WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:00.066 --> 00:00:01.346 align:middle >> I'm very excited to be here. 00:00:01.506 --> 00:00:07.986 align:middle I really appreciate this opportunity to speak where I graduated from so many years ago. 00:00:08.916 --> 00:00:14.866 align:middle I started my career as an elementary school librarian in Santa Cruz California, 00:00:15.456 --> 00:00:20.286 align:middle which was by far the best job I've ever had in my entire life. 00:00:20.606 --> 00:00:23.386 align:middle The books were right at my reading and interest level. 00:00:23.386 --> 00:00:24.476 align:middle The kids were funny. 00:00:24.806 --> 00:00:28.446 align:middle I spent my days reading "Walter the Farting Dog" to second graders, 00:00:28.446 --> 00:00:32.636 align:middle which if you've never done is one of the most rewarding 00:00:32.636 --> 00:00:34.986 align:middle and entertaining things I've ever done in my career. 00:00:34.986 --> 00:00:40.566 align:middle And if there was any way that I could afford to live in Santa Cruz, California, 00:00:40.566 --> 00:00:46.286 align:middle on $700 a month for eight months a year, I would still be doing that job today. 00:00:46.936 --> 00:00:52.596 align:middle Unfortunately, as we're seeing, we are seeing an erosion of school librarians, 00:00:52.596 --> 00:00:57.856 align:middle we are seeing an erosion of public librarians, we are seeing attacks on our profession 00:00:57.856 --> 00:01:01.376 align:middle from so many different places, and that's unfortunate. 00:01:01.606 --> 00:01:09.596 align:middle When I started my career after I graduated from San Jose, I became the library director 00:01:09.916 --> 00:01:13.526 align:middle or the library coordinator at Lincoln, California. 00:01:13.996 --> 00:01:19.136 align:middle I was able to open the Lincoln, California, Twelve Bridges Branch Library 00:01:19.136 --> 00:01:22.756 align:middle for my first job right out of college, which was an amazing job, 00:01:23.216 --> 00:01:27.906 align:middle one that I was wildly underqualified for and probably shouldn't have gotten. 00:01:27.906 --> 00:01:33.306 align:middle But I was able to get that job and I spent the first few months 00:01:33.306 --> 00:01:36.236 align:middle of that job putting together the collections. 00:01:36.886 --> 00:01:41.406 align:middle Myself and the director were the only employees of the Twelve Bridges Library. 00:01:41.796 --> 00:01:43.716 align:middle We built the collection. 00:01:43.716 --> 00:01:45.926 align:middle We wrote the collection development policies. 00:01:46.506 --> 00:01:49.036 align:middle We put together everything that went 00:01:49.036 --> 00:01:53.556 align:middle into putting together a 40,000 square foot joint use facility library. 00:01:53.556 --> 00:02:00.326 align:middle It was a joint use facility between a school district, the Sierra College community college, 00:02:00.326 --> 00:02:02.976 align:middle and the city, so it was a massive undertaking. 00:02:02.976 --> 00:02:09.356 align:middle It was one of the most insightful and exciting experiences that I've had 00:02:09.356 --> 00:02:12.846 align:middle in my career, and I'll never forget that time. 00:02:13.296 --> 00:02:18.146 align:middle However, unfortunately, I graduated in 2007. 00:02:18.146 --> 00:02:23.996 align:middle And one year after opening up our library, opening up this incredible space 00:02:24.446 --> 00:02:28.436 align:middle that we had spent so much time and so much attention in, 00:02:28.436 --> 00:02:31.716 align:middle I got to hire all the staff, I got to train all of the staff. 00:02:32.346 --> 00:02:36.466 align:middle One year in, I had to lay off half of my staff. 00:02:36.466 --> 00:02:38.626 align:middle We had to take 15% furloughs. 00:02:38.966 --> 00:02:43.446 align:middle The recession hit Lincoln, California, especially hard because it was a community 00:02:43.806 --> 00:02:48.436 align:middle that was propped up almost entirely on building fees, 00:02:48.436 --> 00:02:50.816 align:middle which of course dried up with the recession. 