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| Photo by Lidya Nada on Unsplash |
Attending the WLA Conference is always a treat–seeing old friends, meeting new folks, and getting lots and lots and lots of amazing ideas. More to follow over the next few weeks, but here’s a quick starter.
I want to leave you with three small nuggets that we could use to make our libraries more inclusive:
- Aimee Schreiber from the Sparta Public Library recommends cutting up the stretchy therapy bands to give to kids to stretch and work with, especially kids who need more sensory input in order to concentrate during storytime.
- Our own Jenna Gilles Turner from the Chippewa Falls Public Library talked about doing fingerplays that use pronouns (5 Little Monkeys, for instance), and switching out pronouns to use he, she, AND they to help get kids used to this as an option for a personal pronoun.
- Dr. Alexandra Hall talked about bathrooms for non-binary people and how difficult it can be to figure out which bathroom would be safest to use. Many libraries have a single stall restroom they can make gender-neutral, but some libraries don’t have that option in their building. Dr. Hall suggested a sign on the door “Private restroom available, please ask at the desk” as a possible work-around–allowing people to use the staff bathroom if necessary.