Challenge accepted

The beginning of the pandemic was scary and uncertain, but it was also a time to create and innovate. The clerk and I knew that the library services must go on during these times to serve our students. For 2 1/2 months, we were completely online with weekly recorded story time for our kindergarten students, Lunch Bunch Book Club for some of our fourth and fifth grade students including hangman (guess the book title), an online author visit, virtual makerspace, online “What Should I Read Now?” for Readers Advisory, an eBook Library with links, Virtual Field Trip links, and daily book discussions.

Students had daily prompts, and they could post a booktalk, book trailer, or a book review. They could list and talk about their favorite book or post what they were currently reading on a Padlet. We had an online Easter egg hunt through the digital pages of the platform we used.

After reading the book Chalk by Bill Thomson and drawing a dinosaur on the sidewalk, we challenged students to do the same. We had a LEGO challenge and participated in National Poem in Your Pocket Day ALL ONLINE! Once we were back at school in August 2020, we checked out books to all classes weekly and had story time for our lower grade students in the school library. We purchased “dots” for the floor and spaced them as directed. We had curbside checkout for digital students and took the WHOLE book fair outside one day for families to come shop.

Yes, it was challenging, [but] it was also exciting, an enormous success, and a time for our community to come together.

—Sharon Britt, school library media specialist,Parsons Elementary School, Suwanee, GA

Pivot!

When I first heard we would be closing the school buildings due to COVID, I immediately began examining ways to keep the students and community involved in our library programming from home. I created a series of virtual field trips called Journey with Jones. If the community couldn’t venture out into the world due to quarantine, I wanted to bring the world to them. What started off as a fun series has evolved into an integral part of my library programming, in which I collaborate with teachers at my school to use virtual field trips in order to help them meet the content standards. I don’t know that I’d have had the time to create something so impactful from scratch if we hadn’t been quarantined. Watching school librarians pivot to meet the needs of students and families during COVID and online learning was inspiring to watch.

—Amanda Jones, 2021 School Librarian of the Year, middle school librarian, Louisiana

Books to go

One thing I will never forget from lockdown is how important curbside holds were. People couldn’t come into the building, but they could still place holds online or by phone. We had so many books on hold that we set up lines of tables in the atrium and put holds there, since we didn’t have enough space on our holdshelf. It was heartening to see how important books and the library were in people’s lives, and it was nice to be able to provide that service and stability, especially in such a chaotic time.

—Stephani Moss, youth services librarian trainee, Henrietta (NY) Public Library

Meeting people at-need

From bins of quarantine books to curated individuated print materials (no sharing allowed!) and digital resources with easy access as students maneuvered their new 1-to-1 technology, it was far from the view of librarianship I’d dreamed of in grad school. Yet, it was the nature of flexibility, meeting people at-need, and adapting my instruction that taught me that true librarianship can flex and grow with the nature of the day. And my duty, in my middle school in my small corner of Texas, was to change and adapt. That’s something we all know is a skill at the heart of our profession.

—Anna Waugh, librarian, Vanston Middle School, Mesquite, TX

Playing games

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: most great things begin with librarians.

When the lockdown really set in—including for my own kids, one starting middle school, one high school—I knew I had to do, well, something. Something with books, something fun, useful to teachers… I know a bunch of authors, so maybe some sort of middle grade book trivia contest?

My first call was to Stacey “The Leaping Librarian” Rattner, and my half-baked idea grew into a full-blown game show, kid vs. author going head-to-head on one of the author’s best loved books—we’d call it Author Fan Face-off! Stacey recruited one of her students, I reached out to the awesome Chris Grabenstein, and we were off and running.

Over the next couple years, we posted more than 80 episodes, featuring some of the biggest names in our wonderfully nerdy world. The show kept me feeling connected with writers, librarians, and readers all over the country during very tough times.

—Steve Sheinkin, author

Change can be good

The term “back to normal” has been thrown out here and there since March 2020, but the impact of the pandemic has left a mark on my school library and the community I serve.

