Sub mit a State of the Li brary Re port
Pro vide self-gen er ated State of the Li brary Re ports for your prin ci pal and ad min is tra - tors. A quar terly or an nual sum mary of li brary ser vices, ac tiv i ties, cir cu la tion and col lec - tion de vel op ment sta tis tics, par tic i pa tion in pro fes sional de vel op ment, par tic i pa tion in pro fes sional or ga ni za tions, grant pro pos als writ ten and grants awarded, new pro grams and re port of par tic i pa tion, for ex am ple, will no doubt pleas antly sur prise ad min is tra tion with all that you do, and it can also be used as a jus ti fi ca tion for bud get requests.
Be come a School Leader
Be come a school leader by par tic i pat ing in ev ery ap pro pri ate de ci sion-mak ing com - mit tee or coun cil that ex ists in your school. With out rep re sen ta tion in de ci sion-mak ing bod ies, the li brary is eas ily for got ten and op por tu ni ties are lost. Be come one of the in di vid - u als in your school whom the ad min is tra tion can de pend on to be vi sion ary, or ga nized, and de pend able. Of fer work shops and tech nol ogy aid to teach ers, stu dents, par ents, and ad min is tra tion. Don’t hide your knowl edge un der a book cart. The more ex per tise and knowl edge you share, the more con fi dence the stake holders at your school will have in your skills, abil i ties, and judg ment.
Con nect with Your Stu dents
Stay con nected with your stu dents. With all the plan ning, sched ul ing, pro gram cre - ation, ac qui si tion tasks, ma te rial pro cess ing, com mit tee work, and bud get bal anc ing that goes on be hind the scenes in a school li brary, it’s easy to be come the per son be hind the cur - tain that stu dents never see. Don’t let that hap pen. Put your face in front of stu dents as reg - u larly as pos si ble. Trade places dur ing the day with your as sis tant at the cir cu la tion desk or vol un teer to mod er ate stu dent clubs, ser vice pro grams, and other ac tiv i ties that will let you in ter act with stu dents. There is no better way to stay in touch with their world and to be - come ap proach able to stu dents than di rect in ter ac tion.
Con nect with Par ents
Stay con nected with par ents. Par ents can pro vide sup port and vol un teer aid for day-to-day op er a tions and ed u ca tional is sues and needs. Pro vide spe cial pro grams for par ents so that they can see how li brar ies have changed since they were stu dents and how they can re in force at home what your in struc tion is teach ing their chil dren at school. In vite them for an af ter noon or eve ning of li brary or tech nol ogy in struc tion. Let them ex pe ri ence tech nol ogy tools that can save time. Give them your usernames and pass words so they, too, can use your da ta bases and help their chil dren. Re cruit li brary vol un teers to help with book fairs, used book sales, col lec tion main te nance, or spe cial pro jects. Their help not only ben e fits your daily op er a tions but also brings fresh ideas and at ten tion to the li brary.
Be Award Win ning
Ap ply for lo cal, re gional, or na tional awards for your in no va tive pro grams and col lab - o ra tions with teach ers that work. Nom i nate your self or ask a trusted teacher or col league to nom i nate you. Even if you don’t per son ally care about awards, your ad min is tra tors do be cause if you look good, they look good—and ul ti mately, the school looks good. Also, it’s
a great way to get rec og ni tion and at ten tion for what you need teach ers in your school to know and the ways you hope to col lab o rate with them.
Go for the Grants
Write grant pro pos als that re sult in money for your li brary and school. Money speaks very loudly, and it quickly gains ad min is tra tors’ at ten tion. More im por tant, with all the money avail able for cre at ing in no va tive tech nol ogy in schools and li brar ies, it will pro vide you with the means to try new things. For ex am ple, we ac quired a mul ti me dia lab for video cre ation and ed it ing through a LSTA (Li brary Ser vices and Tech nol ogy Act), and as a re - sult, stu dents come to the li brary reg u larly to de sign, cre ate, and edit as ton ish ingly cre ative and com pli cated vid eos for class as sign ments and pro jects. In fact, the ac qui si tion of the lab has cre ated a de mand that now re quires us to seek ad di tional fund ing for ex pan sion.
If the idea of writ ing grants sends shiv ers through your body, you’re not alone. As with ev ery thing else, tak ing it one step at a time will make it man age able. Talk to oth ers in your school dis trict or your li brary net work that have writ ten grants suc cess fully and have them walk you through the steps in volved. Most fund ing or ga ni za tions make it fairly sim - ple by re quir ing very spe cific steps and guide lines to fol low and many grant-award ing or - ga ni za tions of fer work shops or sam ple pro pos als to re view. Your first pro posal might seem over whelm ing, but when you re ceive that let ter of con grat u la tions and the money for your pro ject, you will quickly for get the steps and time it took to cre ate the pro posal. As a fi nal word of cau tion, make cer tain that you have a cou ple of trusted col leagues re view your pro posal for ty pos and clar ity be fore send ing it off. If they have ques tions, chances are the re view team will, too. Most grants are very com pet i tive, and you don’t want to lose out be cause of missed ty pos or am bi gu ity.
Be come a Tech nol ogy Ex pert
Help teach ers in te grate tech nol ogy into their cur ric u lum. Be come the ex pert (ei ther for mally as part of your job de scrip tion or in for mally) that teach ers ask about new gad gets and tech nol ogy and who they rely on for ideas. A sim ple way to share in les son plan de vel - op ment is to cre ate pro ject and as sign ment Web pages where stu dents can lo cate the best re sources and links for a spe cific pro ject (see Chap ter 8). Eas ing the teach ers’ work load by pro vid ing cred i ble and re li able re sources will bring those teach ers back to you and your li - brary pro gram for as sis tance time and time again. Word spreads quickly among de part - ments and teach ers, and it won’t take long for you to be come the per son to pro vide things for them. Of fer to walk their classes through the pro ject and as sign ment pages to re mind stu dents about dif fer ences among the li brary cat a log, lit er ary da ta bases, and Web pages.
The cap tive au di ence of stu dents per mits the op por tu nity for you to re view or teach top ics of in for ma tion lit er acy.
Stan dard ize Your School’s Re search and Information Lit er acy Ef forts
Fi nally, as stated in ear lier chap ters, a method that is rap idly be com ing stan dard for many schools and school li brar ies is the re search and in for ma tion lit er acy model. There are many ex ist ing re search mod els that at tempt to make re search and in for ma tion lit er acy man age able and sim ple for stu dents. In re search ing var i ous mod els (see Chap ter 5), you’ll find that all re search mod els break down an in for ma tion need into cat e go ries of un der - stand ing the in for ma tion need, lo cat ing and ac cess ing in for ma tion, eval u at ing in for ma - tion, and as sim i lat ing it. Es tab lish ing a model is prob a bly the sin gle best method to en sure Broad cast Your Li brary Pro gram / 105
that all stake holders in your school have the same ex pec ta tions with re gard to writ ing, re - search, and in for ma tion lit er acy. It takes a com mit ment to con sis tency and re in force ment in ev ery de part ment and by ev ery ed u ca tor with ev ery pro ject and as sign ment to pro duce in for ma tion-lit er ate stu dents.
REFERENCES
Ref er ences Ref er ences
Scho las tic Li brary Pub lish ing. (2004). “School Li brar ies Work!” Re trieved Jan u ary 2, 2005, from http://www.scholasticlibrary.com
Todd, Ross J., Kuhlthau, Carol C., & OELMA. (2004). “Stu dents Learn ing through Ohio School Li brar ies” [on line]. Re trieved De cem ber 10, 2004, from http://www.
oelma.org/studentlearning/de fault.asp