Ally
aswatki1.bsky.social
Ally
@aswatki1.bsky.social
Librarian. Aunt.
Pinned
I have a lot of new followers with all the migrating lately so: hi. I’m Ally. I used to be a public librarian for a lot of years and now I’m an academic librarian (for a lot of reasons). I love: genre fiction, kidlit, comics, lipstick, and Lebanese food. If we were mutuals elsewhere, please say hi!
Thanks as always to Annie, who has been my cheerleader during this whole research process 🩷
We need more YA that skews young. @aswatki1.bsky.social’s excellent research found that YA books in the last several years skew 17+ for main character age. olemiss.edu/news/2025/07...
Young Adult Literature is Not as Young as It Used to Be | Ole Miss
olemiss.edu
July 8, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Reposted by Ally
any way books are awesome, get (and use!) a library card, let kids read
January 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Ally
Faceplants and How to Recover from Them, a guest post by Gretchen Whitmer

Every one of us has our flaws, but we can grow and change, make a difference and achieve great things.

teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/01/27/f... @tltkaren.bsky.social @govgretchenwhitmer.bsky.social
Faceplants and How to Recover from Them, a guest post by Gretchen Whitmer
This is what I’d like to pass along to young readers: No one is perfect. Every one of us has our flaws, but we can grow and change, make a difference and achieve great things.
teenlibrariantoolbox.com
January 27, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I have a lot of new followers with all the migrating lately so: hi. I’m Ally. I used to be a public librarian for a lot of years and now I’m an academic librarian (for a lot of reasons). I love: genre fiction, kidlit, comics, lipstick, and Lebanese food. If we were mutuals elsewhere, please say hi!
January 22, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I logged into my computer this morning and my Google calendar had a different font than yesterday and I almost had a come apart, if you’re wondering where my mental health is sitting here in November 😂😭
November 26, 2024 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Ally
shared sorrow is half a sorrow, shared joy is twice the joy. i don’t make the rules.
November 12, 2024 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Ally
I’m a public librarian in a degenerating democracy, and I am pleading: Care about your library. Use it. See what programs and events it offers. And pay attention to its governing body. See who the trustees are. Consider running yourself. Libraries will need all the community support they can get. 📚
November 7, 2024 at 12:11 PM
I did the thing. And now we wait.
November 5, 2024 at 2:17 PM
I think this is the saddest thing for me about the demise of the bad place. I made lifelong friends over there. People whose homes I’ve stayed in, people who have helped me in my career immensely. Pour one out for library Twitter.
I made some of my bestest friends from Twitter.
October 19, 2024 at 12:13 PM
Today is my grandmother’s 92nd birthday. I feel so lucky to have her and my whole big, loud, incredible Lebanese-American family. Hold your loved ones close today, and may we all have our beloved grandmothers live into their 90s.
October 7, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Ally
Libraries are so crazy. I can just put a "hold" on something? I can basically just wave my hand and tell them to get me a book, and then they get it for me? This must be what being a king feels like.
August 16, 2024 at 7:33 PM
Me: yeah, I just like to make a weekend list, and enjoy my weekend reading while also knowing I’m getting my stuff done. I really like getting up on Saturdays and starting the laundry and checking things off my list!!!
My friend: You are a librarian in 100% of your life.
😂😂
June 22, 2024 at 2:01 AM
I’m at a conference this week and I looked down at my phone and FOUR of my Libby holds came in today 😱
April 11, 2024 at 10:08 PM
I was a lifer; I never thought I would leave public libraries—but then I did, four months ago. And this is a big reason why. We are scared. They are coming for us.
February 21, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Good morning! @anniecardi.bsky.social’s excellent new book is out today. Check out her post on Teen Librarian Toolbox: Like a Prayer, Complexities of Faith in YA Fiction and Life. teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2024/01/30/l...
January 30, 2024 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Ally
The amount of resources available for free at your library is absolutely ridiculous. Wanna do a JSTOR search? Libraries gotchu. Wanna watch a movie for free? Libraries gotchu. Genealogy? Libraries gotchu. Wanna look up digitized images of sewing patterns in 1930s ladies magazines? Libraries gotchu.
January 21, 2024 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Ally
Mind the Middle Project: What IS Middle Grade Fiction Anyway?

Teen librarian Karen Jensen kicks of the Mind the Middle Project for 2024 by discussing what Middle Grade fiction is and how it compares to Young Adult fiction

teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2024/01/01/m...
Mind the Middle Project: What IS Middle Grade Fiction Anyway?
Teen librarian Karen Jensen kicks of the Mind the Middle Project for 2024 by discussing what Middle Grade fiction is and how it compares to Young Adult fiction
teenlibrariantoolbox.com
January 1, 2024 at 3:36 PM
Sitting in front of my light box with my coffee and my existential dread at 6:30am. Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year. But the days get longer from there.
December 20, 2023 at 12:37 PM
I’ve been nose deep in my data all day without an internet break and my brother just texted me the Murderbot news and I almost screamed in my cubicle. I love you, Murderbot.
December 14, 2023 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Ally
I hate absolutely everything in the world except Romance novels right now.
October 2, 2023 at 12:51 AM
As a librarian, I have a lot of interesting feelings about banned books week but this??? This is the good shit. Please do these things.
October 1, 2023 at 3:04 PM
I like fall as much as the next girlie, but actually watching the days get shorter as we do our slow inexorable march towards 4:30 sunsets is not something my seasonal depression will just idly observe, you know?
September 25, 2023 at 2:31 AM
There’s nothing like shared trauma to really bond siblings, amirite? The upside of this is sometimes my brother and I laugh so, so hard together about something so ridiculous (to the complete bewilderment of my sister in law) that that catharsis gets me right through the week.
September 20, 2023 at 2:03 AM
my lovely coworker gifted me a cross stitch pattern for a 2023 reading tracker. The max is 50 books. I thanked her profusely for the kind gift, not exactly knowing how to tell her I’ve already read 95 books so far this year. #librarylife #readerlife #genrereader
September 6, 2023 at 12:19 AM