There have been some changes for the better. We’ve minimized some barriers for students to access books by increasing our ebook and audiobook collection, book collection baskets in each classroom picked up daily, and made student requests an even greater priority. Our digital outreach to parents has been strengthened with podcasts and webinars created specifically for them and their needs.

Technology use by students, bolstered by a one-to-one initiative at the onset of the pandemic, has ebbed and flowed as teachers and parents question the amount of screentime that seems to have piqued during our months of learning and teaching from home. I personally question whether digital citizenship efforts aren't lagging behind our current reality.

I’m unclear whether some changes in reading habits and stamina were caused, exacerbated by, or completely separate from impacts of the pandemic. Overall, my students are reading shorter books. There was already a draw to graphic novels of course. Manga has a wider reach than it did just a few years ago. But I'm also, when curating novels, checking the page count along with the body of the review, something that I never felt I needed to consider before. 

—Tom Bober, librarian, Captain Elementary, Clayton, MO

Bearing witness

I got through 2020 well enough that my initial feelings toward this question are self-consciousness verging on guilt. I found a way to sublimate a lot of my anxieties and concerns that year into making a picture book about bearing witness to the people I saw in New York still out and working and, well, we tried to say it in the title:Keeping the City Going. I was able to do this at my studio, in the company of studio mates Rowboat Watkins and Doug Salati. To be able to keep working in the sustaining company of friends that year was a privilege. Even so, there was no dodging all the year’s difficulties: I felt my world contract, I felt the loss of time with loved ones, I felt a sense of uncertainty that came to sit by my side for a long season. Everyone has their own version of that list. There are times I fear that year did not do my personality any good, that its demands exacerbated all my worst tendencies. There are other times I think helped make me more aware of certain important things. In that spirit, I try to keep 2020 in mind as I walk through my neighborhood in 2025, and to remain aware of who is doing what, still, to keep the city going. I try to remember the bright joy and relief of those first chances to see family and friends again once the pandemic began to loosen its grip, and to keep those memories in mind when new opportunities arise to be present with people I care about. In that way 2020 functions as a little memento mori, a new piece of my mental furniture. The clock is ticking, nothing is certain. Take the time, see the people. This has not helped all of my deadlines. I’m OK with that.

—Brian Floca, author and illustrator

Reaching out

I remember most starkly the feeling of overwhelming concern for my students, many of whom rely on school for regular meals and routine. My administration and I worked together to provide weekly video announcements so they could see our faces—we were the lone three people going up to our campus and still putting those videos out for our kids. I also recorded two or three read-alouds per week for my students to enhance our connection and continue their excitement for reading. However, having my administration really lean on me to lead us through that quick turn-around to virtual gave me a confidence in my leadership abilities, which I carried with me in the years afterward.

—Amanda Chacon, 2024 School Librarian of the Year, librarian, C.E. King High School, Houston

Anxious productivity

COVID made me fearful in a way nothing had before. I’d had some serious health scares that made me worry about being more susceptible to the virus than the average person. I withdrew from social life, even within my own household, and started to hide in my home office, writing more, reading more, worrying more. Eventually, I began to focus all my anxiety towards a more productive channel: my manuscripts. I spent more hours in the day writing, and besides old projects, created new books in new categories. The “Marya Khan” and “Must Love Pets” series, my picture book Rani’s Remarkable Day , and Mad Libs, all started in 2020. Pouring my time and emotions into my work allowed me to forget what was going on in the world around me, made me hyper productive, and resulted in my current eight-to-ten books a year schedule. My mantra now is, when life gives you lemons, write books about them!