00:02:51.426 --> 00:02:57.576 align:middle What I learned during that time was incredible and I still take with me 00:02:57.576 --> 00:03:02.046 align:middle and is what inspired my career and where I've gone so far. 00:03:02.436 --> 00:03:08.236 align:middle I took the time to watch the police navigate this advocacy environment. 00:03:08.346 --> 00:03:15.646 align:middle The police in Lincoln, California, were one of the best paid police forces in the country. 00:03:15.646 --> 00:03:24.326 align:middle We had one of the highest police-to-public ratio in California. 00:03:24.326 --> 00:03:31.166 align:middle There was one police officer for I think every 800 residents or something ridiculous like this. 00:03:31.166 --> 00:03:36.176 align:middle The police made did an amazing job advocating for themselves, 00:03:36.176 --> 00:03:38.086 align:middle and I learned so much by watching them. 00:03:38.086 --> 00:03:40.096 align:middle They were able to bring in friends. 00:03:40.096 --> 00:03:41.416 align:middle They were able to bring in family. 00:03:41.416 --> 00:03:46.526 align:middle They were able to work within their networks to start a movement in order 00:03:46.526 --> 00:03:49.356 align:middle to keep the police fully employed. 00:03:49.356 --> 00:03:52.786 align:middle They didn't have to take their furloughs. 00:03:53.076 --> 00:03:55.726 align:middle They didn't lose their cost of living increases. 00:03:56.596 --> 00:03:58.976 align:middle They did a master class in advocacy. 00:03:58.976 --> 00:04:05.116 align:middle And what I realized during that time was I had no idea how libraries were funded. 00:04:05.536 --> 00:04:07.916 align:middle I had no idea where my paycheck came from. 00:04:07.916 --> 00:04:10.636 align:middle I had no idea how I got money for collections. 00:04:11.106 --> 00:04:17.036 align:middle And that really set me up on a career to learn advocacy. 00:04:17.726 --> 00:04:22.546 align:middle And one of the biggest things that I learned and one of the most important things that I learned 00:04:22.546 --> 00:04:28.186 align:middle within this process quite honestly is that advocacy is just about making friends. 00:04:28.186 --> 00:04:33.326 align:middle And in fact, the career that I had is entirely based upon the friends that I've made, 00:04:33.656 --> 00:04:36.656 align:middle the people that I've worked with, the people who have inspired me. 00:04:37.066 --> 00:04:41.406 align:middle And so, what I want to do is I want to encourage everyone to take the time 00:04:41.406 --> 00:04:43.406 align:middle to make friends in your professional career. 00:04:44.046 --> 00:04:47.566 align:middle One of the first things that I did was join ALA. 00:04:47.986 --> 00:04:50.586 align:middle I became an ALA emerging leader. 00:04:50.936 --> 00:04:54.126 align:middle I knew nobody in the profession. 00:04:54.216 --> 00:04:57.936 align:middle When I graduated San Jose, we were partially online. 00:04:58.386 --> 00:05:00.646 align:middle And so, I didn't build a lot of networks. 00:05:00.646 --> 00:05:04.786 align:middle I didn't build a lot of connections within my time at San Jose. 00:05:05.166 --> 00:05:07.896 align:middle But I was able to join ALA. 00:05:07.896 --> 00:05:11.476 align:middle I had opportunities to go to the conferences. 00:05:11.796 --> 00:05:14.916 align:middle I became involved in the California Library Association. 00:05:15.306 --> 00:05:23.606 align:middle I got involved in so many different things that that allowed me to build my networks 00:05:23.606 --> 00:05:25.706 align:middle and make friends within the profession. 00:05:25.756 --> 00:05:31.016 align:middle From that, we started holding these houses every ALA conference. 00:05:31.196 --> 00:05:35.036 align:middle I was a poor early graduate. 00:05:35.116 --> 00:05:40.136 align:middle I wasn't making very much money. 