WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:00.076 --> 00:00:04.156 align:middle >> And thank you so much for the invitation to join you all on this auspicious evening. 00:00:04.586 --> 00:00:08.866 align:middle I can't tell you what an honor it is to be able to spend time with new graduates 00:00:08.866 --> 00:00:11.366 align:middle who are entering, what I humbly believe, 00:00:11.366 --> 00:00:14.966 align:middle is the most important profession in the history of the world. 00:00:15.126 --> 00:00:20.356 align:middle Welcome. I'm so glad that you're all joining us and will be a part of a profession 00:00:20.356 --> 00:00:22.186 align:middle that I have given my entire life to. 00:00:22.186 --> 00:00:26.616 align:middle And I hope that you will find as much satisfaction in the field as I have found. 00:00:26.616 --> 00:00:29.846 align:middle This is an extraordinary field. 00:00:30.256 --> 00:00:34.356 align:middle You're entering librarianship at a challenging time. 00:00:34.486 --> 00:00:38.186 align:middle So I've been president of the American Library Association since last June. 00:00:38.186 --> 00:00:42.366 align:middle I've got six weeks left on my calendar, on my term, not that I'm counting, 00:00:42.366 --> 00:00:48.016 align:middle and it's been an education in what we are facing in American libraries right now. 00:00:48.016 --> 00:00:53.416 align:middle So it probably will not be news to you that this is a challenging time for America's libraries. 00:00:53.416 --> 00:01:00.806 align:middle Since 2021, the American Library Association has seen an extraordinary and unprecedented rise 00:01:01.146 --> 00:01:06.666 align:middle in organized attempts to censor library materials and some library programs in school 00:01:06.666 --> 00:01:09.026 align:middle and public libraries across the country. 00:01:09.696 --> 00:01:14.976 align:middle I wish that talking to you tonight, I could say that this conflict and sort of what I see 00:01:14.976 --> 00:01:19.576 align:middle in some ways is an existential fight for the right to read, for freedom of access 00:01:19.576 --> 00:01:26.356 align:middle to information, for equity and inclusion in our public square, that I wish I could come 00:01:26.356 --> 00:01:27.806 align:middle to you tonight and say that that fight is over. 00:01:27.806 --> 00:01:30.616 align:middle Unfortunately, it's not what I'm seeing on the ground. 00:01:30.616 --> 00:01:36.646 align:middle As I've been traveling, I've seen both legislative efforts to restrict the right 00:01:36.646 --> 00:01:42.916 align:middle to read in ways that boggle my mind that we have to think about that in 2024, as well as the sort 00:01:42.916 --> 00:01:48.356 align:middle of cinematic efforts to challenge materials that we see at school board meetings, 00:01:48.356 --> 00:01:50.566 align:middle at library board meetings across the country. 00:01:50.566 --> 00:01:57.416 align:middle It's not just in places like Utah and Florida and Texas, but right here in New York, 00:01:57.416 --> 00:02:03.376 align:middle where I live, where we've seen organized challenges happening at school libraries 00:02:03.376 --> 00:02:08.386 align:middle in the city of New York, as well as new Moms for Liberty chapter in Queens, 00:02:08.656 --> 00:02:13.876 align:middle the most diverse county in the country in a difficult time. 00:02:13.936 --> 00:02:21.026 align:middle As I talk to librarians, I hear a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety, a lot of what are we going 00:02:21.026 --> 00:02:23.656 align:middle to do in the face of these kinds of challenges. 00:02:23.656 --> 00:02:28.636 align:middle I was recently last week in Oregon touring libraries in the state and drove 00:02:28.636 --> 00:02:31.076 align:middle through my home state of Idaho, got to see my mom. 00:02:31.136 --> 00:02:33.776 align:middle So for all the moms in the room that have supported the students 00:02:33.776 --> 00:02:36.166 align:middle on their journey shout out to all of you. 00:02:36.166 --> 00:02:40.086 align:middle Shout out to my mom as well, who continues to be extraordinarily proud of me, 00:02:40.086 --> 00:02:42.766 align:middle as I'm sure all of the moms in the room are proud tonight. 