—Saadia Faruqi, author

Screaming meanies

When my library opened back up and started allowing patrons to sit inside again, I noticed something odd; people weren’t pushing in their chairs anymore. It may seem like nothing, but to me it marked the beginning of rampant rudeness and entitlement. It escalated slowly, but noticeably. It started with the chairs, but then people decided they could just open up the printers and take as much paper as they wanted, or that drinks didn’t need to have lids anymore. Small things I could chalk up to having been cooped up for months. Then it became about the masks and “freedoms.” Fully grown, tax paying adults would be screaming at 17-year-olds because they had to wear a piece of fabric over their mouth and nose. People became caricatures of entitled creatures who fed off of service workers’ tears, and we just let it happen. None of us knew where the line was anymore or how to stand up to this cartoonish nastiness. So, we just let them scream in our faces while we kept politely asking them to lower their voices or leave. I like to think that things have gotten better since then. I don’t get screamed at nearly as often, and management has invested in some de-escalation trainings, but there’s still this underlying rudeness that society can’t seem to shake off. And they still don’t push in their chairs.

—Anonymous, public librarian, CA

Connecting virtually

When the pandemic sent us home, everything about our library had to transform. Without access to physical books, we expanded our digital collection on Sora and connected students with the public library’s resources. Platforms like Epic became invaluable, giving students access to ebooks and audiobooks when they needed them most. Our beloved book clubs went online, keeping connections alive. Open to all, these virtual gatherings became a sanctuary of normalcy and joy during uncertain times.

When most staff and students returned to school in the fall of 2020, strict mandates shuttered our physical library. Due to a medical condition, I worked from home, supporting two classes (one fifth grade and one sixth grade) of students who opted for the virtual option. At the same time, my extraordinary library associate--a brilliant MLIS-holding "book wizard"--Crystal Roel, took on the challenge of serving students without a library space. We created Book Bins filled with curated titles, QR codes for checkout, and Wakelet previews featuring book trailers. Thanks to her logistical expertise and dedication, the bins rotated weekly across classrooms. Then all teachers and students returned to in-person school in the spring of 2021.

Today, those experiences linger in increased comfort with digital tools like Canva and a new appreciation for ebooks and audiobooks. Yet, the timeless draw of our physical library endures, where personalized book recommendations and meaningful connections remain at the heart of what we do.

—Todd Burleson, school librarian, Skokie School, Winnetka, IL

A new calling

The beginning of the pandemic was a tumultuous time for me. I lost my mom to a long-term illness and had her memorial service on the last day our students had face-to-face learning for that school year, March 13, 2020. At the time, I was teaching multilingual learners as an ESL teacher, and working to provide online learning opportunities and support, while also working to help my own eighth grader and fifth grader at home with online schoolwork, all while navigating the loss of a parent. It was a challenge unlike anything I’ve experienced before or since. However, I found that working outside on my deck in the sunshine, spending quality time that I wouldn’t have had with my kids, and getting time to play games and connect with my students virtually was a special experience that bonded us in a unique way. For a teacher and mom like me who was always on the go, I cooked more for a change, and it forced me to slow down, which is one thing I actually miss about that time. Our family sat down and enjoyed three meals a day together, which was rare during the school year.

Also, my journey to librarianship happened because of COVID. The librarian at one of the schools I served decided to retire, which afforded me the opportunity to go in with her, learn the ropes without students and classes to work around, as I navigated the online catalog, and how to “be a librarian.” I am thankful for the time she set aside to help me navigate unfamiliar territory, and I am grateful that COVID-19 led me to the library, where I feel I am meant to be.

—Emily Golightly, librarian/media coordinator, Newport (NC) Elementary School

So, what was learned?

I think the cumulative effects of the pandemic are still very much with us. Students experienced unprecedented levels of anxiety and social isolation which, coupled with ineffective coping mechanisms in our education system, left an indelible mark on this entire generation.

We often heard that this was an opportunity to reinvent education, but as pandemic restrictions have been lifted, we’ve gone back to the status quo. Nothing really changed much. The students remain changed, but the system? Not so much.

