Transforming as a School Librarian and the Power of Weeding

Morgester, A.  (2018). Transforming my perspective. Knowledge Quest, 47, 2, 22-27.

Summary

Anne Morgester, a highly experienced, involved, and reflective school library leader,

shares the most simple message for those of us new to the school library:  we must

continually transform. Five pivotal career milestones allowed her to clarify her
purpose and vision. She insists that school librarians must always examine
perspectives and, if necessary, rethink practices with the guidance of one’s purpose
and vision.

Evaluation

From the start, I could relate to Morgester and felt encouraged.  She began as a

secondary English Language Arts classroom teacher and, like me, decided to
pursue a school library endorsement.  I could not, however, imagine myself being
able to gather five such impactful experiences with a young family, fettered by
familial responsibilities prioritized over a new career.  Though feeling slightly less
inspired as I read on, I realized that I could make an effort to experience any one of
the transformative opportunities detailed. Morgester explicates each of the following
experiences and argues its transformative impact:  

1.  Seek out professional leadership at the state level;

2.  Participate in rich, engaging professional development;

3.  Get involved and lead within the AASL professional organization;

4.  Invest in a collaborative district-wide effort to revise the school library job
description and train library staff to meet new expectations.

5.  Volunteer to weed a school library collection.

The last transformative experience on this list actually reignited some inspiration as
it seems to be the easiest endeavor. I could, realistically, invest a couple hours each
week weeding at a local school library.  I believe this experience will educate me in
ways that I can’t beginto understand. But, more importantly, I acknowledge a hint
of social justice in the activity of weeding. Morgester’s belief about weeding must be quoted in its entirety:

"I now believe that failure to effectively weed our collections is nothing less than a form 

of censorship.  If we don't weed effectively, either our students need a machete to bushwhack

their way to the engaging, relevant, and accurate materials we have or they simply don't

attempt to explore the shelves because what they want is buried in the mass of weeds" (27).

As a teacher of literacy, I recognize the wisdom in her stated belief.  My non-readers
do not make the first effort to experience a book because they admit being overwhelmed
with all the choices in the library.  By weeding the collection, a library can expose the
better holdings. I also suggest that the school librarian work closely with any teacher
who has a free-choice reading program.  Like several teachers at my site, we chose to
focus on a topic or genre (or combination of like-genres) each month. The librarian and
clerk then curate a couple of bookshelves for which students can more easily browse.  
In my mind, this practice is like plucking the flowers from the vast meadow so that
students may enjoy.

In the end, I appreciated Morgester’s editorial because the clear takeaway is that
school librarians must seek out opportunities to transform and we are never complete
static works.