00:02:42.896 --> 00:02:48.316 align:middle And Idaho holds a special place in my heart because it's where I was born and raised. 00:02:48.516 --> 00:02:53.106 align:middle And they passed a law, the governor signed into law just a couple of weeks ago, 00:02:53.436 --> 00:02:59.326 align:middle a piece of legislation that says that any library where someone comes in and asks 00:02:59.326 --> 00:03:02.656 align:middle for a book to be moved from the youth section to the adult section 00:03:02.656 --> 00:03:04.346 align:middle because of objectionable content. 00:03:04.346 --> 00:03:07.816 align:middle And I think we have to be honest about what the objectionable content is. 00:03:07.816 --> 00:03:12.876 align:middle It's content about people like me as an out and proud member of the queer community. 00:03:13.246 --> 00:03:16.706 align:middle The books that are being challenged right now are books about me and my experience 00:03:16.706 --> 00:03:19.216 align:middle and perhaps books about you and your experience. 00:03:19.356 --> 00:03:23.926 align:middle If someone comes in and asks for that book to be moved and the library refuses, 00:03:24.106 --> 00:03:26.786 align:middle they could be hit with a $250 fine. 00:03:27.996 --> 00:03:33.406 align:middle And I've been stuck for a couple of weeks on that since the law was passed on that $250. 00:03:33.496 --> 00:03:37.406 align:middle That $250 is so small as to be petty, right? 00:03:37.406 --> 00:03:41.256 align:middle To be a sort of sign of how petty legislation like this is, 00:03:41.256 --> 00:03:44.706 align:middle these attacks on our public institutions and the people who work in them. 00:03:44.706 --> 00:03:49.436 align:middle But also for many of our small and rural libraries that $250 might be half 00:03:49.436 --> 00:03:51.436 align:middle of their collections budget for the entire year. 00:03:52.176 --> 00:03:56.836 align:middle And what we're seeing in Idaho in response to this legislation are libraries closing. 00:03:57.616 --> 00:04:00.096 align:middle A library in Preston, Idaho closed its doors. 00:04:00.096 --> 00:04:02.286 align:middle It said, "We can't run the risk of these fines." 00:04:02.286 --> 00:04:04.696 align:middle And they've limited their services now to simply, 00:04:04.696 --> 00:04:07.756 align:middle you can pick up a book at the library, right? 00:04:07.756 --> 00:04:09.826 align:middle You can drive in and pick up a book. 00:04:09.896 --> 00:04:12.816 align:middle And we all know that libraries are not that, that libraries are more than that, 00:04:12.816 --> 00:04:17.436 align:middle that libraries are spaces, they're environments. 00:04:17.556 --> 00:04:20.906 align:middle For those of you who live in urban areas, I saw some people in New York. 00:04:20.906 --> 00:04:22.946 align:middle Shout out to my fellow New Yorkers in the chat. 00:04:23.326 --> 00:04:26.656 align:middle The only place you can go to the bathroom if you don't have money to purchase something 00:04:26.656 --> 00:04:28.486 align:middle at McDonald's is the public library. 00:04:28.486 --> 00:04:30.436 align:middle These are crucial public institutions. 00:04:30.436 --> 00:04:34.536 align:middle In fact, the only interior space that's available to the public. 00:04:34.536 --> 00:04:37.336 align:middle But they're closing their doors in Preston, Idaho. 00:04:37.386 --> 00:04:43.976 align:middle At a small rural library in Donnelly, Idaho, just in the mountains about two hours north 00:04:43.976 --> 00:04:49.416 align:middle of Boise where I grew up, the librarian there, Sherry Scheline, because she works in a library, 00:04:49.416 --> 00:04:51.856 align:middle there's just one room, she can't move materials. 00:04:51.856 --> 00:04:55.176 align:middle She's just got a one-room library in the small rural community. 00:04:55.176 --> 00:05:00.256 align:middle And she has decided that children can't come in unless they come in with their parents. 