hildaweisburg

Posted on October 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: What’s Your Philosophy?

I’ve blogged about writing Mission and Vision Statements because I think they are vital for keeping grounded and focused in the hectic day-to-day life of a school librarian. However, I haven’t discussed the importance of a having a written philosophy. It’s been included in several of the books I’ve written for ALA Editions, and I have students in my Management of the School Library course do one, so I think it’s time to put the need for one in the spotlight.

A philosophy is a statement of beliefs. It identifies your core values. The AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner begins with nine “Common Beliefs” which in many ways constitutes the beliefs of the profession. These beliefs are a good place to begin framing your own philosophy. What is it you hold dear? What do you feel is essential to your personal definition of what a library is? What are you willing to fight for?

I embrace all nine Common Beliefs but the one that means the most to me is “Equitable access is a key component for education.” I couple it with another core value of mine, “The library is a safe, welcoming place for all its users.” The two don’t seem to be linked, but in many cases they are and I deeply believe that when the two come together, it can transform the life of a child.

“Equitable access is a key component for education” is a growing concern as the digital divide continues to increase. Students who don’t have Internet or even a computer at home are at a serious disadvantage. We get stories of students who hang around the school where they can pick up free Wi-Fi for their phones so they can do searches for their classes. But homework cannot be done on a phone.

As a librarian, I believe you have an obligation to do whatever you can to help those students. It may mean getting a grant to have the library open after school to accommodate those without home computers. It means making teachers and administrators aware of the problem. Too often we take access to the Internet as a given. The flipped classroom is a great idea. But it doesn’t work for those who can’t go online.

A basic truth is that schools and school libraries are not funded equably, sometimes even within the same district. We always assume this is true in urban areas but rural communities are often in even worse shape. The lack of access to computers is only one aspect of the problem. The ones who need the resources the most are the very students whose schools have libraries with aging collections, if they have a library, and quite possibly no librarian.

ALA has recognized this lack of “equitable access” and is in the process of drafting a resolution on “Equity for All to School Libraries Community.” It’s still be worked on, but the key points are to have ALA work to get certified librarians in all schools, equitable funding for all school libraries, and work with research committees to document the disproportionate cutting of resources affecting racial and economic populations.

Those are lofty goals. If and when it’s passed it won’t compel districts to hire librarians or fund libraries. But by putting the weight and lobbying power of ALA behind the resolution, we can raise awareness. And as ESSA is being fleshed out, we have a good chance of making some significant changes. (Be sure you keep aware of what ALA/AASL is doing to keep librarians and libraries positioned to take advantage of all that is in ESSA.)

“Equitable access is a key component for education” is also about intellectual freedom. I have blogged about Censorship and the lonely courage of a librarian who chooses to purchase a book, recognizing the subject matter is one that may raise challenges. We are all aware that a LGBTQ book will bring out censors in many communities. But those are the very places where a LGBTQ child feels most vulnerable.

A book, fiction or nonfiction, can help those kids see they are not alone. They can even discover they are “normal.” It can direct them to sources for help and advice. And this gets back to my other core value of the library being a safe, welcoming environment.

We have heard from authors and others that the library was a sanctuary for them. A place where they sometimes could hide and feel safe from whatever and whoever threatened them. We know schools have anti-bullying codes, but much happens in a school that flies under adult radar.

As a librarian, keep a watchful eye for those who escape to your library. Sometimes you can have them become “library assistants,” letting them avoid lunch in the cafeteria. You may find you become a confidante and then must travel a careful line between holding their confidentiality and knowing when to contact a guidance counselor or an administrator. You once again are making lonely decisions. I have made a few such in my career. The student never knew how nervous I was, trying to do what was best for the child without violating school policies.

In making these tough decisions it pays to have a written philosophy. It’s longer than a Mission or a Vision, so you have room to include all the beliefs you have about what a library needs to be. You can mention collaboration, and opening students’ minds to the world around them, helping them become independent learners and critical thinkers.