Educators are also incredibly burned out from the cumulative load of the pandemic. Then when you add book challenges, school shootings, culture wars, and general disrespect for education professionals it's easy to see why so many people are looking to make a lateral move. At San Jose State University, we've seen a large increase in applications for the Teacher Librarian program and I think it's for this very reason. Both jobs can be very challenging. I think the reason that teachers wanted to get out of the classroom is because of the pressure of grading, classroom management, disrespect from parents, students, and administration, and the need to implement a variety of new programs and strategies without taking anything off their plates. 

—Jonathan Hunt, coordinator of library media services, San Diego County Office of Education
 

Love for the littles

Being separated from my littles during the first months of COVID proved to me that school librarians are valuable and we do more than encourage reading—we touch hearts! I did virtual story times, scavenger hunts through the school community, make/take STEM programming, curbside book check-in/out, and sometimes I just talked to my kids over Zoom or Google phone. Our kids need connections with people who cherish them. I hope I gave my kids some fond memories to help them deal with the PTSD they suffered through the lockdown. I know that they helped me!

—Lupe Palacios, school librarian, Robert B. Frazier Elemen tary, Houston

We endured for this?

The first day our library shut down, a staff member donned an inflatable hippo costume and rode a scooter through the stacks as if the library had morphed into an absurd version of the haunted Overlook Hotel. This early memory is both unique and universal: people striving to find joy in a strange, scary time. That brief moment of joy gave way to denial, anger, depression, and other stages of grief, mourning the loss of normality. In the five years since, masks, vaccines, school closings, social distancing, and the basic concept of public health have all become polarizing. In the U.S., we’ve suffered the very real loss of over 1.2 million very real people, but the longest lasting damage may be the cacophony of mis- and disinformation. As a result of the cruel politicization of fear and survival, I find myself nostalgic for those days in March 2020. Not just the uncanny quiet of the world but for that moment when society came together to protect one another, a time so ephemeral I wonder if it existed at all.

—Chance Lee, assistant director, Tyngsborough (MA) Public Library

When temporary became long-term

In March of 2020, I had a crazy life already and the Covid-19 shutdown just added to the unreality of it all.

When the decisions came to close the schools and have digital workdays at home, we made it work. My principal videoed herself daily doing the morning announcements and I uploaded it to our eClass page for all students and staff by 8:10 AM EST. I made videos of myself and added other staff as readers. We had discussion posts and Padlets for our 900+ students and staff to upload their thoughts and pics! We all thought it would be handled sooner rather than later, and we masked up, shopped quickly, and made it to June for summer break.

Little did we know… We would be hybrid teaching for the next two years and making it work with ebooks, BookFlix, PBS Read Alongs, PebbleGo, Storytime Online, Google docs, Google Forms, Google Slides, etc.

We lined up to get vaccinated and our school system converted an old Sears mall location into a large-scale vaccination destination. We came back in person in Fall 2020, but we had about half of our students stay out. I had K-5th specials with a Zoom connection all that school year. All masked up. And the next year, we had an option for digital and a smaller number of students chose that. Masks optional at school.

And my own crazy life; I was in the midst of a divorce, had a college senior who could not have a graduation, a college sophomore who came home to online classes, and a high school freshman who had a wacky, feral school experience. We did a lot of hibernating on the sofa with our dogs and survived together.

Thank goodness.

—Melanie Sanders, elementary school librarian, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Georgia

Keeping the love for reading alive

When the shutdown happened I decided to keep the library running so that students would have books. This continued all through the summer as well because our public libraries were not open yet. I followed research on how to keep the books clean and I would quarantine them for two weeks, having them sit apart on a cart. I didn’t necessarily clean them as I knew using the Clorox wipes would just destroy the books, so followed the quarantine of keeping them untouched for a period of two weeks. I created a system with carts and using the floors and any space I could find. I created lots of online videos for students and parents to learn how to use the online catalog system and I would come three times a week to campus, bag up as many books as they wanted and left them outside the library doors with family names on them. During my certain hours, I would then do the quarantining of the books and then reshelve.

