Speaking of digital resources, despite the vast differences between these three cities, each panelist agreed there will be a shift back to purchasing print content at least for this year. But the emphasis on print will be to complement eBooks and audiobooks as an additional, acceptable format. Cox says her students choose print for recreational reading. “Our kids still prefer print and even more so now because they just want to get off the computer,” Cox said. “But I will still buy eBooks because I don’t want to get caught unprepared again.”
Jacobs adds, “We want to empower kids to self-select the format they want to read: print, eBook or audio. There are benefits to digital and audio that surpass having the print in front of you. We want kids to be able to choose this themselves. I love audiobooks. I love read-alongs even more. I encourage teachers to have kids listen to audio and have the print in front of them. Having choices is extremely important for our kids.”
Thomas agrees. “eAudio has been extremely important for our senior centers and our older community during the pandemic. We’ve been able to reach that population throughout the pandemic in a new way.”
Another similarity: All three panelists have increased budgets to spend this year, but continued uncertainty associated with the pandemic is forcing district officials and site-level librarians to delay purchasing decisions.
Yet, when they do buy, they want publishers to understand the accelerated need for more diverse authors and characters. Cox explains, “We are buying more and I’m in the deep conservative South. We are being very intentional about diversifying our collection. We don’t want just realistic fiction that’s a sad story about a kid coming out. We want different genres.”
Thomas says some communities may be pushing back and small pockets are working to ban controversial titles but building a more diverse collection is a priority in Cleveland, “We know we just don’t have the number of titles for a community like Cleveland which is more than 50% African American.”
“We need to move beyond just having a black character on the cover a book and calling it diverse,” Jacobs added. “There needs to be a level of inclusivity in our material. A book with an LGBTQ character shouldn’t just be about coming out. There should be an LGBTQ character in a book just because that’s life. I’m going to buy books that reflect the culture of our community.”
And that culture is changing daily. Back in New York, on Monday, Jacobs was the only person in her department who stayed in her role. All her district library coordinators were deployed to classrooms. While they are still having an impact on students’ lives, the crisis continues.
Jacobs says, “Every other challenge I have is taking a back seat to the pandemic. That’s the crisis that’s on the table. Our kids have a steep mountain to climb, and we must figure out how to help them. That’s going to take money, time. and people who are qualified to provide that level of instructional support. I hope we understand that we have to invest in education and libraries.”
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