My path to becoming a “Comics Librarian” and why you should join YART!

As a freshly-minted librarian, I was hired to serve at THE high school bearing my district’s name alongside an amazingly zany, veteran librarian who knew the current collection inside and out as she’d been the one to revitalize it with bond money just prior to my arrival. To say that I was intimidated about what I could possibly have to contribute is more than an understatement. So when the moment of truth arrived and I was handed a “small” purchase order to get my feet wet, I. Was. Stymied!

Her fingerprints were all throughout that collection, and what she didn’t read our assistant did. How would I ever fit into this team?! What could I possibly contribute?! To be honest, I was just beginning to read YA lit regularly.

Luckily, near the end of grad school, I’d discovered comics and graphic novels. My then-language-arts-teacher heart fell in love with graphic storytelling, the ways that it attracts readers, and its potential to support literacy efforts. Unluckily, I didn’t know much about this format; however... I was the only member of the library staff who, at the time, even read them at all.

I’d found my calling; graphics would be my contribution. By the time I’d exhausted that “small” PO, it was pretty clear to me that I’d need to develop myself in this area if I wanted to be a full partner on the library staff and better serve my community. Even luckier still, my new colleagues in the district pointed me toward YART’s Texas Maverick Graphic Novel Reading List as a way of shoring up the skills I lacked and connecting with other like minded library workers.

Whether you are interested in volunteering during Annual Conference, serving on a reading list, or becoming involved with round table leadership, opportunities to get involved with YART are available for any interest you may have, and commitments can range from one event to multiple years.

In addition to openings on all reading list committees—Lone Star, Maverick, Spirit of Texas (SPOT), and TAYSHAS—we're also in search of the following Board positions.

Chair-Elect (3-year Elected Term)
Councilor (3-year Elected Term)
Alternate Councilor (3-year Elected Term)
Webmaster (3-year Appointed Term)
Maverick List Chair (2-year Appointed Term followed by 1-year Advisory Term; must have served previously as a Maverick List committee member).

Deadline to Apply: October 1, 2022

This year's application form is located in

the "YART Volunteers" section of our website

or can be accessed directly at

https://tinyurl.com/YARTVolunteer-2023

Comments

Decloaking Wakanda: Creating Space for BIPOC Nerds

On February 9, 2023, at the fourth Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC), I had the exhilarating experience of guiding a discussion that focused on the need to connect with nerd culture and create a welcoming environment for the BIPOC fandom. The soul of this session had been several years in the making and built on countless heart-to-heart moments. So, I couldn’t imagine a better venue for seeing it actualized than my first JCLC. Furthermore, for this session, I had the honor of being in conversation with fellow nerds and comics librarians Jean Darnell and Deimosa Webber-Bey . To my eternal amazement, our talk was met with a standing room only reception, and afterward we were repeatedly regaled with tales of being turned away at the door. In hopes of capturing a small portion of that day's magic, this post grew out of that discussion. *** For the past 30 years, BIPOC nerds have existed in the cringe-worthy shadow of Urkel. What if, instead, they’d had portrayals such as ...

Standing TALL: Choosing to Apply to the Texas Library Association's TALL Texan Leadership Institute

After having attended the Texas Library Association's TALL Texan Leadership Institute, another library worker reached out to me with questions about my experience. Below are the answers that I provided in response to her questions. *** Why did you apply to Tall Texans? Originally, I heard about TALL Texans as a new school librarian - within my first five years - and at the time it was described to me as an opportunity to gain meaningful leadership training in the field of librarianship that was specific to the Texas Library ecosystem. Thus, it was something that I'd aspired to for quite awhile. However, as time went on I made my way toward leadership without having attended the institute and began to second guess the value of the investment. However, when I mentioned to my supervisor that I was mildly interested in attending, she strongly encouraged me to apply - stating that not only would the library pay for my tuition but that she believed I would particularly benefi...

BIMM, DIMM, and PIT - Oh My!

Sara Pavone and Christina Taylor, the RRHS librarians, used a combination of different technologies to introduce the logistics of digital copyright protection to students in BIMM, DIMM, and PIT. This lesson marked the maiden voyage of the iPads that the library received as part of the Next Generation Digital Classroom (NGDC) initiative. Mrs. Pavone and Mrs. Taylor combined the tablets with Blendspace , Google Drive , and WeVideo to provide a lesson that not only engaged the students but also allowed teachers to differentiate the instruction to meet students’ needs. Finally, because the entire lesson was platform agnostic, using online tools, students were able to work at their own pace...beyond the confines of the physical classroom...from anywhere they had Internet access. Many students commented that they enjoyed the lesson and thought it was a lot better than last year’s, which was not nearly as interactive nor heavy in technology. **This post was originally published on the R...

CET Writes

Search This Blog