#64: Replace "ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls"

While gender binaries probably aren’t very common in your everyday speech at the reference or circulation desk, you may still find yourself asking “ladies and gentlemen” to give a round of applause for a performer, or welcoming “boys and girls” to storytime. This is uncomfortable and unwelcoming for anyone who doesn’t identify as one of those two categories, or who does but who is often misread by other people as far as which one they belong to. If you have a script for welcoming people to a program, even if it’s only a mental habit rather than a written document, practice replacing those phrases with more inclusive ones like “Hello, everyone!” or “Okay, friends, now it’s time to sit down for storytime.” It may feel silly, but practicing aloud can help you stick with the new phrasing rather than reverting to something more familiar when you’re actually up in front of patrons.