5 Ways to Advocate without Being in Your Face

Recently, a colleague and friend reminded me that sometimes the louder we get the less people listen. As librarians we know the importance of advocating for our profession. It is our responsibility to share with others what we do to help students and how this looks different from librarians of the past. Since we are often the only person in our building who does our job we have to be careful how loud we get. If we push too hard, sometimes all we get is those who push back against us. Do not take this the wrong way, there is always a time and place to share what needs to be said. Share This is probably the most important thing you can do! The importance of sharing was solidified when I started in my current position five years ago. It was not just about sharing with parents. Data Data is powerful! Programs Some of the best advocates of the library are teachers. Displays Displays are, in my mind, one of the most valuable parts of the library. Anticipate What’s Coming Author: Kelly Hincks

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Related: COLLECTION: Advocacy

A Letter to my Colleagues As I begin to think about the start of the school year my focus is on how to create positive momentum. I like to make sure that my colleagues view the library the same way I do. A few years back, one of my mentors, Cheri Dobbs (@CheriDobbs) suggested I write a letter to my colleagues to explain my vision for the library. Another teacher librarian had shared it with her and had found it successful. Advocacy What Is Advocacy? Definitions developed by the AASL Advocacy Committee. Events Information on AASL sponsored events including Banned Websites Awareness Day and School Library Month. Intellectual Freedom AASL-created resources and contact information in the event of a material challenge.

Giving Data Some Soul Carolyn Foote At the 2014 Internet Librarian Conference, held in Monterey, CA (October 27–29), EBSCO user experience researcher Deirdre Costello shared the company’s efforts to delve into the research habits of teens. EBSCO researchers conducted one-on-one interviews, and they also sent video cameras to students so they could create their own research video diaries. Librarians are not born horn tooters. At least, I'm not. I know that might sound contradictory for someone who a) calls herself "library girl" and b) spends most of her time running around the countryside spreading the gospel of library. But it's true. Tooting my own horn does not come naturally. In fact, it wasn't until the world started to turn upside down and libraries became a frequent flyer on the fiscal chopping block that I decided I needed to learn how to advocate for kids by promoting what I did to support them.

Toolkits Open Educational Resources (OER) Toolkit School librarians have observed open educational resources (OER) take root in higher education and have grappled with how to translate the OER movement to K–12 educational settings. The AASL OER Implementation Task Force’s charge was to position school librarians in OER efforts that will help extend their role as leaders within their schools, align with the AASL Standards, and provide professional development and make school libraries Future Ready. This toolkit can be used to help school librarians understand the process of curating and creating OER for their school, district, and/or state. Developing Inclusive Learners and Citizens Activity Guide To aid school librarians in nurturing inclusive learning communities, AASL tasked a 2019 ALA Emerging Leaders team with developing a guide of reflection activities and resources based on the Include Shared Foundation in the National School Library Standards.

Ten Things Your Administrator Needs to Know as the School Year Begins 10. That you are a teacher who teaches not content but process. You teach children to be information literate, digitally literate, media literate, and visually literate. The skills that you teach, the dispositions that you help children to develop, the responsibilities that you foster, and the self-assessment strategies that you instill will serve children not only in school but also in life.

Six Ways To Become More Indispensable Six Ways To Build Your PLN Using Twitter Since becoming active on Twitter over the past year and a half, I have noticed some best practices that users with a large following seem to have in common. There are many benefits to having a larger professional personal learning network (PLN). More connections equals more information coming across your Twitter feed. Five Librarian Bloggers to Follow There are so many blogs about librarianship that it would be difficult to follow them all. Everyone has his or her favorites, of course, but NewsBreaks is highlighting some you may not have heard of in the hopes you’ll find it worthwhile to hear their perspectives. If you already know about these passionate authorial librarians, read on for some insight into why they started their blogs and what advice they’d give to those thinking about blogging.

Information Prescriptions: Tools To Support Students’ Library Skills Have you ever had a student arrive at your desk and your gut tells you they need more help than they are letting on? If so, information prescriptions may provide a remedy. Our inspiration came one evening after we caught a news feature about a local university teaching hospital offering information prescriptions, which doctors give to increase their patients’ understanding of a diagnosis or condition. The patient and family librarians at the hospital began offering information prescriptions as a targeted method for providing patients and their caregivers research-based information related to their illness or injury, treatments, and care. Always seeking ways to diversify and enhance our services at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, VA, we were intrigued and wondered how we could bring a version of this service to our school.

School Library Promotion Resources for School Librarians - Index Menu: General Web Sites | Special Events | Advocacy | Graphics and Bulletin Boards | General Web Sites Advocacy: Promotion, Public Relations, Advertising and Marketing - A guide to planning your library promotion event from the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University/Purdue University. I Love Libraries - Library news and advocacy by the ALA.