00:05:01.046 --> 00:05:05.306 align:middle And for those of you who like me found our home in the public library that we, you know, 00:05:05.306 --> 00:05:09.196 align:middle went there after school, that's where we learned, that's where we grew up essentially, 00:05:10.026 --> 00:05:15.326 align:middle that opportunity is not available right now for young people in the small town of Donnelly. 00:05:15.916 --> 00:05:22.496 align:middle And that's a big part of the story that I've seen in my term as ALA president is this kind 00:05:22.496 --> 00:05:29.446 align:middle of crisis, the kind of both the sort of terror that comes with organized attempts 00:05:29.446 --> 00:05:33.116 align:middle to censor materials and also the devastating impact that has 00:05:33.376 --> 00:05:35.026 align:middle on the institution of the library. 00:05:36.566 --> 00:05:42.946 align:middle But I don't want us to get stuck in that current crisis that's defining the present and I want us 00:05:42.946 --> 00:05:48.916 align:middle to think also about what this moment in our history offers us in terms of opportunity. 00:05:49.886 --> 00:05:54.426 align:middle I know for me, since I've been in the field for the last 20 years, and maybe this happened 00:05:54.426 --> 00:05:57.396 align:middle to you, people have said, "Libraries, who needs them anymore?" 00:05:57.946 --> 00:06:00.886 align:middle I'm sure some of you when you told your friends that you were going to library school, 00:06:00.886 --> 00:06:02.576 align:middle they're like, "You need a degree for that? 00:06:03.066 --> 00:06:05.186 align:middle Does anybody even go to the library anymore?" 00:06:05.676 --> 00:06:10.836 align:middle That's been the sort of thing I've heard the drum beat for more than 20 years in the field. 00:06:11.686 --> 00:06:15.136 align:middle But what we see now is more people paying attention to libraries 00:06:15.136 --> 00:06:17.226 align:middle than I've ever seen in my entire career. 00:06:17.226 --> 00:06:20.326 align:middle And when they pay attention to libraries, guess what they find? 00:06:20.796 --> 00:06:22.876 align:middle Libraries are extraordinary. 00:06:23.636 --> 00:06:29.156 align:middle They're extraordinary places, places that expand access to the public good for people 00:06:29.556 --> 00:06:33.086 align:middle that make possible whole human lives. 00:06:33.626 --> 00:06:37.576 align:middle That librarian in Donnelly Idaho, Sherry, she's had to shut her, 00:06:37.576 --> 00:06:40.766 align:middle she had to close the doors to use in her area. 00:06:41.236 --> 00:06:46.136 align:middle She also used some of her funds to purchase for her library, it circulates just like a book, 00:06:46.136 --> 00:06:50.786 align:middle a cotton candy machine, and a bounce house, which means that in this small 00:06:50.786 --> 00:06:56.146 align:middle and rural community, where the majority of the young people live below the poverty line, 00:06:56.296 --> 00:07:00.196 align:middle the library makes possible the simple things that bring us joy 00:07:00.196 --> 00:07:02.356 align:middle in life, like a child's birthday party. 00:07:02.356 --> 00:07:04.526 align:middle So that is what libraries do. 00:07:04.526 --> 00:07:08.426 align:middle And we have this opportunity now, and you're entering the field in a moment 00:07:08.426 --> 00:07:11.986 align:middle where more people are paying attention to us than have in my entire career, 00:07:12.566 --> 00:07:14.556 align:middle to tell the story of American libraries. 00:07:14.926 --> 00:07:18.706 align:middle Tell the story of what we do and the good we bring to our communities, 00:07:18.706 --> 00:07:20.916 align:middle and the extraordinary contributions that we make. 00:07:21.346 --> 00:07:24.546 align:middle I've been lucky this past year to see so many libraries 00:07:24.546 --> 00:07:27.336 align:middle across the country doing extraordinary things. 00:07:27.896 --> 00:07:33.006 align:middle A library in Charleston, South Carolina, where librarians worked one on one with members 00:07:33.006 --> 00:07:37.466 align:middle of the community who didn't have access to the internet, who didn't even have an email address, 00:07:37.786 --> 00:07:42.506 align:middle ensuring that they had access to eviction assistance protection funds during the pandemic, 00:07:42.796 --> 00:07:44.746 align:middle literally keeping people in their homes. 