TLA's Libraries Transform Texas Podcast

Discover ways public libraries support healthy living in their communities. In this episode, Linda Stevens, Division Director, Programs, Partnerships & Outreach at Harris County Public Library, interviews Dr. Noah Lenstra, founder of Let's Move in Libraries, an organization which focuses on supporting healthy living in public libraries. They talk about innovative programs -- from teaching kids how to build a skateboard to starting a community garden -- and how libraries support healthy living in many ways. Dr. Lenstra is an Assistant Professor of Library and Information Studies in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the author of "Healthy Living at the Library."

In honor of Libraries Transform Texas Week, Jennifer Logsdon, Library Director of the Hood County Library, talks with Tammy Korns, Outreach and Engagement Manager for the Plano Public Library System, about Plano PL’s outreach efforts to their community. In 2021, Plano Public Library received the 2021 ALA/Information Today, Inc. Library of the Future Award. Plano PL was selected for its innovative use of technology to provide one-on-one tech training to seniors, Brain Injury Network of Dallas club members, and ESL students. Korns talks about these efforts and more…from teaching children robotics at a local Boys & Girls Club, to bringing the library mobile van to back-to-school nights, to going to events with senior citizens, libraries have the power to transform their communities.  

Today on the Libraries Transform Texas podcast series (episode 2, season 2) we interview Texas author Adrianna Cuevas. Cuevas is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida whose middle grade debut novel "The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez" received a Pura Belpre Honor this last year. In the last month, her new novel "Cuba in My Pocket" just released, a semi-biographical journey of her own father's immigration from Cuba to Florida during the 1960s Castro regime. Librarian Cate Sweeney talks with Cuevas about everything from Cuban cooking to magical realism and what it is like to go from living in a Cuban rich culture in America to suddenly not seeing any cultural identity represented in your surroundings. Join us! 

Banned Books Week is more pertinent than ever, given the number of recent challenges to books on school reading lists and in school libraries. In this episode, Jeannette Davies of the San Antonio Public Library interviews Dr. Mark Bayer, chair of the English department at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Carrie Damon, Northside ISD middle school librarian, about the history of banned books and why ensuring the freedom to read is so vital. From Ulysses to The Hate U Give, often the books that are the most meaningful are the ones that draw the most ire.

We are thrilled to have Mark Smith, the Director of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the State Librarian, as our guest for this podcast. He discusses the biggest challenges facing American libraries, why it's crucial for communities to have access to broadband and why he still believes -- more than ever -- that libraries can save America.

"What Will the New Normal Look Like?" Jill Bellomy, librarian at Highland Park Middle School in Dallas and chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians, is the featured guest for this episode. Jill talks with TLA staffer Michele Chan Santos about what practices from the pandemic are likely to stay, what school book fairs will look like this coming year, why nonfiction is important and what she's looking forward to when school starts.

It’s time to talk about summer reading programs! Jeannette Davies of the San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) interviews Cresencia Huff, Coordinator of Children’s Services at SAPL. Also joining the discussion are Kate Simpson and Leslie Elsasser, chairs of SAPL's Children's Summer Reading Club Committee. They discuss motivating children to read, making summer reading fun and building connections to the library during this turbulent year. Includes a fun musical clip from Latin Grammy winning-duo 123 Andres. 

Aram Kim, author of the new book "Sunday Funday in Koreatown," and the popular "No Kimchi for Me!" and "Let's Go to Taekwondo", all in the Yoomi, friends and family series, discusses what inspires her, why she loves libraries and librarians and more, in an interview with Michele Chan Santos of the Texas Library Association.

Curious about the TLA Reading Lists from the Children's Roundtable? Learn about the lists, what makes each of them unique and the rewards of volunteering on a reading list committee in our April episode. 

Discover hidden gems of the upcoming TLA 2021 Annual Conference! Our guests, Christina Gola, TLA President, and Valerie Prilop and Melanie Scales, co-chairs of the 2021 Program Committee, talk about amazing sessions you don't want to miss.