The Druid Scholar

Hey, so I started this blog and then…immediately vanished!

In Spring 2023, I started taking a couple of supplementary courses in librarianship. Specifically, I attended the University of Maine Augusta (virtually) to take Library Services to Teens and Library Materials and Services to Children. I have been having a difficult time trying to transition from working at an elite academic institution back to public librarianship. I made a lot of choices that put roadblocks in my way to getting where I want to be in my career, mostly because it took me a while to truly realize what it was I wanted to be doing.

I went into my Master’s program studying Archives Management with the intention of becoming an archivist. Now that I know more, both about the field and how to operate within it, I have realized that while saving the records of today to be used in the future is a wonderful, worthwhile endeavor, it is not where I can do the most good.

Right now, the majority of adults age 16 to 74 in the United States reads at or below a 6th grade level. As we watch state governments continue to limit what is to be taught to students, censor what they can and cannot see, I foresee this trend of declining literacy rates continuing. What does it mean that the majority of American adults can’t read above a 6th grade reading level?

• They experience difficulty filling out complex legal forms.
• They are unable to fully comprehend and exercise their own rights.
• They may not be able to discern what is and is not misinformation as it is on the rise.
• Children of adults with low literacy skills are more likely to suffer from lower literacy rates than their peers (parental participation in literacy activities in early childhood is incredibly important to childhood development).

As you may notice from the last point: this problem starts young. Love for reading is bred out by overly restrictive ideas on what constitutes reading, on forcing children to read books that don’t interest them, and when they aren’t provided the support they need to actually grasp the concepts they learn in school. There are so many ways that libraries support childhood development, as well as improving adult literacy rates and generally providing excellent resources to the community, and for me, this is personal.

Many people don’t realize this about me because of how much books and reading are a part of my personality, but the truth of the matter is that I was once one of those kids who had a difficult time when I was learning to read. My father was on a ship six months out of the year, and my mother held down two jobs while going to college and taking care of three children. They had a lot on their plates as a growing family, and it would be decades before I was diagnosed with ADHD. I was nearly held back a grade, and had to be tutored by my first grade teacher Mrs. Davis in order to catch up. She took me to the Kempsville Public Library for sessions, the site of my first ever library job, and it was there that my love of reading truly developed.

In 2020, as we all remained locked in our homes, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what it was that I truly loved about librarianship. What parts of the job made me feel fulfilled. Where I could do the most good for the world we live in, which is truly all I ever wanted to do: some good. What I ultimately landed on was that I wanted to work with youth. Children, tweens, teens, I am not particularly picky. Perhaps that lack of pickiness is not a point in my favor, but I believe that supporting young readers is the most important thing I can do with my time, and I will do that in whatever way I am able. To me, that does also mean supporting their caregivers, so I do sometimes feel a little bit like I need to do it all.

So, I spent the last semester focusing on my coursework, reading books for school in order to create book club questions, creating storytime plans, planning fictitious events and marketing strategies, and designing library spaces for children and teens. It was highly rewarding work, even if it was just for a grade. The hardest assignment was my children’s STEM materials proposal. I had to balance the materials evenly between the specified reading levels, the different STEM topics, and genre (fiction, nonfiction, media, and I even had some STEM poetry, for a little fun). I passed both my classes with a 4.0, of which I am very proud. I learned a lot and I hope to be able to actually use it in a practical capacity.

“But Pixie,” I hear you ask. “If you were just out for the semester, why are you only making your first post in late June?”

Excellent question. The short answer is: I fell down the stairs and I couldn’t actually use my arm for much since late April. I was originally going to say that this has been my first pain free week, but I overdid it a little shelving books today by thinking I could hold two books in my hand. I don’t know if you know anything about engineering books, but boy howdy, are they HEAVY, even when they aren’t that large.

That injury is still something I am struggling with, especially as it goes down to the nerve. For about a month I couldn’t even hold a book. I totally flubbed an interview for a really great library assistant job because I was in so much pain from sitting in an uncomfortable chair for two hours. The pain has somewhat upset my ability to think on multiple occasions. It’s been tough, is what I’m saying, but I’ve been putting in the work to get better, and I want that to include this blog because I care deeply about librarianship, books, and literacy.

So hey, thanks for coming back.

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Currently Reading

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Thank you for reading. – Pixie P. Rose