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The stereotype of the stern woman who haunted the library鈥攖he one with the bun, the frown, and the finger pressed to her lips鈥攂ears little resemblance to today鈥檚 librarians. This generation of librarians is leading some of the most important conversations of our times. And they want to get you talking.

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen

117 West from I-95 North will get you to the West Warwick Public Library by way of Suited Devils Ink tattoo parlor, AJ鈥檚 Restaurant, Valley Fuel, and Henault-Gallogly Funeral Home.

Incorporated in 1913, West Warwick, R.I., is the youngest town in the state, but it has a worn appearance that hints of hardship. The Riverpoint Congregational Church advertises a rummage sale. There are no chic boutiques or tony coffee shops. Jerry鈥檚 Supermarket proclaims itself the 鈥淜ing of Meats,鈥� but it鈥檚 the old Royal Mill Complex, with its crenelated clock tower overlooking the Pawtuxet River, that ranks first for most imperious structure.

This town doesn鈥檛 likely benefit much from the $1.7 billion haul the Ocean State nets during tourist season. This is a town designed for business, not pleasure.

And if you were driving in the vicinity of the library at around 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, you might鈥檝e seen that dilapidated pickup truck flying the Confederate and American flags from the back corners of its bed as it drove past the library. And if that were your destination, it might鈥檝e made you uneasy. Because that day鈥攁 hot day for early June, with 89% humidity鈥攖he library was celebrating Pride Month by hosting Drag Story Time, a local version of the national Drag Queen Story Hour, in which professional drag queens read aloud to children and their parents at libraries, bookstores, and schools with a view to destigmatizing gender fluidity. And that had some people upset. In the weeks leading up to the event, two local priests demanded it be canceled. Other residents voiced their anger on social media.

鈥淟ibrarians are unsung heros. The stereotype that persists is that we’re just the keepers of the books. We’re so much more.鈥�
鈥揗ary Moen

Though committed to holding the event鈥攃onceived of and organized by West Warwick Public Library staff members Rashaa Al-Sasah, M.L.I.S. 鈥�17, head of youth services, and Emma Brelsford, 鈥�19, M.L.I.S. 鈥�21, youth services librarian鈥攖he library鈥檚 director, Colin McCullough, M.L.I.S. 鈥�16, felt compelled to make a formal statement on the library鈥檚 website. The drag story hour鈥檚 message is that people shouldn鈥檛 be bullied or teased for what makes them different, wrote McCullough. 鈥淲e recognize that not every program we offer matches the interests or the values of every member of our community and patrons may or may not attend at their own discretion.

鈥淲e will, however, continue to ensure that issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion inform and enrich everything that we do,鈥� McCullough continued. 鈥淥ur message is simple鈥攍ibraries are for everyone.鈥�

It鈥檚 a common refrain among librarians, or at least among 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Graduate School of Library and Information Studies (GSLIS) alumni. Their career paths are anything but similar, and they hardly personify the stereotypical librarian. 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 accelerated, online, American Library Association-accredited GSLIS program prepares students for careers in public and school libraries, archival work, and medical and law libraries, among other things. The program trains librarians for the diverse audiences they鈥檒l serve, say the program鈥檚 director, Valerie Karno, and assistant professors Melissa Villa-Nicholas and Mary Moen, M.L.I.S. 鈥�03, Ph.D. 鈥�15. It is nimble and topical, making issues of social justice, equity, and information literacy part of its curriculum and mission.

鈥淟ibrarians are unsung heroes. The stereotype that persists is that we鈥檙e just the keepers of the books. We’re so much more,鈥� Moen says.

鈥淲e鈥檙e exploring how to bring activism and scholarship into librarianship; we want to go further with social justice in library and information studies,鈥� Villa-Nicholas says.

Karno characterizes librarians as superheroes springing into action against the villainous triumvirate that is COVID-19, racism, and fake news. 鈥淟ibrarians all over the country have pivoted to provide crucial community services during this pandemic. Last spring, we had the speaker series, 鈥榁oices of Information Equity,鈥� which was very well attended,鈥� Karno explains. 鈥淲hat we are trying to do is fundamentally support the field of information professionals, information curators, and libraries all over the country as our alumni come from and go into all kinds of fields.鈥�

Read on to learn how GSLIS graduates are preserving history, leading community conversations, enriching the lives of children and the elderly, elevating historically underrepresented voices, supporting academic scholarship and lifelong learning, and helping people find what they need in an atmosphere that makes them feel welcome. And heard.

