A thread about fanfiction in school libraries. Why? 1~Fanfic can be incredible! [Truly. 90% of my personal reading has been fanfic the last mo.] @juliaerin80 + I just recorded a presentation where we stressed supporting ALL of our students' reading choices. #libcollab #wonderwake

I've been going down a #fanfiction in libraries rabbit-hole and most articles are about public libraries and/or stressing how to support teen writers. (Which I love!) I do. But, what about fanfic NOT as a gateway to writing for teens, but as engaging reading material? Full stop.

Think of all the new fandoms for which there are NO 'books' yet. But fanfic? On My Block? Almost 2K general audience rated fics on one site alone (a03). All American? Even more. Or, looking at another angle. My Hero Aca? Over 24K. And these are just GENERAL AUDIENCE rated.

When students can't find a book/mag they want to read for SSR/DEAR/IR/HOME, have always printed out articles. But, now~I'm excited about having curated stories about my students' favorite shows +/or ships printed (author cited!) + ready to offer as well. [Yes, read by me first.]

Is this going to be a hustle to fit in to already limited time we have for collection development? Of course! But, I'm sooo excited to dive into this. Reading ATLA fanfiction at night? Sign me up! Anyone want to go on this journey with me? If we get a squad of curators/readers...

~from different fandoms, we could curate more widely + deeply. Of course, showing students how to engage with fanfic sites and find their own reading material~helping with tags, ratings, internet safety~is a natural part of this. AND, learning FROM students, obviously! #thinking

Also, if you've gotten this far...one of the main reasons that fanfic is so awesome (that isn't above) is how much more inclusive it can be. Have read thousands of stories and NOT ONE has been centered on white, cishet, able-bodied characters.