To help parents find some great reads, I spent much of my time creating virtual shelves. I followed the librarian community online (from Facebook) and taught myself how to create these amazing rooms. (A few links below) These were very time-consuming to make, but I really enjoyed getting super creative with the pages and the community of teachers making these shared them out, which was fabulous, and I would too. So sometimes I wouldn’t have to do as much work, especially for holiday pages. So we were all really helping each other. I was so grateful for my librarian community across the world (through Facebook).

Meanwhile, when we got back to campus for the 2020/2021 school year because I teach many grades, I would teach outside for grades K and 1 and then rush home to teach online to grades 2-5 and I didn’t see the middle school students. This wasn’t easy at all and creating content was also hard. I did a lot of reading online and talking about books, but I was grateful to see the little ones in person and to provide them the opportunity to check out. As we learned more about touching books and germs, I was able to not quarantine for the full two weeks, I think I dropped my quarantine period to one week. But continued this for the most part for the rest of the year. Once I was vaccinated in April, I came back to campus to teach outside and then inside fully masked. It was nice to be back in person with the students but life in the library really changed. We didn’t use computers and I mostly just continued to read books and book talk to my students to keep the love of reading going.

While looking back on this all, I know I’m leaving out so many details. This was really such a period of time that I just got to work and did what I needed to do to keep books in the hands of my students. I was proud to do this, and I know my school was super grateful for my efforts.

—Lisa Levin, teacher librarian, Mt. Tamalpais School, Mill Valley, CA

Bad Kitty and vaccination anger

 As a K-4 librarian prior to a school Covid vaccination clinic, I printed out the free copies of Bad Kitty Gets a Shot offered online by Nick Bruel, read the story to our 1st and 2nd graders, and gave each student their own copy. Win-win: library lesson, free book to take home, and emotional support for getting a vaccination. An ultra-conservative Grandmother of one of our students took to Facebook and complained about how her granddaughter brought a book home in which a Kitty was bad because she didn’t want to get a vaccination, thereby implying that her granddaughter was bad because she didn’t get a COVID shot. The child’s parents also sent a nasty email to the principal. The principal came in for a copy of the story. After he read it, he told me not to share the story with any more classes because it goes against our district policy of not taking sides on political issues when it says, “Kitty…vaccines are good.” I pointed out to him that we were actually holding a vaccination clinic as we were speaking. I also mentioned our library selection policy, and he said that that story was not covered because it wasn’t a library book, but “just something you printed off the internet.” He told me not to use that book with any more classes. A fourth-grader came in the next day and asked if she could have a copy of “that book her little brother brought home,” so I gave her one. An administrator saw her walking back to class with that book in her hands and asked her where she had gotten it, and that turned into a REALLY BIG DEAL. I was written up; a letter of reprimand for insubordination was placed in my permanent file.

—Debbie Meservey, former library media specialist, Camden-Rockport Elementary School, Rockport, ME

Walking through COVID 

My plans to spend my seventieth birthday in Anchorage watching my sons run in a marathon around the Summer Solstice fell apart when COVID-19 hit. Instead, we registered for the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee. Since my main method of coping with the anxiety surrounding the shutdown of my college–and the world–was to pace, recording miles completed at the end of each day proved satisfying and therapeutic. I could track outdoor walking as well as the miles I accumulated while walking through the rooms of my house as I listened to innumerable Zoom meetings related to my job as a professor. On June 10, 2020, I began my solitary birthday walk along the Erie Canal path near my home. I saw a masked figure approaching who looked surprisingly like my son Christopher! He had driven from his home in western Virginia to join me. We did not hug; and later, when we sat on my front porch for an hour before he drove back to his isolated mountain home, he refused my offer to come inside for food. We did not hug goodbye. But we were each able to log miles that day that were shared and that represented love. I daresay it was more memorable than a trip to Alaska would have been. Both sons continued to encourage my walking, and it became a passion that outlasted COVID’s crisis years. I have not had a “zero day” since May 1, 2020. I collected medals as I walked my way through the virtual Circumpolar Race Around the World. And in September 2024, I completed my first marathon in North Carolina with my son Patrick; Christopher cheered us on virtually. I can truly say that I was able to walk my way through and beyond the pandemic. I am grateful.

