Becky Calzada, library services coordinator in the Leander Independent School District near Austin, Tex., begins her term as the 2024–2025 president of the American Association of School Librarians on July 2 at the conclusion of the ALA Annual Conference in San Diego. Her extensive experience includes previous roles on the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee and the AASL board of directors, and she was a chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians. Calzada currently serves on the ALA Policy Corps and the Texas Library Association Legislative Committee. And since 2021, Calzada has earned wide recognition as a cofounder—with her longtime friend, retired Texas school librarian Carolyn Foote—of FReadom Fighters, the grassroots advocacy organization supporting librarians facing book challenges and bans. The group received AASL’s 2022 Intellectual Freedom Award, and Calzada and Foote were named among PW’s People of the Year in 2022 and were spotlighted in People magazine’s 2023 “Women Changing the World” feature. Calzada has additionally co-authored a new book on the subject, Prepared Libraries, Empowered Teams: A Workbook for Navigating Intellectual Freedom Challenges Together (ALA Editions, July). PW spoke with Calzada about the busy year ahead and her plans to bolster and lead school librarians in a fraught time for the profession.
How will you incorporate your work with FReadom Fighters into your new role as AASL president?
I’ll bring my experience around intellectual freedom, and of course, public speaking, to this role. I’ve connected with so many school librarians within my state and beyond, who sought out a thought partner or a coach or guide to give them some advice. And while these previous actions might have been specifically focused on intellectual freedom, those are qualities that any school librarian could benefit from. And being a member of the ALA Policy Corps, much of my training within that group will also be useful for my leadership as a president. Such a huge part of school librarianship is advocacy, and I’ve done extensive advocacy work with the Texas Library Association, too. So, all of these experiences, I think, are going to create lots of connection and make being AASL president richer.
What are your goals for guiding AASL?
The AASL board of directors has been working on finalizing our strategic plan, and my goal as president will center around prioritizing those big areas of focus, so that we can move our association forward. We haven’t finalized anything yet and I’m looking forward to sharing more about our plans soon. One of the things that we want to do is create a graphic way to showcase what our focus will be, versus the traditional static words on a webpage. My hope is that the format is going to help build understanding for anybody who’s seeking to learn more about AASL and perhaps is considering becoming a member if they aren’t already.
Along with that focus, I will definitely prioritize sharing the impact that librarians have on learning via any media opportunities. There are lots of great things happening with all of our school librarians across the country, and we want to share those stories. I’d also like to highlight the need for a robust school librarian pipeline, and recruitment is the answer to that. I’d like to work together, to see what others are doing, so that school librarians as a profession can benefit from all of that shared knowledge.
And finally, our members can certainly look forward to some new actions on the horizon, designed to grow school librarians in the area of leadership in their practice.
What has been the most memorable thing you have experienced during your year as president-elect, and how has it prepared you for the year ahead?
It’s really hard to choose one, so I’m going to kind of home in on two. The first one is an opportunity that I had to attend the American Society of Association Executives symposium. This was a leadership intensive program focused on learning how to carry out your association’s mission and enhancing future success. I learned about strategy and governance and participated in lots of different exercises with AASL executive director Sylvia Knight Norton, and I’ve been carrying that into this current work that we’re doing for our strategic plan. It’s also allowed me to reflect on AASL’s current reality, to consider the things that are going to drive us forward, but also to truly contemplate the barriers that are holding us back. This learning is something I’ve circled back to continually in any meetings or actions that I’m participating in, so it’s definitely going to carry forward in my work.
The first one was more about me, personally, but the second memorable experience is really about the people I’ve met. I met so many in my year as president-elect. I met school librarians at our national conference and chapter conferences, and no matter where I go, I love how school librarians are connecting and uplifting one another. Even through the most challenging of experiences, school librarians are dedicated to their profession, and they’re willing to share and support one another. I love the camaraderie, which I get to witness and feel wherever I go. And I’ll look forward to more of that in my presidential year.
What is your recruitment pitch for anyone considering entering the field of school librarianship in an era when the profession is often under siege?
My recruitment pitch is pretty simple: do you believe in the power of access? Becoming a school librarian affords me the opportunity to teach in the largest classroom in a school and work with learners who are part of a future generation that’s going to change the world. Yes, we defend the right to read. But a school librarian’s role is pivotal in the flow of information, because all learners have and deserve this right to access. You also have the privilege of working alongside so many incredible professionals; it’s the best job in the whole school.
Just nudging people to consider this path is critical. I never understood that this could be a potential career path for me until I had a school librarian approach me when I was a first grade teacher in South Texas. She said, “I see that you have a passion for literacy. Have you ever thought about becoming a school librarian?” The power of the nudge is so, so important. When we see people who have those qualities, I think it’s important for us to nudge that person into considering what they could do and how they could change the world.
What gives you hope when considering the future of school librarianship?
The resilience of our school librarians is what gives me hope. We’re definitely still living in unprecedented times. Yet, throughout all these hardships, school librarians have shown their resilience and leveraged creative opportunities to engage and educate their communities. They’ve connected at grassroots level to build coalitions to successfully push back against censorship. I’ve also seen so many school librarians speak up at legislative committees or meetings; they’ve emailed or called their representatives or shared messaging within their circles of influence to build an understanding around the impact of school librarians, and what that impact has on learner achievement.
So even through all that, they continue to stay focused on their work to support learners and connect with communities. It might be around the work of information literacy, it could be around AI, it could be around makerspaces and creation—through all that they share the stories that come from students about their impact. And that’s why we’re all here. Our students are our future and I think that’s what drives school librarians. I know that’s what drives me. I’m excited to see what comes of these future citizens, because that’s the thing—we’re helping educate the future, just like teachers are, just in a different way and a bigger classroom.
