As educators, school librarians, and professionals we have all had the training necessary to properly do our jobs. Training for classroom management. Training for library best practices. Training on new and emerging technologies. Those professional development and learning opportunities came in handy during our daily routines and interactions with our students. We were able to pull resources, find books, create displays, and create a space for our students in our school libraries.
Never in a million years did we imagine that we had not received all of the training we would need to educate and serve our students. Never could anyone have imagined what would be required of us in 2020. We never had the training to learn how to teach and run a school library through a global pandemic. We never had training in best practices to educate children and teens through an economic crisis. Our training may have been limited, and was more likely nonexistent, on how to have difficult conversations with our students about the racial strife, protests, and political landscape we experienced all at the same time.
However, school librarians across the country have risen to new heights to serve their students, faculty, staff, and even families during the last two years. In the September/October issue of Knowledge Quest, you’ll find stories of school librarians during some of their most vulnerable times, sharing their learning and how they were able to serve their students. The issue features articles on implementing mindfulness, social-emotional learning, and collaboration during unprecedented times.
We encourage you, rather than making a return to normal, to reach for better!
About the Content Experts
Ashley Cooksey (she/her/hers) is the director of the Technology Learning Center and an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Arkansas. She is also a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher. Ashley is a member of the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media and is chair of its leadership development committee and public relations committee. She was awarded the Pat McDonald Outstanding Individual
Achievement Award from AAIM in 2019 and the Technology Leader of the Year Award from AAIM in 2021. Ashley was named an AASL Social Media Superstar, Advocacy Ambassador, in 2018. She authored the December 2020 School Library Connection article “Coding through Picture Books.” She is a member of AASL.
Jennifer Luetkemeyer (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor of library science at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. She is a member of AASL and is serving on the School Library Research Editorial Board. She is also the treasurer-elect of ALA’s Library Research Round Table (LRRT) and is a member of the communications committee for LRRT. She coauthored “Leading with Care: Sustaining Colleagues and Students in Times of Crisis” in the April 2021 issue of Journal of Curriculum & Pedagogy, “Building Nurses’ Resilience to Trauma through Contemplative Practices” for the December 2020 issue of Creative Nursing, and “It’s Not What You Think, but How You Think: Cultivating Inquiry in the Digital Age” in the Autumn 2020 issue of Media Education Research Journal. She also authored “Leveraging High-Interest Graphic Novels to Address Reading Motivation and Student Engagement” for the February 2021 issue of Teacher Librarian and “Thirty Minutes Is a Small Price to Pay: Care, Creativity, and Community-Building” (in preprint) for Education for Information.
Knowledge Quest, Volume 50, No. 1 – Health and Healing in the School Library: A Return to Better?
Features
Health and Healing in the School Library: A Return to Better?
Ashley Cooksey and Jennifer Luetkemeyer
Incorporating Mindfulness in the School Library Three Ways
Traci Chun, Ashley Cooksey, and Lynn Kleinmeyer
Health and Healing Articles
Managing the Unprecedented: How School Librarians Rose to the Challenge of a Topsy-Turvy Year
Jennifer Luetkemeyer, Jhenelle Robinson, Karina Quilantan-Garza, and Erika Long
2020 in the School Library: The Power of Collaboration
Dr. Joel Hoag and Dinah Wade
Article
Pushing Forward while Treading Water: Things You Can Do to Help Your School in Times of Uncertainty
Kristin Fontichiaro and Wendy Steadman Stephens
Columns
Research into Practice Column
Understanding What Makes School Librarian-Teacher Collaboration Successful
Jenna Kammer, Allison Donahay, Matt King, and Heather Koeberl
CBC Column
Mouse’s Last Visit
Dori Hillestad Butler
Departments
President’s Column
Health and Healing in the School Library
Jennisen Lucas
KQ Editorial Board Liaison
The Importance of Self-Care
Cassandra Barnett
Author: Ashley Cooksey and Jennifer Luetkemeyer
Categories: KQ Content
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