2018-12-28 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 2, Issue 5
Featured Story
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Color
As a former teacher and a person spending a lot of time with children, I hear, Oh that is a boy’s book, or that book is for girls. Entering a department store, I see girl toys or boy toys. I hear my friends discussing what color to paint their child’s bedroom walls. After much thinking, this is very silly!
When I was teaching preschool I wore a pink polo shirt to school one day and I had a little girl get very angry at me because Boys Don’t Wear Pink. She spent all morning coming up to me, and looking me in the eye and repeating that phrase over and over again. A fellow teacher documented this whole experience in photographs. At our group time I asked all the kids if we could do an experiment the following day. All the boys would wear pink or purple. Which they thought was a great idea but they told me their moms and dads had to go shopping. There was no pink in their closets. The girls were angry because they wanted to be included in the experiment. I asked the girls to wear orange and green. They thought this was a great idea, except my little antagonist. She said girls should wear whatever they liked and not be told what to wear. I turned to her and said, That is why I like wearing my pink polo shirt is because I like that color. And in her 4 year old mind I saw the light bulb click on and pink was no longer just for girls but anyone could wear it because they liked that color. Later that day we told her dad about the experience and he took her home and gave her a pink tie he had worn on his wedding day. Pink is for everyone. Why? Because we like it.
What does this have to do with libraries? We categories books by genre. Patrons come in with a preconceived idea. As librarians we should give reading advisory to open up new experiences for them. Try a pink book sometime, or a blue book, you might be surprised.
Fail Forward
We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.
Embracing Failure with Vulnerability
I have a hard time when I feel like I’m failing; a reference question gone awry, a program or workshop that didn’t go as planned, or realizing that I’ve had toothpaste on my shirt all day (again). Just thinking about all these small moments of failure make me cringe and feel ashamed. But that’s when I think about Brene Brown’s Ted Talks: Listening to Shame and the Power of Vulnerability or any of her many books. Dr Brown is a researcher who studies vulnerability, shame, authenticity, and courage. She encourages empathy and being completely yourself, learning from failures to engage in life fully and authentically. So the next time you’re feeling less than ideal, remember:
Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. ? Brene Brown
Crush Corner
Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you in the work you do? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!
Let’s Get the Band Together
I was part of a small close knit group of friends in library school. We all loved music, so we would speak of getting the band together for debriefs outside of classes. That was many years ago, and most of us don’t live near each other anymore, but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep in touch or keep tabs on our bandmates. So, imagine my delight when I saw in August that one of my former bandmates, Connie Behe, was taking over as the new director of the Imagine IF Libraries in Flathead County, MT! I’ve been a fan of our library neighbors for a number of years. They have amazing programming, like the Imagine IF Bike, host trivia nights at a local brewery, and always seem like they and their community are having a good time. Congrats to you, Connie! Keep on rockin’ and I’ll keep on crushin’!
SPLAT explores new ways to build capacity and support library folk as they serve their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at splat.lili.org
SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-00-18-0013-18). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.