But you also must include how the library must feel for all its users, whether the child who is keeping his or her homelessness secret, a kid whose parent is in prison, or one who is abused at home. The library must be there for them, and so must you be.

As you write your philosophy, you will find out who you are at your core. You may eve revise your Mission or Vision as a result.

Do you have a philosophy? What is the most important belief in it?

Posted on October 3, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Why Librarians

Tight budgets have given rise to administrators wondering why they need librarians. Too often they decide librarians aren’t really necessary. We know otherwise, and if we want to change that mindset we need to speak out where the power stakeholders can hear us.

A few days ago I was contacted by a librarian who was going to be speaking to a county superintendents’ meeting. She had fifteen minutes to answer that question. It was a wonderful opportunity and somewhat intimidating at the same time. At least she didn’t have a problem addressing a large group.

Although you may cringe at the thought of speaking before such a group it is something you all should consider. In order to be a leader – and leadership is not an option, it’s a job responsibility –you must be willing to step out of your comfort zone. There are opportunities to get the word out. Sometimes you can have five or ten minutes at a Board of Education meeting. Ask to speak at an administrators’ meeting. The parent teacher organization at your school is another possibility.

Once you have found an audience, you need to prepare your talk. Look through your photographs of students at work in the library. Short videos are good as well. Don’t have them? Take them now so you will be ready.

Use Piktochart or Google slides as a backdrop to your talk. Make sure it isn’t text heavy. Have an unexpected beginning to capture attention. Pose the question that’s in back of their minds:

Who needs librarians?

We have the Internet. Kids are wedded to their devices anyway.

Libraries and librarians are nice, but in time of tight budgets we can only afford vital.

Now answer your question. “Guess what? Librarians are more vital than ever.”

From that you segue into the heart of your presentation saying something like, “Rather than giving you a long list of what librarians bring to students and the educational community as a whole, I will give you two big ideas”

The idea here is to keep it simple and make an impact. Point to the two strong areas of school library programs.

Love of Reading
Lifetime learners

First, the love of reading. Acknowledge that your audience may be thinking you don’t need a librarian for that. Classroom teachers and literacy coaches handle that.

Not exactly.

They teach HOW to read. Librarians make kids WANT to read and that makes all the difference in the world. From the elementary librarian reading stories that enchant kids while developing their visual literacy and ability to derive meaning beyond the text to the high school librarian who knows it’s never too late to connect a kid with just the right book that matches his/her interests and ability, the school librarian’s passion for the magic of books is contagious and kids get it.

(Can you think of a personal story that illustrates that. Tell it. Stories make the biggest impact.)

Correct another misconception by saying, “and before you suggest that the kids want everything online, Pew Research studies have confirmed several times (as does the experiences of building librarians) that kids prefer to read print books.

As educators we all know “kids who read succeed.” It’s true for many reasons. In addition to reading building vocabulary and writing ability, it also expands awareness of the larger world, creating understanding of different times, places, and ways of life in a manner no textbook can ever convey. Because books are personal.

And the second reason we need librarians is the importance of cultivating lifetime learners. The world is changing rapidly. What students learn today can be obsolete in a few years. It’s not the content that’s important. In 2005, Thomas L. Friedman in The World is Flat said the most important skill we need to teach our kids is HOW to learn.

And that’s what a librarian does.

Working collaborative, cooperatively, or solo if necessary, the librarian creates learning experiences that have students discovering how to find out about a topic they are interested in and do so ACCURATELY.

Through giving students room to choose what aspect of a topic they want to explore – which makes it of PERSONAL interest to them—and then guiding them through a research process which leads them to deeper and critical thinking about their topic, and has them produce new knowledge. Our students find out that the questioning process is more significant then answering test questions correctly. If a student merely answers teacher generated questions they prove they have mastered the content – that which is already known – by developing questions and finding solutions they become innovators – and that is where the future lies.

(Again, add any personal stories you have here.)

