The Library Stage

Episode 20: Passion Clubs Are Programming with Rachel Joiner

At AASL, everyone at the table was naming their sessions. Passive programming. Law for librarians. Then they got to Rachel, who said she was going to Pokémon.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Rachel Joiner, librarian at Advent Episcopal School in Birmingham, Alabama, chair of the Yellowhammer Middle Grade Committee, and head of a library recently named ASLA's School Library of the Year.

What she found at that panel: ALA ships libraries a free Pokémon starter kit, and the whole thing is built to remove barriers.

Rachel opened it to K–8 against every kindergarten teacher's advice and had to cap enrollment. Her actual argument is bigger than Pokémon: low-stakes, no-barrier clubs built around whatever your students are already obsessed with. Legos, K-pop, D&D, squishies. Just ask them, then open the door.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

💡 Steal-this-idea: Passports. After genrefying her fiction, Rachel made a Genre Passport: 12 genres listed, read 10, get a literary prize pack at the end of the year. Kids check out a book and she stamps it. She added a Newbery Passport the next year to push new titles, and it was a raging success. Finished readers get their photo up in the library with the date. Some kids worked both at once, and a Classics passport is coming this year. Her checkouts are up.

🛠️ Resources:

• ALA Pokémon Club kit: still available to apply for, and she says you'll be amazed at what they send
• All other resources linked here

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Rachel's book recommendation — her favorite middle grade read of the year, still under consideration for the Yellowhammer list + 2 more professional titles!

Follow Rachel: 📱 FB @thesouthernliterarion

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #PokemonClub #LibraryProgramming #ElementaryLibrary #MiddleSchoolLibrary #PassionProjects #StudentVoice #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #ASLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 19: Keira's Closet with Margie Longoria

A student walked into the library and asked if she could set up a hygiene closet for her Eagle Scout project. Four years later, it's still open...and it's still named after her.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Margie Longoria, high school librarian at Mission High School in the Rio Grande Valley, editor of Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America, and founder of the Border Book Bash.

Margie said yes without fully understanding what she was saying yes to. Four years on it's closer to a small store: spirit shirts collected from graduating seniors and washed, then clothes, shoes, jackets, prom dresses, suits. When a student's family lost their house to a fire, she sent them off with everything they needed to get through a hotel stay.

Her framing is the part worth carrying: it's a kindness closet. An empathy closet. Somewhere a kid learns that someone did something for them, and maybe, later, does something for someone else.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

💡 Steal-this-idea: Ask your people. Margie's entire supply chain is a Facebook post to friends, former students, and community members — most of whom want to help and just don't know what's needed. Be specific about what you're short on, and say it out loud more than once.

🎬 CURTAIN CALL — this week's rapid-fire recs: 📖 Book: Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America 

⚒️ Edtech tool: How to Make an Amazon Wishlist

Follow Margie: 📱 Instagram: @margiesmustreads — she's happy to answer questions or send photos of the closet setup

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #HighSchoolLibrary #CommunityCloset #StudentNeeds #LibraryAdvocacy #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #RGV #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 18: The Library Is a Community Center with Melissa Silerio

We say the library is the heart of the school. Mel Silerio thinks we can do better than that.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Melissa Silerio, in her sixteenth year in education and now the librarian at Charlene McKenzie Middle School in Mansfield ISD, where she also serves on TLA's Reading List Committee and the North Texas Teen Book Festival Steering Committee.

Her argument: "heart of the school" is a beautiful sentiment and a vague job description. What does being the heart actually mean? Underneath that sits a reframe she's carried for years: you are the facilitator. You plan the programming, one kid shows up, and you feel like a failure. But your job was to provide the opportunity...and you did.

Then she gets practical with Create & Connect, the monthly drop-in program she ran all last year. Low tech, low cost, no sign-up. Plus where she finds ideas and supplies on almost no budget, and the free author visits worth knowing about.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

💡 Steal-this-idea: Make it a drop-in, not a club. No Google Form, no cap, no passes. It's less work for you and it lowers the barrier for the kid who's never been to the library.

Curtain Call: 📱Edtech tools:

• Beanstack⁠ — for reading challenges and contests
• Bookelicious⁠ — inexpensive and sometimes free author webinars and student book review opportunities

🛠️ Resources mentioned:

• Latinx Kidlit Book Festival — free virtual author visits, plus an entire back catalog on YouTube

• North Texas Teen Book Festival - March 5-6, 2027

📌 Mel presented the full-length version of this talk as a TCEA webinar, released August 13

Follow Melissa: 📱 Instagram: @melsilerio | Her library: @cmmslibrary

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #MiddleSchoolLibrary #LibraryProgramming #CommunityBuilding #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #PassiveProgramming #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 17: You Too Can Ditch Dewey with Lauren Claymon

Everyone talks about ditching Dewey at the elementary level. Lauren Claymon is here to tell secondary librarians it works just as well for you.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Lauren Claymon, high school librarian in Liberty Hill ISD serving both Liberty Hill High School and Legacy Ranch High School, and chair of the TLA TAYSHAS Reading List.

