was the way to go. And he started to bring all kinds of books home, some with monsters, some without. I see this as a good thing- reading should widen the world beyond just one topic, and there are so many other things to read about in addition to monsters! He began to bring home some longer books, and was allowed to keep them for more than the allotted week while he studied them intensely. And then he discovered the Crestwood Books movie monster books. Either he was really burrowing for something or she found them for him, because they’re in a nondescript, if very durable, school library binding, and not the original attention-drawing, orange covers. Many libraries weed their collections frequently to keep the collections current and to remove items that are falling apart and I am thankful that she kept these for my son to discover. Even though I had to tell him we couldn’t read them at bedtime because the pictures were too scary. Even though his grandmother told me the books were “gross”. He has loved them so much! And he has had the opportunity to discover them, learn from them, create new drawings and stories, and read the books again and again because she kept them and put them in his hands.

Now, he was already an enthusiastic reader, and a pretty good one, considering that he is a kindergartener. But imagine the fire the right book can light in a child who doesn’t like to read or who struggles with it. The book, or the idea within, that lights that fire, doesn’t always come from the hands of a librarian. But it can.

So take a moment to thank your school librarian and say how much you appreciate her (or him). It doesn’t happen enough, and while your child might not say anything much at home, you can never underestimate the impact a school librarian can make.

Thank you, every single one.

Posted on May 20, 2012 by , Reply

LAUSD: Take A Page From This Book!

The Indianapolis Star reported that Zionsville Community Schools of Zionsville, Indiana chose Carrie Sanders as their top districtwide teacher Read that again. The top TEACHER.  What does Carrie Sanders teach, you ask? She is the school media specialist and RESEARCH TEACHER at Zionsville Middle School. That’s right. The school media specialist is a TEACHER. She’s being entered into the selection process for State Teacher of the Year, according to the paper.

She also gets to keep her job. The good citizens of Zionsville failed to pass a referendum for the schools’ general fund last November, leaving the school board with some difficult decisions. Sixteen teachers will be (or have been) RIFed to help balance their budget. In a strange reversal of the Department of Education’s priorities (depriving school libraries to fund math and science initiatives) science and technology teachers will be eliminated at the elementary level. Physical education teachers will also be eliminated. School counseling positions at the middle and high schools will be lost, and the high school’s music department and International Baccalaureate program will lose staff. But not the school libraries.

It’s a tough time to be a teacher, administrator, parent, student, or school board member. There are a lot of hard choices that are having to be made, and unfortunately not every priority gets funded. I really hope that if the Zionsville schools have another referendum that the community will support it. But in spite of the cuts that have had to be made, the board, at least from what I read from the minutes of the meeting where these decisions were made, tried to be respectful of the teachers rather than accusatory. The Los Angeles Unified School District should take note.

And not one person questioned the ability, passion, or legitimacy of Connie Sanders being named Zionsville Community Schools’ teacher of the year. Congratulations, Connie!

Posted on May 21, 2011 by , Reply
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