00:05:40.676 --> 00:05:52.216 align:middle I think I was taking home maybe $24,000 a year at most after all the furloughs 00:05:52.216 --> 00:05:55.416 align:middle and after all the cuts that I had had to take during the recession. 00:05:56.006 --> 00:05:58.546 align:middle And so, going to the conference was difficult. 00:05:58.816 --> 00:06:06.586 align:middle When I met somebody named JP who invited me to a house, 00:06:06.986 --> 00:06:11.636 align:middle a VRBO that we would have at every conference. 00:06:11.636 --> 00:06:16.096 align:middle And we would cram like 20 other librarians into these houses. 00:06:16.396 --> 00:06:19.926 align:middle And we would hang out and we would get to know each other and we would talk 00:06:19.926 --> 00:06:23.026 align:middle about the amazing things that were happening at the conferences and what we were learning 00:06:23.026 --> 00:06:25.026 align:middle and where to go and what to do next. 00:06:25.496 --> 00:06:30.536 align:middle And it became a really close-knit tight network. 00:06:30.536 --> 00:06:37.746 align:middle And then, we started to keep in contact on Facebook in a group 00:06:37.746 --> 00:06:42.606 align:middle that we called the ALA Drink Tank, which turned into ALA Think Tank, 00:06:42.606 --> 00:06:45.766 align:middle which I think now is called Library Think Tank ALA on Facebook 00:06:45.766 --> 00:06:49.286 align:middle and now is filled with 60,000 plus librarians. 00:06:49.286 --> 00:06:53.986 align:middle If you aren't a part of ALA Think Tank, that is its genesis story. 00:06:53.986 --> 00:06:55.026 align:middle That's where it came from. 00:06:55.536 --> 00:07:00.396 align:middle Me and three other people got together at conferences and that was really it. 00:07:00.716 --> 00:07:03.946 align:middle And through that network, through those connections, 00:07:03.946 --> 00:07:06.376 align:middle through meeting those people throughout my profession, 00:07:06.766 --> 00:07:12.396 align:middle I had an amazing time getting involved in things like ALA Council, 00:07:12.566 --> 00:07:18.686 align:middle getting involved on the CLA board or CLA conferences and getting to know 00:07:18.686 --> 00:07:21.436 align:middle so many amazing people throughout this profession. 00:07:21.436 --> 00:07:26.506 align:middle And what I really learned was that all the advocacy work that I was interested in doing, 00:07:26.506 --> 00:07:34.126 align:middle all the networking is what really allowed me to do the sort of political power building, 00:07:34.126 --> 00:07:38.646 align:middle to launch projects that I never thought that I would be able to do otherwise. 00:07:38.646 --> 00:07:45.616 align:middle We were able to apply and receive grants for projects 00:07:45.616 --> 00:07:49.026 align:middle that I never thought I would be able to do within the profession. 00:07:49.026 --> 00:07:54.786 align:middle And it all came quite honestly from going out and just making friends. 00:07:55.166 --> 00:07:59.786 align:middle We would go out into the communities that I served. 00:07:59.936 --> 00:08:07.666 align:middle I was a library manager in East Palo Alto, California, for San Mateo County. 00:08:07.666 --> 00:08:13.126 align:middle I also managed the Portola Valley Library, the Atherton Library, 00:08:13.256 --> 00:08:17.846 align:middle and the Millbury Library all for San Mateo County. 00:08:17.846 --> 00:08:23.316 align:middle And the most inspiring thing, the thing that got me most excited about my job and the thing 00:08:23.316 --> 00:08:27.746 align:middle that allowed me to do so many things within my communities was going out 00:08:27.746 --> 00:08:30.546 align:middle and making friends with people in my community. 