As an ALA
first timer, I wasn’t sure where to start. So it was a very good thing I went
to a seminar surrounding burnout prevention. If it wasn’t for that first talk
about making sure I took breaks and ate, I don’t think I would have survived
very well. Because I listened to that advice, I remembered that ‘I’ come before
everything else, which can be hard sometimes to remember. One of the signs of
burnout is total exhaustion and that constantly treating yourself is constantly
coping, not consistent self-care. This is something I need to work on and I
know I am not alone.
Afterwards,
most of my sessions were about a mix of collection development, program ideas,
and staff relationships. One vendor I was really excited about turned classic
books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, and Emma into manga. They used the same language and said
they even tested how well readers of the manga would do on a literature test
when pitted against someone who read the printed text (they tended to do
better). I have the link below to the books on Amazon if you want to peruse the
collection.
I also
listened to this great presentation by the Brooklyn Public Library about how
they trained their teens as Readers’ Advisory, which gave them confidence,
critical thinking skills, research skills, and more ownership of their library.
The kids actively answered RA questions, participated in outreach programs, and
(at the end of the multi-month paid program) the kids submitted a book
requisition list, which became a special part of the Brooklyn Public Library
collection. I don’t think I have stopped talking about this program since I
heard about it, it sounded so beautiful.
Kelsey Riggs
Forest Park
Branch
Manga
Classics on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Midsummer-Nights-Dream-Manga-Classics/dp/1947808109
