#Weeknotes - 18.07.2024

What's been happening?

This week, I've been preparing for ASCEL's Book Talk with Children and Young People training session. We're nearly fully booked, so it promises to be a lively session!

I've enjoyed preparing for it as the value of book talk can't be underestimated, especially for children and young people. It's a chance to reflect, explore deeply, express thoughts and feelings and perhaps most vitally of all, be heard and respected. There are benefits in terms of literacy development, but for me, it's about putting the child's thoughts centre-stage and ensuring they feel listened to and supported with exploring their feelings about what they've just read. The session will be led by Sarah Mears (Empathy Lab and Libraries Connected) who really knows her stuff when it comes to this topic.

I've also been preparing for the Youth Engagement Network's final official meeting as a pilot programme (though ASCEL want to keep supporting them with this work for the long-term, because it's so important). If any of the seven library services taking part are reading this - you've done an amazing job. The pioneering spirit has been infectious. You've also embraced the challenges and the successes as chances to learn and help others to learn in the future.

I'll be sharing more news on how other libraries can be involved with the Youth Engagement Network soon. Watch this space...

What's on the to-do list?

We've got the National Committee meeting tomorrow, which promises to be a joy. I love meeting our members and catching up in person feels like a rare privilege these days. Getting up at 5:30am to catch the train will be somewhat hard-going, but that's my fault for choosing to live in Devon!

The ASCEL team are also thinking hard about supporting members with inclusive practice in their library services. This is something we're so passionate about. After all, how can we achieve our vision of every child and young person feeling they belong in their library without making these spaces fully inclusive for all? I attended an Arts Council session this week about cultural education, and the call for inclusivity across the wider cultural sector could not have been clearer. We embrace and support this 100%, and look forward to getting stuck into working with our trustees, members, children and young people and other partners to embed this as widely as possible.

What I've been up to outside of work

I enjoyed a lovely coastal walk a few evenings back; the one evening when the sun was out and we could breathe in a bit of sea air. I've also been trying to get my distance up again with running. I'm back to 10k, which feels like an achievement. I'm just trying not to dwell on the fact that it used to be 25k only a few years back! Part of the problem is my bouncing brain gets bored after about an hour, and focuses on getting home and doing something else other than pounding the streets.

I've just finished Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman; a book I read a long time ago and thoroughly enjoyed reading again. It sticks in the brain! I started another book last night but struggled to get into it. It might be one of those rare 'did not finish' books for me. It's quite wordy and that's preventing me from sinking fully into the story.

Ambitions

My ambition for this week is to listen to our members; both tomorrow at our committee meeting and next week in the Youth Engagement Network session. The greatest learning comes from active listening and I'm fully ready for it.