00:07:45.336 --> 00:07:49.846 align:middle I've seen libraries in Des Moines, Iowa, that in the in the month leading 00:07:49.846 --> 00:07:53.116 align:middle up to the Iowa State Fair, they ran a program 00:07:53.116 --> 00:07:55.466 align:middle that would teach you how to carve your own butter cow. 00:07:56.096 --> 00:07:59.036 align:middle They circulate a carpet cleaning machine 00:07:59.036 --> 00:08:03.476 align:middle so that everybody can clean their carpets, decommodifying objects, right? 00:08:03.476 --> 00:08:05.776 align:middle This is the project of the Library of Things. 00:08:06.196 --> 00:08:11.936 align:middle This is something like if you wanted to invent a society or a world where everyone had access 00:08:11.936 --> 00:08:17.986 align:middle to the stuff of both human imagination, human joy, and the tools that we need 00:08:17.986 --> 00:08:20.716 align:middle to make sense of the world, it's a library. 00:08:20.716 --> 00:08:24.716 align:middle So you're entering a moment in the field 00:08:24.946 --> 00:08:29.106 align:middle where I believe we have an opportunity we have never had before to bring resources 00:08:29.106 --> 00:08:33.346 align:middle to the library, to bring attention to the library, to make sure that everyone 00:08:33.346 --> 00:08:38.976 align:middle in the world knows what libraries do and what contributions they make to the community. 00:08:39.736 --> 00:08:44.136 align:middle And that honestly, I can't think of a better thing to do with your life. 00:08:44.296 --> 00:08:47.436 align:middle So I went to library school in 2001. 00:08:47.436 --> 00:08:50.846 align:middle I had moved to New York from Boise, Idaho, and I wanted to be a writer. 00:08:50.846 --> 00:08:52.566 align:middle I wanted to write for magazines. 00:08:52.566 --> 00:08:54.626 align:middle I wanted to be a famous writer. 00:08:55.436 --> 00:08:58.986 align:middle And I got here and I found myself fact checking at Lucky Magazine. 00:08:58.986 --> 00:09:02.996 align:middle You might remember it, a magazine about shopping, where my job was to check prices 00:09:02.996 --> 00:09:07.416 align:middle for expensive handbags and to make sure that the shoes came from one -- 00:09:07.646 --> 00:09:11.546 align:middle you know, that like I had the right phone number for the store and the credit, 00:09:11.546 --> 00:09:17.186 align:middle like not a life worth living, not a contribution to the world that mattered very much. 00:09:17.716 --> 00:09:19.656 align:middle I mean maybe you love bags and that's fine. 00:09:19.746 --> 00:09:21.956 align:middle But it wasn't something that I wanted to do with -- 00:09:21.956 --> 00:09:24.836 align:middle like I realized that I was giving my life to something that didn't matter. 00:09:25.396 --> 00:09:30.536 align:middle But as soon as I went to library school, my very first class, sort of, 00:09:30.666 --> 00:09:38.946 align:middle it dawned on me what the project of the library is, is to select, acquire, describe, preserve, 00:09:38.946 --> 00:09:44.646 align:middle circulate the sum total of human knowledge so that everybody has access to it forever. 00:09:45.216 --> 00:09:47.736 align:middle What a dazzling, extraordinary project. 00:09:48.406 --> 00:09:51.226 align:middle And I didn't feel bad that I couldn't be a writer because like, you know, 00:09:51.226 --> 00:09:54.726 align:middle you try to be a writer, it turns out the best way to be a writer in New York is 00:09:54.726 --> 00:09:57.046 align:middle to be born to a writer in New York, right? 00:09:57.046 --> 00:09:59.816 align:middle It wasn't something I was ever going to be able to do. 00:09:59.816 --> 00:10:05.936 align:middle But that library school experience opened my eyes to what a library could really be. 00:10:06.226 --> 00:10:08.546 align:middle And working in a library, right? 