It started with a shelving problem. Pulling nonfiction for her OnRamps Rhetoric students, Lauren found herself crossing the whole library to gather books that clearly belonged together. Why is civil rights in the 300s when some vendors put it in the 900s? Why is LeBron in biography instead of sports? True crime turned out to be scattered across four sections at once.

Her results make the case: a massive increase in nonfiction circulation. Her conclusion is blunter than the usual line — it's false that teenagers don't want nonfiction. They just don't know how to find it.

Pillar: 🩷 Literacy

💡 Steal-this-idea: Do your labels last. Move the books, change every call number in your catalog, then print all your labels at once from a resource list.

📌 Lauren presented this at TLA with her colleague Julie Jennings. Dreaming of Ditching Dewey

Nonfiction Categories

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Lauren's book recommendations — as TAYSHAS chair, she came with a rapid-fire list

Follow Lauren: 📱 @lkclaymon @lhhslibrary

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #DitchDewey #Genrefication #HighSchoolLibrary #Nonfiction #CollectionDevelopment #LibraryOrganization #SecondaryLibrary #TAYSHAS #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 16: Is it Worth the Badge? with Deborah Zeman

Thirty-two digital badges. One of them certifies her as an expert in a platform that no longer exists.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Deborah Zeman, high school librarian at Hebron High School in Lewisville ISD, chair of the TLA Spirit of Texas Reading Committee, publisher liaison for the Young Adult Round Table, 2024 TLA Branding Iron Award recipient, Adobe ACE Innovator, and Wakelet Certified Trainer.

Her question: micro-credentials are everywhere, and school librarians have leaned in hard; we're the ones handed a new tool in September and expected to be the building expert by October. So is it worth the badge? Deb argues both sides. Where she lands is the useful part.

Pillar: 🧡 EdTech

💡 Steal-this-idea: Three questions before you start any micro-credential. Does it change my practice or just my paperwork? Is the skill transferable if the tool dies? And does it feed something bigger than itself? Ask what it replaces in your practice, not what it adds to your bio.

Grab Deb's resources:

• 📖 Deb's book recommendations: she reads and recommends across middle grade, young adult, and adult
• 🛠️ Her Linktree is a genuinely enormous collection of shared resources
• Microcredentials Resource List
• Queen Mel's Email Signature with Badges

Follow Deb: 📱 @z_brarian across platforms | ✉️ [email protected]

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #EdTech #MicroCredentials #ProfessionalDevelopment #HighSchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #DigitalBadges #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 15: Social Media Is Your PLN with Melanie Wood

When you had a rough day in the classroom, you could slam a door and vent to the teacher across the hall. Then you became the librarian, the only person in the building who does your job.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Melanie Wood, an elementary school librarian in the suburbs of St. Louis, entering her fifth year in the library after nine years teaching second, third, and fourth grade. She wrangles 360 kids a week and shares library life with a growing community of educators as @melanie_in_the_library.

Her argument is simple: you need your people, and if they're not in your building, they're on your phone. Melanie is direct about the objection everyone raises: you don't have to be an influencer, you don't have to post daily, and nothing has to be pretty. Her instruction: post the sticky notes. If you reorganized your shelving and it's still marked with sticky notes because you haven't made real labels yet, post it anyway. A librarian somewhere is staring at her own shelves with no idea where to start, and that's the post she needs.

She covers which platform to start on, how her families found her account and started seeing the months of planning behind what looked like a cute activity, and the resource exchange she launched in May--expecting a hundred librarians, getting over two thousand. The rule: you only get access if you give something.

Pillar: 🧡 EdTech

💡 Steal-this-idea: Book Button Tuesdays. Weeded and damaged books get cut up and pressed into buttons on a button machine, handed out Tuesday mornings to anyone who shows up with a smile. No other criteria. Roughly a hundred kids stampede the library every week, and the rule is you wear it on your backpack so everyone can see how cool books are.

🛠️ Resources:

• Canva — Melanie's design tool of choice
• The Librarian Resource Exchange

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Melanie's book recommendation — a book she'll tell you straight up she did not like, and hasn't stopped thinking about since. Her point to students: you don't have to like a book for it to be good.

Follow Melanie: 📱 @melanie_in_the_library on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok | ✉️ [email protected]

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #ElementaryLibrary #LibrariansOfInstagram #PLN #TeacherPLN #LibraryCommunity #EdTech #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 14: Everything Is a Negotiation with Kristi Leveridge

Someone walks into your library and asks for something you don't have time to do. What you say next isn't just an answer; it's a precedent.

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Kristi Leveridge, a school librarian of eleven years now entering her fourth as a middle school librarian at a Title I campus in Denton, Texas, and the designer behind Keen Bee Studio.

The core move: skip the but. Instead of "I can't," try "I would love to do that for you, but my schedule doesn't allow it, so let's talk about what we can do instead." You're still declining. You're just not making the other person feel dismissed.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

💡 Steal-this-idea: When an administrator asks you for something in passing, you don't have to answer in the moment. "I hear that this is important. Let me check my calendar and get back to you by the end of the day" is professional, buys you time, and almost always gets a yes.

