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With the adoption of Common Core State Standards in the vast majority of states, youth librarians are looking at and thinking hard about the impact for public libraries of this sweeping educational change.  The trepidation some feel is palpable. Do we need to change our approach, our collections, or the manner in which we work with our schools and families?

While I don't have all the answers, I am fairly sanguine about this educational change.  I have been working through various reading paradigms (Reading Recovery! Fountas and Pinnell! Lexile Levels!) throughout my career. I have adapted to whatever my local districts have adopted - I figure it's my job to connect kids and books and that's what I do with a joy and with a vengeance.

Not for me the intricate educationalese. I am the big picture person at the public library that listens to the query and the quest and provides just the right resources for the seeker. CCSS is no different in my opinion.

I took part in an unconference focus group on CCSS at the SLJ Think Tank on April 5 in New York. I was reassured in my thoughts during that hour. This group discussed what CCSS means to public libraries and came up with a helpful array of visions, solutions and ideas to help us navigate through the sea change.

My take-aways?

• As public librarians, while we need to be aware of the standards, we do not necessarily have to KNOW the standards to be effective in our reader's advisory and recommendations.

• As a corollary, public libraries don't need to be schools or function on that level to support CCSS. We are and remain an access point for materials.

• We are children's literature experts and, as such, can connect kids and school staff with great fiction and non-fiction books on multiple subjects and levels.

• Don't get lost in lists of exemplars and booklists that are part of CCSS support materials. Often these titles are outdated and there as examples rather than a guide for purchase.

• If you have been developing an excellent information collection that has strong narrative or literary non-fiction (think of many excellent and award winning nonfiction by authors like Freedman, Adler, Sheinkin, Kerley, Sayre and more), you are ready.

• If your non-fiction collection is weak, make the case in light of CCSS for increased budget money to strengthen it. 

• Communication with local schools to be aware of changes in assignments for grade levels (for instance, biography taught in 2nd grade rather than 5th grade; space science addressed in 3th grade rather than 4th grade) helps with collection building to meet the needs of community kids. If you can't get the information from busy librarian/classroom staff, reach out to the Director of Curriculum to update you.

• Support of school media colleagues and school staff can be as simple as keeping dialog open and asking your colleagues how you can support them.

• Seek out collaborative learning opportunities with your school colleagues or ask to attend some of their meetings to bring you up to speed.

• Consider STEAM and STEM programs that connect kids to amazing non-fiction that opens up the wonder of these books. It connects you to Common Core in a fun way. Abby Johnson wrote an American Libraries column on this and Amy Koester at the Show-Me Librarian has been blogging about outstanding science programs for some time.

• Browse the beginning of the excellent Information Fluency Continuum document,  a librarian's perspective based on Barbara Stripling's 2003 work.

• Look at Mary Ann Cappiello's Teaching with Text Sets for another perspective on how CCSS is approached.

I find myself excited about the change and the focus on literary non-fiction, a type of book I hold deep and abiding respect for.  I don't fear the reaper.  How about you?

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For me, one of the most challenging aspects of being a manager is working to reach beyond what is in front of us and visioning out towards the future.  It is so deuced easy to start slipping into the quicksand of desk work, deadlines, tough patron interactions, cranky colleagues, and the day-to-day grind.  As we slip further in, energy is expended in just trying to get through the hour, the day, the week, the month.

Vision? I got no time for that!

Yet, it is this big picture thinking that really informs and advances our services. Staff at all levels at libraries of all sizes that practice big picture thinking and visioning create innovative, reflective, responsive and deep library services.

I have been thinking alot about this over the past month since attending the School Library Journal Think Tank. The speakers, the library leaders I chatted with and worked with that day and the think tank itself were all helping us focus on that larger picture.  Inspirational? Oh yes. Transformative? Uh-huh? Usable? Absolutely.

Our keynote speech was by Pan Sandian Smith of Colorado's Anythink Libraries. Her words lit a fire for me. Joanna wrote a blog post at So-Cal Library Connections on the day summarizing speakers and including reports from the Think Tank unconference as well. Other reports came from Amy at Show Me Librarian (here, here and here) and Michelle at Lit Chat for Kids. Those big picture thoughts surrounded us and enlivened us. They gave me more than food for thought. Linda Braun's recent post at YALSA also underscored the importance of thinking big and deep and far beyond the day-to-day and into the future.

All these resources helped me focus and re-commit to the big picture at our library. We have now formed three "mini-teams" in our department. Each two person team focuses on an age group - preschool; school-age; teen/tween. We meet weekly and are discussing all aspects of service to each age group from programs, collections, outreach, reader's advisory, and stealth programs to PR, special initiatives, focus and dreams. We share the notes from the mini-meetings among us and have already begun the delightful work of visioning and big picture thinking. We'll plunge into summer with a much clearer picture of where we want to go and how we might do it.

In fall, we'll bring all the team together off-site for a half-day to reflect, brainstorm and bring these big picture views together and see where we want to go as a department.  I am excited to help bring this focus further out.

While I am fond of my nose, it seldom brings me to a larger view of the youth librarianship world. Thank goodness my colleagues help inspire me so that I can help all of us look farther, longer, deeper and fresher!

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