—Sharon Kane, State University of New York at Oswego, Oswego, NY

Summer book events and student connection

When schools closed due to the pandemic, academic projects and programs were halted. To continue supporting our students, funds were redirected to the Library Media Services Department, which supports the school libraries and library staff in 141 schools. The funds were used to purchase new books to supplement our existing inventory for the year-round Book Mobile program. Beyond promoting literacy, our school librarians and teachers were eager to reconnect with their students, and the students needed to see familiar faces. For nine weeks in June and July, librarians, teachers, and staff from each school volunteered at Books 2 Kids events held at 88 schools. With PPE and portable acrylic sneeze guards in place, cars lined up for miles. At each event, tables were organized with books categorized into picture books, early readers, chapter books, and titles for middle and high school students. Some families waited up to an hour to view the books on display. Every child selected two new books to take home. Young children in car seats were offered board books. In total, 60,106 new books were distributed. Students also brought notes to their teachers and librarians, expressing their gratitude and joy.

—Jan Wilson, coordinator of library media instruction, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Suwanee, GA

Big bags of books

 On the day we found out we’d immediately be going into remote mode, we told kids they could come to the library and check out all the books they could carry. We gave out as many huge bags as we could find, and many kids took home dozens of books for what we thought would be a two-week break. It of course turned out to be much longer, but on a day with many mixed emotions and uncertainty, lots of kids went home very excited and happy with their haul.

—Bernie Morrissey, middle school librarian, The Harker School, San Jose, CA

COVID through construction

In March 2020, my school was midway through a complete renovation. My library had been moved to a temporary space, as it was changing locations in the school. At the beginning of March, we were told the library would be moving over spring break, just a few weeks away. Needless to say, even though the world shut down and we all transitioned to learning and working from home, construction continued and our library was finished. Fortunately, my district’s library services team moved our books, but the construction workers packed up the entire temporary library in boxes - without any labels! In June, my co-librarian and I were allowed to finally come to the school and unpack, trying to figure out new homes for everything from the pencil sharpener to the prize box, while keeping a safe distance from each other. While it was stressful in the moment to move to a new library during the pandemic, it actually worked out to have more time than we anticipated to acclimate ourselves and figure out the layout and flow of the space. Students and staff came back from learning from home to a finished building and a beautiful new library!

—Middle school librarian, VA

Showing up for each other

On March 12, 2020, I was standing in line at the crowded grocery store when I received the district-wide pace message stating we would be taking a three-week break due to the pandemic. I was bummed, but my teenagers were happy there would be a school break. We went home for the weekend and didn’t come back.

We worked from home: I recorded stories and read on Zoom when I could find a quiet space from my husband and teenagers, who were also working from home. Employees were required to return to school in the fall unless we had childcare, eldercare, or health care issues. It was actually nice to get out of the house, but it was lonely in the library by myself. I still checked out and took back Chromebooks, read into classes on Zoom, produced recorded stories, and guided art projects that the teachers could use as needed. I also checked out books to students who would then pick them up from the office. Students didn’t return to our school except for two small cohorts of struggling students who needed support.

COVID was bad in my community for a while and we did not resume voluntary, regular in-person school until the last three weeks of the school year. Fall 2022 did not start out with all students present. I was able to start reading aloud, from a distance and students could check out books again. It was exciting and scary when the students came back in the library, six feet apart and masked.

Our school staff community really showed up for each other and our students and families in so many amazing ways, from delivering Chromebooks, food and sometimes clothing to our families in need, to having socially distant group lunches outside.

Doing school online was hard but we showed that we could pull together, be resourceful, and creative to deliver it in a way we had not had to do before. It was a unique time, I hope we never have to do it again.

—Lisa Blount, library aide, Stockton, CA