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STEPHANIE MILLS

鈥淚鈥檓 a beg-borrow-and-steal librarian. I鈥檓 always running the book fair and doing things to increase our budget when times are tough. The library is for everyone, and that means having a broad range of titles.鈥�

Rhode Island鈥檚 2020 School Librarian of the Year, Stephanie Mills 鈥�03, 鈥�09, M.L.I.S. 鈥�07, looks at the honor as something of a vindication. 鈥淚t verifies and solidifies for me the important role of school libraries,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he library is the heart of the school; it鈥檚 the hub, the place that brings together a community of readers.鈥�

Interest in reading wanes in middle school when children鈥檚 parents stop reading to them, Mills, school librarian at Park View Middle School in Cranston, R.I., notes. Her response has been to focus on information literacy and literature appreciation. School curriculums now include lessons on how to discern between fact and propaganda. Mills wants to encourage students鈥� desire to read by providing 鈥渃hoice and voice for students so that they鈥檒l continue enjoying reading because they鈥檝e found a good story. Not everything we do or teach has to be tied to a grade,鈥� Mills says.

When COVID-19 caused schools in Rhode Island to close, Mills created pop-up libraries outside, rolling book carts around her school鈥檚 parking lot so students could check out books. 鈥淎nd I had a delivery service where I was running from room to room delivering what they鈥檇 requested through Google forms. So, we used modern technology to do a simple thing: Get books in the hands of the kids,鈥� Mills says.

An unfortunate consequence of COVID-19, locally and nationally, has been the loss of library materials. Hundreds of library books are missing from Park View鈥檚 collection, in part because students haven鈥檛 been back to school in 18 months. Mills is replacing titles with grant money and with help from the school鈥檚 parent-teacher group. It鈥檚 not a one-for-one replacement of titles, though, Mills notes. Her purchasing decisions address broader concerns. 鈥淲e have a diverse population, so I鈥檓 looking for books that represent diverse voices and are written by authors who are members of the marginalized populations they鈥檙e writing about,鈥� Mills says. Mills has an evangelist鈥檚 zeal for her profession. 鈥淚 am as enthusiastic today about doing this job as I was when I started,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 a measure of how great the profession is.鈥�

LARRY SPONGBERG

鈥淚t was loud. I can have a pretty loud voice, but it was loud. I don鈥檛 even think they could hear me. So, I climbed up on the table. I don鈥檛 think I was thinking of doing that when I first walked into the room, but it did get their attention very quickly.鈥�

Larry Spongberg, M.L.S. 鈥�75, has three dresser drawers full of mementos from his 40-plus years as a librarian at Assumption University鈥檚 Emmanuel d鈥橝lzon Library in Worcester, Mass. Even in retirement, he can be relied upon to fill in as needed and to keep the library鈥檚 collection organized. Known as 鈥淟arry the Librarian鈥� to the students of Assumption, Spongberg鈥檚 energy and way with students grew into legend. He鈥檇 ply them with puns and once even climbed onto a table to quiet a room. 鈥淚 only had to stand on it that one time, which is good because it wouldn鈥檛 have had the same shock value later,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I never noticed that it got that loud again.鈥�

鈥淟ibraries are places where people should feel welcomed and encouraged to ask questions.鈥�
鈥揕arry Spongberg

鈥淪o, it was ironic that during my first year I became known for quieting down that group that time, because that was against my inclinations.

鈥淟ibraries are places where people should feel welcomed and encouraged to ask questions,鈥� Spongberg says. 鈥淚鈥檇 always hoped to be able to help people and deal with the public. Being a librarian enabled me to do that. Tremendously.鈥�

Spongberg studied history in college. It was his aunt, a town librarian, who encouraged him to consider library school. 鈥淏ut back when I was a college student, librarians had the reputation of being people who wanted to collect fines and tell other people to be quiet. My friends said, 鈥榃hy would you want a job where you just go around telling everybody to shut up?鈥�

Ed Garcia

鈥淟ibraries are a trusted space.鈥�

A decade out of college, Ed Garcia 鈥�03, M.L.I.S. 鈥�08, wanted a change. A history major who deejayed for WRIU, Garcia worked for Sony Music then fundraised for nonprofits. Michael Havener, then-director of the GSLIS program, convinced him to become a librarian.

鈥淒r. Havener showed me librarians can do so much more than people think,鈥� says Garcia.

鈥淭he year I graduated, 2008, the economic meltdown started. I spent most of my day helping people search for jobs. Public libraries can be a safety net for people who may not have the skills or the access to information or technology,鈥� Garcia says.

A recipient of the GSLIS 2018 Alumni of the Year award, Garcia has been active in the American Library Association (ALA). In 2010, he was the first 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate named an ALA Emerging Leader.