Interestingly enough, numerous research studies have shown that students in schools with a certified librarian and an active library program do better on high stakes tests. Download School Libraries Work and give out copies. If you can manage it also give them a print copy of AASL Standards for the 21^st Century Learner (bundle of 12 for $15.00). Tell them to look at p.3 to see just the 4 standards.)

Move toward your closing by saying, a school librarian effects the whole school community thorough tech integration, being an Instructional Partner, and giving professional development for teachers – and there are research studies to show that. (See ONE COMMON GOAL: STUDENT LEARNING Report of Findings and Recommendations of the New Jersey School Library Survey Phase 2 p.23 and after for how the library affects the school culture.)

For your closing go to the ALA initiative Libraries Transform for some great quotes. Searching Libraries Transform on Google gives you images you can copy.

Also go to http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/transforming and download the infographic.

Have you made a presentation on Why Librarians? If not, where can you give one?

Posted on September 26, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES – Dress for Success

I am taking on a somewhat controversial topic. Not everyone sees this as necessary, and it’s not the most important thing you can do to promote your leadership. However, with so much at stake to keep library programs and librarians visible and vital, I believe we should use every tool available to us.

You know that you communicate a great deal without words. When you walk into a room, before you say anything, you have sent a number of messages. Some are totally unfair as people will make judgments based on arbitrary prejudices such as age, weight, and any number of other irrelevant criteria.

In addition to visual clues, body language tells a lot about what you are thinking and how you are feeling. Arms crossed signals you are closed. Whether you look at people or away from them reveals how secure you are feeling. Tight lipped smiles shows you are hiding something or feel insecure. You make these decisions about others. They do the same about you.

How you dress also sends messages. I go to every ALA and AASL Conference and I am always amazed at how easy it is to distinguish between the vendors and the librarians in the halls and elevators. I know many librarians feel they can relax and dress solely for comfort, but I have a feeling that many of them dress that way when they are in their schools.

Look around your building. Notice how the teachers dress. Is there a difference between those who are well-regarded and others? The dress of the secretarial and clerical staff is rarely the same as what teachers wear. Paraprofessionals and aides mostly have their similar dress “code.” This is not a hard and fast rule. There are always exceptions, but in general this holds true.

Now look at how administrators dress. Compare that with what you wear. Where are you on the scale? If you look like some of the less-regarded teachers you are opening yourself up to being ignored or not valued highly. If your clothes are similar to teachers who are highly regarded you are in a better position.

But you want more than that. You want to be viewed as a leader. Increasingly you will be in the presence of administrators. If you look as though you are one of them, you will be treated as though you are. It may seem shallow, but it’s effective.

I have known a few librarian leaders and one administrator who didn’t “dress for success” who are highly respected, but they are rarities. They are incredibly skilled at showing their worth and so were accepted by everyone for the leaders they are. You, on the other hand, may still be at a place where you want to prove yourself and emerge from how you are currently perceived.

Dressing for success is much discussed in the business world, but hardly ever mentioned in education. Indeed, in some corporations a person who is being primed for promotion to higher levels of management might be sent to a personal shopper to be able to present a more polished, successful appearance. Unlike the corporate world, in a school system, upgrading your wardrobe doesn’t mean you will be purchasing clothes with designer labels, but being mindful of the message you send with what you are wearing is important.

A reality check is necessary here. If you are at the elementary level, skirts and dresses for women and suits for men are impractical. You frequently get down on the floor to work with kids. However nice pant suits or their equivalent and ties and such for men are a subtle change that will be taken in subliminally as part of your message.

While you are unlikely to work on the floor with students in high school, the same suggestions can hold. Most important at any level is to feel comfortable with what you wear. Jewelry that is too flashy and earrings with long dangles are generally to be avoided as they are distracting.

Shoes are another consideration. High heels for women are impractical unless you are very accustomed to moving with them on. Sneakers, on the other hand, need to be carefully thought out. Some are far too casual. Others might work depending on what the norms are in your building and district. Although it’s not fair, men are more easily able to get away with them.

