An Interview On Inclusion

In this interview, I spoke with a school librarian from Carvers Bay Middle School in Georgetown County, South Carolina. The high school contains 262 students. It serves grades six through eight. I spoke with the librarian about the ways in which she implements the AASL’s standards, along with the strategies she finds to work the best for her. In this interview, I decided to ask questions that had an emphasis on inclusiveness, which is one of the six shared foundations from the AASL’s standards framework. Here are the questions that were asked, and details from the conversations that came of them:

1.     What are some examples of the ways in which you are implementing inquiry in your library program?

I asked this question to gain insight on whether inquiry is a foundation that is actually being used or not within her library. The response proved that it is evident, as she excitedly  explained some of the ways she promotes inclusivity in her library. The librarian stated, “We always decorate and do displays for the different heritages that are celebrated each month”. She went on to explain that they make sure when purchasing books that there is a lot of diversity within the collection. I thought that was such a good way to ensure there was diversity in the library. We discussed the importance of looking through your library’s collection, and how that can impact students. 

2.     What are some of the resources in your library program that you are using to incorporate collaboration in the library?

This question built off of the first one. The librarian went on to explain that Follett has a tool that allows you to run a report specifically on diversity within the collection. She stated that this tool has been very helpful in creating a diversely sound library collections in all genres. 

I thought this was an awesome way to reliably see if the collection is where it needs to be as far as diversity goes. We discussed how by doing this, it creates a selection and environment that supports students. They can view themselves in the stories they read!

3.     When you implement instruction surrounding collaboration, do you include classroom teachers?  If so, please provide examples.

When asked this question, the librarian expressed that she tries to collaborate with ELA and/or Social Studies teachers. She has helped with research with Geography teachers when studying different cultures and regions. She also explained that she has done Immigration Fairs where the students research where different immigrants came from and dress up, cook food, etc to represent their culture.

It was so interesting to hear about the ways she has collaborated with teachers from different content areas. We both discussed and agreed that it is important to collaborate in order to make all students feel welcomed in the library. 

4.     What are some of the challenges that you face when trying to implement collaboration in the library?

The school librarian claimed that some challenges she faces when implementing diversity in the library, a lot of times the materials may not get circulated as much and sometimes teachers don’t want to collaborate. We discussed that collaboration is a key part of what makes all the foundations in the library work. Without it, the door does not open for any of those foundations to be built. 

5.  Are there any other comments that you would like to make regarding the implementation of inquiry instruction?

The school librarian shared that the area the school is in is not very diversified, so the kids may not always be interested in diversified books and resources. However, we discussed that even if the kids may not want to learn about diversity, that is all the more reason to teach it. It is important to show students windows into the world around them! 

Through this interview, I learned that inclusion is very important to implement in the library. Students need to feel welcomed in the library in order to be able to use it for everything it offers. It is also important to teach students about diversity and inclusion so as to educate them about the world around them and about people who think differently than them.