These days, Garcia, director of the Cranston (R.I.) Public Library, and his team are focused on equity issues regarding everything from the purchase of e-books to naming conventions around collections. 鈥淲e are building inclusive collections that reflect our community, which includes examining how materials are cataloged in our collections. The Dewey Decimal System, a Western, white male-centric system, does not reflect the diversity of our communities. We started by changing the subject heading 鈥榠llegal aliens鈥� to 鈥榰ndocumented immigrants.鈥� We had GSLIS intern Tessa Mediano work with our cataloging librarian, Christine Hall 鈥�03, M.L.I.S. 鈥�14, to look at the subject headings and call numbers of our Native American collections. We created subject headings for all local tribes, rather than grouping them all under the heading of 鈥楴orth American Indians.鈥欌��

Libraries also provide potentially life-altering services, Garcia says. The Cranston Public Library has served patrons from more than 33 countries; conducted classes in English as a second language, citizenship, and computers; served free lunches to children during school vacation; and hosted diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of discussions on racial equity, climate change鈥攁 lot of topics,鈥� Garcia notes. The library is a safe space that is trusted by the community.鈥�

Ashley Selima

鈥淓very day in the archives is a unique experience. Any job is going to have its moments when you鈥檝e had one too many meetings for the day, but how many people can duck into a vault and look at the Bill of Rights?鈥�

Sifting through public records might seem like dull work, but those documents can bring history to life, says Rhode Island state archivist and public records administrator Ashley Selima, M.L.I.S. 鈥�12, M.P.A. 鈥�13. In 2020, before COVID-19 derailed traveling exhibitions, Selima was putting together a traveling exhibition celebrating the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. In her research, she found a record, circa 1919, from the president of the National Suffrage Association. 鈥淪he wrote to a Southern congressman that if he wanted to keep his white majority, he should let white women vote in order to keep segregation in the South鈥攖hat it benefitted him to give women more rights, but only white women.

鈥淗elping people become more civically engaged is rewarding.鈥�
鈥揂shley Selima

鈥淎s a woman looking back 100 years at these women I鈥檝e always seen as heroes鈥攖heir work means I get to vote in my presidential election鈥擨 see there鈥檚 a reality to history that we can only learn from these handwritten documents, which show the true complexity of people and, sometimes, the dark side of history. That moment solidified for me the importance of what we do as archivists: We preserve history that doesn鈥檛 always want to be seen, but needs to be seen.鈥�

Other aspects of the job bring joy, though, Selima says. 鈥淏eing a small part in helping people become more civically engaged is a really rewarding thing.鈥�

David Kelsey

鈥淲e serve everybody, every single person that comes into our library, no matter their background or values. And that is the beautiful thing about a library: We鈥檙e inclusive.鈥�

David Kelsey, M.L.I.S. 鈥�12, outreach services librarian at St. Charles (Ill.) Public Library and 2021 president of the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services, cherishes vivid memories of his childhood trips to the library. 鈥淢y mother would take me to the Wheaton (Ill.) Public Library once a week during the summer. We鈥檇 spend hours just looking at books. 鈥淭he books that really got me reading were the Harry Potter books. My friends and I would pretend we were in Harry Potter, and the stories would magically come to life.鈥�

Library school was the perfect fit and 溏心vlog免费B站, an adventure, Kelsey says. A recipient of 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 2019 GSLIS Alumni of the Year award praises the program. 鈥淚 had opportunities that I wouldn鈥檛 have had anywhere else. It makes my heart happy to see all the great work they鈥檙e doing for the next generation of librarians.鈥�

Kelsey鈥檚 education and experience reinforce his belief that a library has a civic responsibility for inclusiveness. He supervises an outreach team whose specialty is serving library patrons living in senior facilities. His was the first library in the country to do virtual programming for senior facilities during the pandemic. To hear Kelsey speak of his work is to realize the event is incidental; it鈥檚 the effect that matters. 鈥淪eniors can be a forgotten population, but they are still patrons and part of our library family. Just because they can鈥檛 come to the library doesn鈥檛 mean the library shouldn鈥檛 come to them.鈥�

Lisa Villa

鈥淭he idea of open access is to reduce the barriers to authors sharing their work because they want to keep their field moving forward and to spread their knowledge.鈥�

In 2013, with neither blueprint nor formal guidance, Lisa Villa, M.L.I.S. ’95, digital scholarship librarian at College of the Holy Cross’ Dinand Library (Worcester, Mass.), was tasked with building the digital equivalent of a cathedral. She undertook the creation of a digital archive, an open-access institutional repository with an ambitious aim: to advance research and scholarship at Holy Cross, while also creating a historical record readily accessible and responsive to all inquiries. The archive would be flexible and capacious enough to contain the college鈥檚 output of scholarly articles and publications, reports, research, and creative works鈥攊n effect, a repository of significant contributions to the institution鈥檚 overall intellectual capital.

Now nearing 5,000 items, the CrossWorks repository holds, among other things, the student literary journal, The Purple, to which two-time U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins was once a contributor; the only known model of the East Indiaman ship, Earl of Abergavenny, an 18th-century ship captained by poet William Wordsworth鈥檚 brother, John, who died when the ship sank off the coast of England in 1805; an oral history of LGBTQ students鈥� experiences at the college; and copies of scrapbooks kept by former Boston mayor and Massachusetts governor James Michael Curley.

