CURRENT POSITION Librarian, Clark High School, Northside ISD, TX DEGREE MSLS, University of North Texas, 2005 FOLLOW bit.ly/TXTribHB900 Photo by Francisco Errazo

New Voter Education

Lucy Podmore became chair of the Texas Association of School Librarians at a key time, just as HB 900—the controversial state bill that would require vendors to rate books for explicit content before selling them to school libraries—was on its way to becoming law last year.

Advocating for books and libraries “was an eye-opening experience,” says Podmore. She testified at the state Capitol and talked to legislators about the potential impacts of the law, which is currently on hold. “I think the most exhausting part of that was hearing so many people disparage your life’s work,” she says. “We’re not harming children.”

Podmore’s focus on advocacy shows up in other forms, such as posting election reminders on social media and keeping voter registration cards in the library at Clark High School, where she has worked since 2016. “I’ll have kids come up randomly and say, ‘Hey, do you have a voter registration card? My birthday’s tomorrow.’”

Educating new voters was also the goal behind the Freedom Walk she created. In the school’s courtyard, different stations offered games and information about what the First Amendment protects; what a book ban is; how books are selected for the district; books as windows and mirrors; and an explanation of who represents students, from the school board to state officials. At the “windows and mirrors” station, “a lot of the books [students] were talking about were books that had been pulled in other districts. To me, it just emphasized the importance of those books,” Podmore says.

The event was so popular, she adds, “I didn’t stop talking for three hours.” Podmore plans to hold it again. She also gave a presentation at the Texas Library Association conference in April on the ways the library supplements the history curriculum, from exhibits on Black history and the Holocaust to games like Native American Mythbusters.

Podmore, who turned to librarianship after seven years of teaching, has proof that she’s always loved libraries: In her office is a 1974 news clipping of her and her two sisters at their library the day it opened a new children’s section. “It all started with a love of books and talking about books,” she says. “Then once you’re [a librarian], you realize how much more goes into librarianship. It’s connecting people to the right books and people to ideas, and expanding from there.”