00:10:09.496 --> 00:10:12.436 align:middle My early memories from working at the public library, 00:10:12.436 --> 00:10:17.336 align:middle like just the contributions you can make to the lives of people around you. 00:10:17.336 --> 00:10:20.396 align:middle It's work that really matters. 00:10:20.556 --> 00:10:21.756 align:middle It's work that really has meaning. 00:10:21.756 --> 00:10:27.566 align:middle And we are very lucky and blessed, all of us in this room, to have the education 00:10:27.566 --> 00:10:33.486 align:middle and the opportunity to contribute to the world in a way that really improves people's lives. 00:10:33.966 --> 00:10:38.996 align:middle We are the only people that I've found in many, my whole like -- 00:10:38.996 --> 00:10:43.696 align:middle I can't think of another profession or another group of people or group of institutions 00:10:43.696 --> 00:10:47.066 align:middle who see it as our purpose to solve problems for people. 00:10:47.896 --> 00:10:51.756 align:middle Little tiny problems like how to fix the broken stapler or like the stapler stand 00:10:51.756 --> 00:10:55.396 align:middle and you need it and if you didn't learn this in library school, the trick is to drop it, 00:10:55.396 --> 00:10:57.756 align:middle throw it on the floor, that solves the problem. 00:10:57.756 --> 00:11:03.216 align:middle But to big problems, right, like keeping people connected 00:11:03.346 --> 00:11:05.886 align:middle to the government benefits that they might need to survive. 00:11:06.186 --> 00:11:07.796 align:middle So it's a great field. 00:11:07.796 --> 00:11:12.096 align:middle I'm proud to have you as a part of it and I know like this whole convention 00:11:12.096 --> 00:11:16.026 align:middle of the commencement speaker it's like, I was a little like, what do I say to people who, 00:11:16.356 --> 00:11:20.716 align:middle you know, all of you are working adults entering a profession that is noble. 00:11:20.716 --> 00:11:23.566 align:middle And you must know that and that's why you've joined it, right, 00:11:23.566 --> 00:11:25.516 align:middle but what is there to say in terms of advice? 00:11:25.516 --> 00:11:28.876 align:middle And you've gotten very good advice from Dr. Chow. 00:11:28.876 --> 00:11:31.426 align:middle You've gotten very good advice from Dean Meth. 00:11:31.666 --> 00:11:34.716 align:middle So the advice I'm going to leave you with is this. 00:11:36.556 --> 00:11:38.346 align:middle All we have is each other. 00:11:39.166 --> 00:11:39.766 align:middle That's it. 00:11:40.736 --> 00:11:41.846 align:middle We're who we've got. 00:11:42.596 --> 00:11:46.246 align:middle And when I look at the world and I look at the challenges that libraries are facing, 00:11:46.246 --> 00:11:50.596 align:middle when I look at organized censorship attempts and all of that stuff that we've heard so much 00:11:50.596 --> 00:11:55.636 align:middle about that causes all of us fear and anxiety, it's important to remember that the people 00:11:55.636 --> 00:12:00.136 align:middle who are pushing that agenda are a tiny, tiny, tiny number of people. 00:12:00.916 --> 00:12:02.616 align:middle Most people love libraries. 00:12:02.916 --> 00:12:04.986 align:middle Most people, when they hear about what we do and they learn 00:12:04.986 --> 00:12:08.166 align:middle about what we do, they love them even more, right? 00:12:08.166 --> 00:12:11.616 align:middle And so what we need to do is stand together with each other. 00:12:12.136 --> 00:12:14.616 align:middle And we know that there are more of us than there are of them. 00:12:14.616 --> 00:12:16.136 align:middle We just know that, right? 00:12:16.326 --> 00:12:17.666 align:middle Who couldn't love a library? 00:12:18.006 --> 00:12:20.996 align:middle You walk into a library and they're having a butter cow carving class? 00:12:21.246 --> 00:12:22.206 align:middle Like what? 00:12:22.206 --> 00:12:27.146 align:middle My library in Brooklyn, New York, it's offering online French language learning program 00:12:27.146 --> 00:12:27.856 align:middle for adults. 00:12:27.856 --> 00:12:29.296 align:middle You can just like do it for free. 00:12:29.416 --> 00:12:30.796 align:middle What? It's amazing. 