But the benefit goes beyond preservation, Villa says; the archive is a valuable teaching tool for the school鈥檚 next generation of scholars. In her role as digital scholarship librarian, Villa talks to students about the scholarly communication process, copyright, and open access. 鈥淔aculty understand CrossWorks鈥� value and now they鈥檙e encouraging their students to submit鈥攏ot so that they get 100 hits on their English paper, but because many of them will go on to do graduate work and they are just that much more primed for the quality of research they鈥檒l be expected to produce.

鈥淲hen students are aware that they鈥檙e writing for a global audience, they tend to approach their work differently. They鈥檙e no longer just writing a paper. They鈥檙e writing a paper that will be seen鈥攁nd possibly critiqued and used鈥攂y other people, and that knowledge raises the level of output.鈥�

Colin McCullough

鈥淟ibraries are engines of social justice.鈥�

Becoming a librarian was a career change for Colin McCullough, M.L.I.S. ’16, director of the West Warwick (R.I.) Public Library, who previously worked for a humanitarian aid organization. He thought he鈥檇 become an academic librarian and worked at the Robert L. Carothers Library and Learning Commons while he was a student in 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 GSLIS program. But working in the Knight Memorial Library in South Providence, one of the poorest communities in Rhode Island鈥檚 capital city, changed his mind. 鈥淚 loved the part the library played in the community, so when the West Warwick job came up, there were similarities that attracted me,鈥� he says.

鈥淲e鈥檙e functioning as a community center almost as much as a library,鈥� McCullough muses. Awareness of this influences the staff鈥檚 purchasing and programming decisions. In West Warwick, for instance, a menstrual health program where free products are distributed might well benefit the community more than a reading by a best-selling novelist. 鈥淗ow do you make those programming decisions? Is it underpinned by social justice in some way?鈥� McCullough asks, answering with certainty, 鈥淵es.鈥� He continues, 鈥淢y personal feeling is that libraries are engines of social justice. Anyone can walk through our doors.鈥�

McCullough recalls an anecdote from early in his career. A middle-aged woman came into the library. English wasn鈥檛 her first language, and she needed a r茅sum茅 to apply for a factory job. They spent an hour writing the r茅sum茅 and cover letter and uploading it to the company website. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥榃ell, something鈥檚 been accomplished here. You know, maybe she鈥檒l get the job.鈥� I got as much out of that as she did because I had the sense that I was actually making a difference.鈥�

Members of the Parasol Patrol at the West Warwick Public Library’s Drag Story Time in June.

Back to the West Warwick Public Library鈥檚 Drag Story Time: That Saturday, McCullough stood outside between the two groups that had formed at the library despite the oppressive, wet heat. The protesters claimed the lawn facing Main Street. One of the priests arrived. A sole protester marched back and forth yelling, 鈥淪top sexualizing our children!鈥� But otherwise, the group was quiet.

A second larger group set up beach chairs in the library鈥檚 small parking lot and brought coolers filled with water and ice pops. Some wore adult-sized butterfly wings or carried rainbow umbrellas鈥攖hese were members of the Parasol Patrol, adults whose fashion choices function to shield children from the angry protestors. Others wore T-shirts identifying themselves as members of Free Mom Hugs, a group that supports LGBTQ+ people by offering hugs at Pride parades. Some of the winged ones spread their wings and shimmied a bit to the Lady Gaga music pumped in from a house across the street. A pair of policemen made small talk with one another.

But nothing much else happened.

Even that day, there were more people in favor of the event than against it, McCullough noted afterward. 鈥淎nd on Facebook, you鈥檒l see that there was overwhelming community support and people saying things like, 鈥榃e should try to have a Pride parade here.鈥� In some sense, we鈥檝e kind of opened a door, you know?

鈥淲hat I see that event doing is leading the conversation and setting the tone for how librarians and libraries are performing functions that extend beyond the circulation desk,鈥� McCullough says. 鈥淭o me, dialogue and communication are good things.鈥� 鈥�

Marybeth Reilly-McGreen is a 溏心vlog免费B站 content strategist and frequent contributor to 溏心vlog免费B站 Magazine. An award-winning writer, she has profiled Dr. Anthony Fauci; poet laureate Billy Collins; Peabody Award- winners Christiane Amanpour 鈥�83, Hon. 鈥�95, and Vlad Duthiers 鈥�91, Hon. 鈥�17; Pulitzer Prize- winner Thomas Farragher 鈥�73, Hon. 鈥�17; and Tony Award- winner Andrew Burnap 鈥�13.

PHOTOS: Nora Lewis, courtesy Larry Spongberg, David Kelsey, and Marybeth Reilly-McGreen