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: thenextgenlib@gmail.com

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

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