00:12:30.796 --> 00:12:32.256 align:middle Libraries are extraordinary places. 00:12:32.526 --> 00:12:37.506 align:middle So we've got each other and what I would recommend to all of you is to make sure 00:12:37.506 --> 00:12:41.076 align:middle that you stand with each other, that what we need right now more 00:12:41.076 --> 00:12:46.116 align:middle than anything is organized people who believe a better world is possible, 00:12:46.116 --> 00:12:50.306 align:middle who know that we can build that together and who are committed to doing it with each other. 00:12:50.986 --> 00:12:54.966 align:middle The lucky thing is that everything you've learned in library school, every skill you learn 00:12:54.966 --> 00:12:58.676 align:middle in information studies program, everything you learn at schools, when you're working 00:12:58.676 --> 00:13:01.796 align:middle in a school library, public library, academic library, all those skills, 00:13:02.206 --> 00:13:05.636 align:middle they're not just library skills, but they're world-changing and world-making skills. 00:13:06.986 --> 00:13:09.776 align:middle The way we're going to win the world that we need and the world that we want is 00:13:09.776 --> 00:13:12.576 align:middle by building the collective power of all of us. 00:13:12.576 --> 00:13:19.746 align:middle And we do that with very ordinary library skills, spreadsheets, phone calls, emails, 00:13:20.056 --> 00:13:25.766 align:middle being unbelievably persistent in the things that we want that we know we need. 00:13:26.056 --> 00:13:28.366 align:middle You know, I spent my whole career in academic libraries trying 00:13:28.366 --> 00:13:30.536 align:middle to teach people information literacy skills. 00:13:30.836 --> 00:13:34.476 align:middle You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to like send an email, send another one, 00:13:34.476 --> 00:13:37.686 align:middle make a phone call, then go to the classroom and wait outside for the faculty member 00:13:37.686 --> 00:13:39.376 align:middle to be like, "I got some good news for you. 00:13:39.376 --> 00:13:40.836 align:middle You can bring your students to the library. 00:13:40.836 --> 00:13:41.786 align:middle They'll have a great time." 00:13:42.526 --> 00:13:47.526 align:middle All those skills, library skills, but they're also world-making and world-changing skills. 00:13:47.526 --> 00:13:51.686 align:middle You've learned them at San Jose State University, you've practiced them in your work, 00:13:51.826 --> 00:13:54.886 align:middle and I'm so delighted to have all of you standing with me. 00:13:55.126 --> 00:14:01.356 align:middle And I promise to stand with you as we fight for a world where libraries get what they need 00:14:01.356 --> 00:14:04.636 align:middle so that we can serve the people and the communities in the ways that we know we can, 00:14:04.636 --> 00:14:07.556 align:middle and that we can win the world that we want. 00:14:07.556 --> 00:14:12.826 align:middle So please make sure that you keep connected to each other, that you stay connected 00:14:12.826 --> 00:14:15.026 align:middle to this extraordinary alumni network. 00:14:15.196 --> 00:14:19.276 align:middle Please invest in yourself and in your professional associations and in the bodies 00:14:19.276 --> 00:14:21.436 align:middle that keep us together, because you know what? 00:14:21.666 --> 00:14:23.486 align:middle We're going to win and you know why we're going to win? 00:14:23.486 --> 00:14:26.056 align:middle Because we're right and everybody agrees with us. 00:14:26.156 --> 00:14:30.066 align:middle So glad to have you on my team and looking forward to welcoming you into the profession. 00:14:30.066 --> 00:14:34.156 align:middle Congratulations to all of you on your hard work and to your families and friends 00:14:34.156 --> 00:14:35.456 align:middle who have supported you along the way. 00:14:35.456 --> 00:14:39.416 align:middle It's such an honor to join you all tonight and thank you so much for having me. 00:14:39.416 --> 00:14:42.416 align:middle Congratulations graduates!