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Kristi's book recommendation — Max in the House of Spies by Adam Gidwitz, a WWII middle grade novel that won over a self-described historical fiction skeptic, and works as a read aloud for sixth graders
• 🛠️ Keen Bee Studio — Kristi's own librarian and book lover shop, for the library shirts that get compliments from kids and staff alike

Follow Kristi: 📱 @KeenBeeStudioTexas | 🌐 keenbeestudio.com | ✉️ [email protected]

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #LibraryAdvocacy #MiddleSchoolLibrary #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #BoundariesAtWork #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 13: Circulation Is a System with Brooke King

When Brooke King asked the librarians in her district what she should talk about on the show, they had one question: how are your circulation numbers so high?

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Brooke King, middle school library media specialist in Humble ISD, a school librarian since 2008, and currently Representative at Large on the Texas Library Association Executive Board.

Her answer isn't one trick. It's a stack.

It starts with ruthless weeding. Then the part her colleagues really wanted: how she finds new books, including the running note on her phone full of screenshots that becomes her first stop at purchasing time.

From there it's design and access: genre organization, "Dewey Lite" nonfiction with color labels, mini displays wedged into every available nook, a three-week checkout rotation so every student has a standing appointment, and the door open 8 to 4 for kids who finish early. Plus reading challenges with themed breakfasts, four different book clubs, passive makerspace programming, and TikToks with her library aides.

Pillar: 🩷 Literacy

🛠️ Resources mentioned:

• Genially — interactive book flicks and clickable displays
• AASL Connect & Collect — monthly genre-based book sharing among librarians
• Melissa Corey's visual book lists
• Sora — for digital reading challenges

📌 Brooke credits librarian Jessica Fitzpatrick for the athlete book club idea, the same presentation Mindy Garcia credited back in Episode 8. Good ideas travel.

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Brooke's book recommendation — How to Talk to Your Succulent, a graphic novel about grief, moving, and a girl who can talk to plants, with vine imagery carrying the emotional weight of every page

Follow Brooke: 📱 Instagram: [@brooke.the.book] (advocacy) and [@amstigerlibrary] (library ideas) | ✉️ [email protected]

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #MiddleSchoolLibrary #Circulation #CollectionDevelopment #Weeding #BookClubs #LibraryProgramming #SchoolLibrary #TeacherLibrarian #TLA #TxASL

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

🗣️ In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Lori Misaka, librarian at Waipahu Intermediate School on the island of O'ahu. Lori has served on the AASL National Standards Committee, the Hawai'i DOE Multilingualism Policy Advisory Committee, and the advisory committee for The May Book Project, a partnership between the Very Asian Foundation and We Need Diverse Books that grew directly out of those students' request.

Lori walks through the May Book Project lists and the APALA rubric behind them, as well as partnering with a local press to include more AAPI books in her library.

Pillar: 🩷 Literacy

🛠️ Resources (now included in the bio link for the show!)

• The May Book Project — full curated book lists by age level, plus the APALA evaluation rubric
• The Very Asian Foundation
• Bess Press — stories and educational resources from Hawai'i, Oceania, and the greater Pacific. 20% educator discount year-round, and 30% through the month of August 🌺

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Lori's book recommendations — Lei and the Fire Goddess + Lei and the Invisible Island by Malia Maunakea (middle grade fantasy weaving Hawaiian mythology), Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story by Sarah Myer (YA graphic novel), and Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Da Hajichi Tattoos by Lee A. Tonouchi (a trilingual picture book in Okinawan, Japanese, and English). All three appear on the May Book Project lists.

Follow Lori: 📱 Instagram: @waipahuinterlibrary | 🌐 Waipahu Intermediate School Library

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians #DiversifyYourShelves #MayBookProject #AAPIBooks

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.

Episode 11: #thehappiestlibraryonearth with Jordan Hogan

What if the way to protect your joy isn't doing more? It's letting other people do some of it?

In this episode of The Library Stage, Amanda Hunt welcomes Jordan Hogan, an elementary librarian in the Houston area serving two large public schools and entering her seventh year as a librarian. She's built a following around one hashtag #thehappiestlibraryonearth and she's known for her costuming, but she opens by making clear this talk isn't about costumes. It's about finding your version of the thing that makes students walk in curious, then building the support that gives you time to do it.

Pillar: 🩵 Discovery

🛠️ Resource: Library Volunteer Basics — Jordan's volunteer orientation guide, the same one she hands out at fall training

📌 Jordan has a full how-to on student library assistant programs coming this fall in Library Bright Ideas

Plus, stick around for her Curtain Call featuring:

• 📖 Jordan's book recommendations — everything she read in June: Heart the Lover by Lily King (adult), Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray (YA), and a reread of A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold (middle grade)

Follow Jordan: 📱 @HappyGoLibrary on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Threads, and YouTube

Think your library story belongs on the stage? Pitch your talk: [email protected]

Hosted by Amanda Hunt, MLS (@TheNextGenLibrarian) 🌐 thenextgenlibrarian.com

#TheLibraryStage #TakeTheStage #SchoolLibrarians

The Library Stage is an independent podcast, not affiliated with TED Conferences LLC.