00:08:30.546 --> 00:08:39.166 align:middle I wasn't attempting to do anything beyond making friends, having these connections 00:08:39.166 --> 00:08:45.106 align:middle that allowed me to do great things that brought our community together, 00:08:46.166 --> 00:08:51.286 align:middle small things even that I felt were really inspirational just for me and my work 00:08:51.286 --> 00:08:56.456 align:middle and kept me motivated in my work and kept me excited about going to work every day. 00:08:56.896 --> 00:09:00.536 align:middle In East Palo Alto, we brought people together 00:09:00.536 --> 00:09:05.746 align:middle and we did simple little things like we had taco cookoffs. 00:09:05.846 --> 00:09:12.656 align:middle We had sweet potato pie cookoffs, silly things like that, 00:09:12.656 --> 00:09:16.146 align:middle which developed into more connections, which allowed me to bring 00:09:16.146 --> 00:09:21.836 align:middle in a guitar collection into the library. 00:09:22.066 --> 00:09:26.056 align:middle And we're just building on these connections and building on these relationships. 00:09:26.486 --> 00:09:29.496 align:middle It really helped me move so many things forward. 00:09:29.496 --> 00:09:33.046 align:middle And when I look at some of the most successful people within the profession, 00:09:33.376 --> 00:09:37.856 align:middle the people that inspire me the most, the people that get me excited, they're the people 00:09:37.856 --> 00:09:42.546 align:middle who have gone out and built those relationships and met people and had friends. 00:09:42.926 --> 00:09:51.106 align:middle When we founded EveryLibrary, it entirely came from me meeting John Chrastka 00:09:51.106 --> 00:09:54.326 align:middle who is the executive director of EveryLibrary. 00:09:54.756 --> 00:09:58.606 align:middle We invited him to stay at our houses. 00:09:58.606 --> 00:10:04.296 align:middle He was the director of memberships for ALA. 00:10:04.796 --> 00:10:07.146 align:middle And so, he brought in a lot of connections. 00:10:07.146 --> 00:10:13.746 align:middle And when you look at how the police, going back to Lincoln, California, how the police were able 00:10:13.746 --> 00:10:20.226 align:middle to do such an amazing job advocating for police funding within that community, 00:10:20.226 --> 00:10:26.236 align:middle it had nothing to do with anything except that they had personal close-tied relationships 00:10:26.236 --> 00:10:27.956 align:middle to everybody within their community. 00:10:28.216 --> 00:10:29.256 align:middle They knew people. 00:10:29.256 --> 00:10:31.586 align:middle They had relationships that they could rely on, 00:10:31.846 --> 00:10:35.756 align:middle people who would come up and stand up and defend them. 00:10:35.966 --> 00:10:43.976 align:middle And I see so many times that librarians are asked to advocate for libraries. 00:10:43.976 --> 00:10:51.396 align:middle I see so many times that the burden of the work, of the emotional work of defending libraries, 00:10:51.396 --> 00:10:54.586 align:middle of defending democracy is getting put onto librarians 00:10:54.586 --> 00:10:58.896 align:middle and library workers over and over and over again. 00:10:58.896 --> 00:11:01.706 align:middle And quite honestly, we need the community to stand up for us. 00:11:01.706 --> 00:11:05.856 align:middle We need community members to feel like they're a part of the work that we're doing. 00:11:06.556 --> 00:11:11.566 align:middle We need people to come towards us, to work with us, to believe in us. 00:11:11.566 --> 00:11:18.686 align:middle And that entirely happens, all of that advocacy work, all the incredible things that we need 00:11:18.686 --> 00:11:24.316 align:middle to do to keep our libraries funded at the base level is just about making friends. 00:11:25.556 --> 00:11:30.766 align:middle When we're seeing librarians attacked, the National Archivists being fired, 00:11:30.976 --> 00:11:39.816 align:middle IMLS being defunded, when we're seeing Carla Hayden being attacked, people are standing 00:11:39.816 --> 00:11:44.226 align:middle up for Carla Hayden not just because she's the Librarian of Congress, 00:11:44.226 --> 00:11:48.196 align:middle but because people respect Carla Hayden, people love Carla Hayden 00:11:48.196 --> 00:11:51.696 align:middle because she is somebody that you can be friends with. 00:11:52.216 --> 00:11:55.526 align:middle She is somebody that people enjoy being around. 