Friday Follow-up:
a weekly message from Brian M. Hildreth, STLS Executive Director
Protecting Humankind One Story Hour at a Time
What if libraries opted not to provide story hours or coordinated children’s programs? Would the world be less civilized without these public services? As librarians, we inherently believe encouraging our youth to learn will improve society as a whole. I say inherently because there is mostly zero research advocating against such a public service, and overwhelming research demonstrating such a public service enriches humanity.
I sincerely want to thank every individual who attended this past Wednesday’s Summer Learning Open House at STLS. Additionally, I want to thank Lorie Brown, Al Oliveras and Margo Gustina along with all other STLS team members who made it happen. The event was attended by member librarians, trustees and volunteers who truly care about strengthening the minds of our youngest populations.
Anyone in attendance can appreciate the passion our member librarians have for youth services. I found it particularly interesting how well our librarians shared ideas from the very first conversation up until the very last. They certainly use it as a chance to expand member library services to the fullest.
I have been a new library director three times in my career. All three times I recall making a concerted effort to reach out to the youth services librarian. My intent was to assure them I support the important work they do, and I would do my very best to provide them any resources they need to make it happen.
If libraries are great equalizers, then youth services librarians must be the greatest equalizers of all. I can recall taking my oldest daughter to story hour and observing the children in the room, and also observing their socio-economic diversity. It’s not something you try to notice, but turning a blind eye to poverty is difficult. So, I get excited when I see fully engaged librarians providing equitable services to the children of their community. Something takes place at story time that unfortunately doesn’t always happen in life.
There are reasons why our overall population tries to associate itself with childhood development. Primarily, our human DNA naturally requires us to be empathetic to the positive growth of children. It is what enables our species to be sustainable. We won’t exist another thousand years if we don’t invest in a child’s welfare.
It is reassuring to know our youth services librarians are doing everything in their power to make that happen. I guess you can say they are protecting humankind one story hour and summer reading program at a time.
As always, thank you for your continued support and many efforts. Have a great March weekend, STLS. Call or write anytime.
Kindest Regards,
Brian Hildreth, Executive Director
Southern Tier Library System
Follow me on Twitter: @comlibpartner
Read past Friday Follow-ups: http://www.stls.org/blog
