Applying a Critical Lens on I Read Canadian Day

I believe the world needs more Canada.

~Bono

This year schools, school libraries, public libraries, families and more celebrated the first ever I Read Canadian Day on February 19th, 2020.

It was a fun and exciting event that will only grow with each year's planning and programming. I really enjoyed curating the books from all sections within our library learning commons in anticipation of the day. 

It also helped bring to light same gaps within our collection. As with everything we do in the library learning commons, we need to look at the collection with an eye to how the books reflect the community and provide an opportunity for readers to see themselves in the books they read. It's also important to include examples of Own Voices. This is a good article with a description of Own Voices if you are unfamiliar. 

As I was curating our collection, I really struggled to find books written by Black Canadian authors. While there as been a concentrated effort to increase our collection of books with Black main characters and books written by Black authors until the onset of I Read Canadian Day I hadn't intentionally looked to see if Black Canadian authors were represented in our collection. 

This led me to think that I also need to take the time to see what other cultures within Canada may not be represented by Canadian authors in our collection. Again, this is an area where we have worked to increase the collection overall but without an eye to Canadian authors specifically.

If I Read Canadian Day has done nothing else, it has given me another lens to which I can use to critically evaluate the collection within our school library. 

I ordered 300 maple leaf stickers to add to the cover/spine of books in our collection in anticipation of I Read Canadian Day and was surprised as I began to pull books from the collection how many there were and that I ran out of stickers.

As I was pulling books to add the maple leaf stickers another opportunity to think critically about the collection, specifically the movement to decolonize the library.

A good article about this idea can be found here. 

I wondered whether I should put a maple leaf on any of the books

 we have in the collection by an Indigenous author? 

Was I creating a situation that would cause harm to 

authors who do not identify as Canadian? 

I read this article by Tanya Talaga today and my worries continued to grow. 

I ended up putting maple leaf stickers on the books by Indigenous authors because I wanted them to be easily found and noticed by students and educators as they came to choose their books for I Read Canadian Day. 

I hope I haven't caused harm but if I have I will work to undo that harm and learn from it. 

I will work to find another way to highlight these authors in a 

way that is respectful and honours their voices.

But for this first I Read Canadian Day it was all new territory and 

I didn't want them to be shut out, forgotten or ignored. 

“Do the best you can until you know better. 

Then when you know better, do better.” —Maya Angelou

All I can hope for is that I did the best I can for this first I Read Canadian Day and that by the time next year comes around I will know more, our collection with have grown and I can continue to share a love of Canadian literature with our school community. 

Motion. Action. Reaction.

An object in motion tends to stay in motion. 

An object at rest tends to stay at rest.

~Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion.

I picked out my one word for February while I was at the OLA Super Conference a few weeks ago but just haven't made time to blog about it. 

I haven't made time... not because I am inordinately busy but because time seems to be out of sorts these days. 

For my February one word I chose - MOTION. 

I initially thought it would be a great follow up to January's word - RENEW.

After working to renew different habits and create goals, motion felt like a great choice to keep my momentum moving forward. 

Now having been on the picket line for 3 days in the last 2 weeks (I missed Jan 31st as I was at OLASC) and a 4th day looming on Thursday the word motion seems to have taken on an entire new meaning. 

I am a creature of habit and routine. I like schedules. 

I like organizing. I like things in their place. 

The last 3 weeks have been anything but routine.

OLASC always comes at a great point in the school year because it is just about  halfway through.

It's a great opportunity to reflect on the first term and goals that have been achieved (or missed). It's a great time for new learning to be soaked up and there's still time to implement new programs or initiatives back at school.

This year, however, we returned from OLASC and jumped full force into strike days and job action. 

In Peel, we have been striking on Tuesdays and Thursdays which means that our week is very odd. 

Last week we had a PA Day on Friday and this coming Monday is Family Day.

I miss seeing my students in the library. I miss chatting about books. I miss diving into inquiries with classes.

It's all still happening of course but it feels very piecemeal and fractured.

For every action there is an equal opposite reaction.

~Isaac Newton's 3rd Law of Motion

Motion has come to mean something a little different in the past weeks.

Motion means walking for 3 hours with my colleagues on the picket line each day.

Motion means venturing down to the staff room for lunch as all the clubs hosted in the library space are on hold.

Motion means driving my daughters to a different day care every other day depending on if we are in school or on strike.

Motion means checking in on each other. Motion is finding time to do something good for the soul.

Motion is trying to slow your mind at night so you can sleep.

(This one is especially hard for me... after years on battling insomnia during times of stress I still haven't found a solution.)

Motion is talking, sharing, explaining, justifying.

Motion.