00:11:55.526 --> 00:11:59.996 align:middle She has great connections because she is truly a good person. 00:11:59.996 --> 00:12:05.606 align:middle And I don't think that we can get that kind of support 00:12:05.956 --> 00:12:08.346 align:middle without making friends within our profession. 00:12:08.776 --> 00:12:11.766 align:middle And so, I want to just take a moment, I want to take my time to talk to you. 00:12:11.766 --> 00:12:15.636 align:middle I do teach an advocacy class at San Jose. 00:12:16.116 --> 00:12:21.486 align:middle One of the most important things that I hope students take away from that class is 00:12:21.546 --> 00:12:26.506 align:middle that advocacy is really when it all comes down to it standing up for our profession, 00:12:26.506 --> 00:12:31.696 align:middle refunding our profession, fighting against these attacks in our profession. 00:12:31.696 --> 00:12:35.406 align:middle It's really about how many friends do we have, 00:12:35.826 --> 00:12:38.656 align:middle people that we can count on, people that we can rely on. 00:12:38.976 --> 00:12:47.006 align:middle And so, I would love for us to take this time to use our career to make friends, 00:12:47.006 --> 00:12:52.556 align:middle to build relationships, to create networks that help us move our profession forward 00:12:52.556 --> 00:12:56.146 align:middle because the only way that we're going to be able to do this, the only way that we're going 00:12:56.146 --> 00:12:59.576 align:middle to be able to succeed is if we have the friends to do it. 00:12:59.956 --> 00:13:05.096 align:middle Libraries are at its base a community organization. 00:13:05.096 --> 00:13:06.546 align:middle We are about our community. 00:13:07.026 --> 00:13:08.536 align:middle Be a friend to your community. 00:13:08.836 --> 00:13:10.196 align:middle Make friends with your community. 00:13:10.196 --> 00:13:12.286 align:middle Bring your community into your libraries. 00:13:12.756 --> 00:13:17.466 align:middle And that is how we can rebuild what has been damaged so much 00:13:17.466 --> 00:13:19.516 align:middle in the last few years in librarianship. 00:13:19.826 --> 00:13:21.056 align:middle I know we can do it. 00:13:21.436 --> 00:13:24.276 align:middle I know we can work together. 00:13:24.706 --> 00:13:27.986 align:middle I'm very excited about what's coming of this. 00:13:27.986 --> 00:13:33.686 align:middle Like never before have we ever seen libraries this involved in the public discourse. 00:13:34.426 --> 00:13:38.506 align:middle In all of the library work that I've been doing over the last -- 00:13:38.506 --> 00:13:39.656 align:middle I don't want to say how many years -- 00:13:39.656 --> 00:13:46.426 align:middle since 2007, I have never seen an opportunity the way we have it right now for people 00:13:46.426 --> 00:13:50.336 align:middle who are coming to us, who are stepping up, 00:13:50.546 --> 00:13:53.276 align:middle who are speaking up on our behalf out of our community. 00:13:53.276 --> 00:13:57.076 align:middle And again, that all comes from our relationships to our communities, 00:13:57.076 --> 00:14:02.596 align:middle and I think that's even demonstrated as previously discussed before, Mychal Threets, 00:14:02.926 --> 00:14:07.676 align:middle leading with that love, leading with that compassion is really what's going 00:14:07.676 --> 00:14:12.186 align:middle to move our profession forward and keep us involved in our communities and allow us 00:14:12.186 --> 00:14:15.626 align:middle to do the work and the important work that we need to do in our communities. 00:14:15.726 --> 00:14:18.026 align:middle So, please thank you so much for having me. 00:14:18.066 --> 00:14:21.076 align:middle I'm so excited to be here speaking to you all. 00:14:22.096 --> 00:14:24.196 align:middle Please, make friends with your communities.