School Library Life with Katy from The Mindful Librarian

In my incredibly unbiased opinion, school librarians are awesome people. They love reading, learning, and sharing their passions with others. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that there are several school librarians here on Substack sharing their stories and musings on librarianship and a whole host of other topics. I set out to interview some of my favorite school librarian Substack writers (Substackers? Stackers?) to learn about their journeys and share our profession with readers who want to learn more about school library life.

The Mindful Librarian was one of my first subscribes after joining Substack. I love receiving Katy’s book recommendations and thoughtful reflections every few days. Her September article about living a life of playful rebellion captures the spirit I want to embody for my students and for myself. Katy has been a school librarian for 10 years and is currently a middle school librarian in western Wisconsin. Check out her story below!

Jennie: Tell me about your journey to school librarianship.

Katy: I actually earned my original undergraduate degree in accounting back in 2002, before transitioning to education via a business education teaching licensure program. Over the years I also obtained my special education and reading teaching licenses before moving into the school library world and earning my MSEd in Information, Technology and Libraries. I have since worked as a K-12 district librarian, elementary librarian in different schools, and am now working as a middle school librarian.

Jennie: What’s your favorite part of the job?

Katy: Getting to spread my obsessive love of BOOKS! I also love that there are different kinds of work to keep me from ever getting bored - computer work, shelving, teaching, etc. I will never sit all day at a desk in this job!

Jennie: If you could go back in time and give your new librarian self a piece of advice, what would it be?

Katy: Keep the focus on the books at all times! Even when teaching technology lessons, how can this technology be tied into literacy and reading? For example, in my lesson I just did about AI and chatbots, I created a custom book recommendation chatbot in MagicSchool to allow authentic and relevant library use, and students got book recommendations along with practice in prompting a chatbot. My rule is to never “teach the technology” but instead teach how to use the technology to achieve an educational / book-related task.

Jennie: Your AI lesson sounds amazing, and I’m sure your students appreciated using AI in an authentic way. What drives your interaction with students? (Teacher initiation? School curriculum? A set class in the library?)

Katy: My middle school has a fixed library schedule, with each ELA class scheduled for one class period per week. I teach lessons every other week, followed by a short check-out session, with the alternating weeks being just check-out. On the just check-out weeks, the teachers have the option of coming in for that and then leaving to go back to their rooms, or staying and working on other classwork or cuddling up to read. That equals out to about 2 lessons per month. I teach based on my library curriculum, but adapt as needed for authentic collaboration, such as a graphic novels unit my 6th grade team is working on and all research lessons.

Jennie: How has being a school librarian impacted your reading life?

Katy: My range is so much more broad than it otherwise would be! I read outside of my comfort zone all the time to be able to recommend books and it makes me a very well-rounded reader.

Jennie: Why should every school have a school librarian?

Katy: Maintaining the physical and digital collection of resources that every child deserves requires a full-time staff member who is not only able to professionally curate this collection, but also promote it to the staff and student body. In addition, the librarian is the one who can most effectively train staff and students on how to use the library catalog to find the best books for them, use the digital resources purchased for the school, use effective research skills, and spread the love of books far and wide.

Caption: Katy’s middle school library

Thank you, Katy, for sharing your school library life with me!

Stay tuned for more school librarian interviews.

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