The Importance of Librarians – Reflections from AASL Conference

I had the immense privilege to attend the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Conference in St. Louis this past week. Librarians and Library Media Specialists have always been an important part of my life. As a former English teacher, I collaborated with our librarian to help students find a fit for their interests, engage in persuasive research, use best practices when discerning trustworthy sources, and much more. In addition, I am honored to be married to a certified librarian.

However, after three days of talking to some of the most brilliant librarians in the field at AASL, I saw how the role is more important than ever. Below are some of the key takeaways from AASL that reinforced this concept for me.

Librarians Advocate for a Diverse Collection to Benefit Students

One refrain I heard loud and clear in both the sessions that were offered and from the folks who I talked to at the conference – books belong in libraries and not pulled due to challenges over their protagonists. Often, these challenges are about characters and stories that share perspectives of the oppressed and marginalized, and critics zero in on minute details to try and justify their censorship. Librarians all over the conference shared stories of how to push back against unfounded book challenges and defend these stories. In fact, our GamestormEDU table was right next to the organization We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit focused on providing books and resources to libraries all over the world.

At GamestormEDU, we share this sentiment about diverse stories needing to be told. It’s why our characters come from diverse backgrounds, and we designed them in partnership with members of those communities. We created our Travis the Tracker character with Dr. Marcus Lewis, a Ho-Chunk Nation tribe member. We offer lesson plans about creating celebratory cultural representations rather than problematic ones too. 

Librarians Wear All of the Hats – Even Dungeon Masters!

Talking with library media specialists over the course of the conference revealed that they are asked to do a bit of everything in their library spaces. Librarians are often the go-to designers of digital literacy curriculum. They set the tone for artificial intelligence conversations, policy, and best practices. And, often we heard that librarians sponsor and/or host the after school board game clubs and DnD clubs too! 

With this in mind, GamestormEDU always wants to ensure we do everything we can to ease that burden on library media specialists. If you are looking for a way to onboard students into board games, and DnD, our Gamestormers game is an easy-to-learn yet engaging way to enter the hobby space. If you want to explore social media literacy using game-based learning, our Doomscroll game helps students understand how companies try to keep us on our screens in order to sell us products. The best part? We have quick videos to teach the games so you don’t have to master it yourselves!

Librarians are More Important Than Ever and Deserve Support

Sadly, one topic that came up a number of times during the conference was the dwindling support for library media specialists across the K-12 and higher ed space. Often, districts and institutions see librarians as a position they can cut and simply ask another LMS to cover multiple buildings or even an entire district themselves. Or, librarians lose their library assistants and aids, meaning they have less time to co-teach, design innovative programs, and more because they are tasked with collection management and checkouts.

At GamestormEDU, we’ve seen firsthand the significance of library media specialists on student achievement. We collaborate with librarians to bring unique, playful learning to students. We share out the research studies that show how having librarians in schools increases student achievement and literacy. If you need an advocate for your library media program or defending your librarian positions, we are here to help. It’s the least we can do for the individuals who have such a profound impact on our learners. 

Thank you librarians!