School Libraries Matter Initiative

The Street Librarian: Breaking Down Barriers to Reading

As a radical street librarian, I'm making books appear in everyday places in extraordinary ways. I install free public book vending machines, host street corner story times, and pop up on the block with free bookstores. I believe everyone is a reader. They just haven't found the right book yet.

I utilize my expertise as a librarian to curate collections that reflect the kids reading them. This means books with characters that look like them, talk like them, go to the same places, speak the same languages.

So I know what you're thinking. There are plenty of bookstores and libraries where I live. But here's the kicker. The presence of bookstores and libraries in a neighborhood doesn't necessarily disqualify it as a book desert. Barriers like requirement of identification, proof of address, fines and fees, all while seemingly routine, can become substantial obstacles for families facing hardships.

So what can be done about book deserts and book access? Research tells us that increasing access to appropriate print materials is an incredibly effective means of enhancing the reading achievement of economically disadvantaged children. To put it plainly, the more books a child has early access to, the more likely they are to succeed as readers.

Though I recently created the term, being a street librarian is nothing new. I'm inspired by the many mobile librarians who came before me. I'm just a little more hood with it.

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