I am a little obsessed with education. Wanting everyone to have access to it. Wanting people who should know something to learn about it. Not understanding why you wouldn’t use your spare time to learn something interesting about a person or a thing. Getting frustrated when my child prefers entertainment over education, and then backing down off that high horse because relaxed people learn more and entertainment is also a form of education.
Not to mention that I work to support a library. Libraries are about education and learning and fun. Transforming Our Image, Building Our Brand is about the words libraries use to describe themselves. Libraries are often thought of as an extra, something that can be gotten rid of when there isn’t enough money, which is not something you’d ever think about schools.
Libraries are about education – they’re about learning and having fun and building community. When you frame children’s story time as pre-K classes (which is what they are; they’re about learning letters and words and other concepts), people are more in favor of them. Budgets go up.
And, because librarians are practical people, this book is really a case study in how one library system changed its language to focus on education and raised support for it and for education in its community.
This one was a good, practical book to read for work. I double check my language now, and remember more often that when you read books for fun, you’re practicing your language skills and learning how to tell stories and learning what kind of world we live in.
Recommended.