In becoming a leader, it pays to be mindful of things big and little. You show your leadership in what you do and how you are and that is what is most important. But you don’t want the small things to take away or diminish in any way from how you are perceived.

Are you mindful of how you dress? Do you think it matters in your building and district?

(EDITOR’S NOTE Based on a section of Hilda’s forthcoming book Leading for School Librarians: There is No Option.)

Posted on September 19, 2016September 19, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES – Are You a Professional?

Of course you are. But what exactly does that mean?

The term came up when I was talking with my editor at ALA Editions. I had just submitted the manuscript for my new book, Leading for School Librarians: There is No Option. It was slightly more than a month ahead of deadline and at something over 64,000 words met the contractual target of 55,000-65,000 words. She also knew I completed it in less than five months while continually teaching several online courses, and she said in admiration, “You are a professional.”

It’s lovely to hear something like that and it took me back over thirty years to the superintendent of schools where I was working. She skillfully led a district which voted down budgets twenty times in the twenty-two years I was there. Knowing she had to operate on a shoestring, she very successfully learned the art of complimenting in ways to get faculty to do and give more. In our conversation, she said “I can always count on you. You are a true professional.” I beamed and, of course, I did what she wanted.

But I have now begun thinking what does it mean to be a professional. Of the definitions in Merriam Webster, one is particularly relevant –“relating to a job that requires special education, training, or skill.” School librarians certainly meet that criteria.

In the more expanded form the criteria is somewhat less universally true of librarians. While many are “characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession,” there are some who are either unaware of the ALA Code of Ethics or haven’t consulted it in a very long time and are not always following it. Indeed a far-too high percentage of school librarians don’t belong to AASL and some don’t even belong to their state library association. Can you imagine a doctor who isn’t a member of the American Medical Association or a lawyer who isn’t a member of the American Bar Association?

Still not convinced I had addressed all the connotations of “professional,” I turned to the business world and found these two definitions in the online Business Dictionary:

“Person formally certified by a professional body of belonging to a specific profession by virtue of having completed a required course of studies and/or practice. And whose competence can usually be measured against an established set of standards.
Person who has achieved an acclaimed level of proficiency in a calling or trade.”

Librarians do meet the first definition, but the only “acclaimed level of proficiency” we can attain is probably to have a NBPTS Library Media certification. It certainly demonstrates you are a professional, but only a small percentage of librarians have undertaken that arduous and costly route. (There are sources to help cover the cost.)

Being a good librarian—and therefore a good searcher, I continued my exploration of the term professional. I hit real pay dirt at the Tech Republic site where I found not so much a definition but rather an excellent list of how a professional behaves. I think this is what we want to take to heart and use to become recognized by others as a “professional.”

Put Customers First

In order to meet this requirement, you have to identify your customers. Your students are your obvious customers, but so are teachers, administrators, and any number of other stakeholders. It means they will always have priority over any tasks waiting your attention. “Professionals identify and satisfy their customer’s needs.”

Make Expertise Your Specialty

If you are a professional, you are an expert at something. Recognize the areas where you are an expert. Know why this expertise is important to customers. Keep getting better at it. And incorporate your expertise into your Mission Statement so your customers know the benefits they get from working with you. And you become more valued. “Professionals know their trade.”

Do More than Expected

So many of you are doing this. Your day extends before and after the school day. You also may be giving teachers more help than they expected from you. Perhaps you send them weekly emails on online tech resources or apps they can use with their units and volunteer to help them master the sites. You go the extra mile with a student who is struggling to complete an assignment but has limited access to a computer and/or the Internet at home. “Professionals meet or exceed expectations whenever possible.”

Do What You Say and Say What You Can Do

Don’t promise more that you can deliver. You can always go beyond what you promised (see above). You want your “customers” to know they can trust and count on you.” It can be easy to get caught up in the moment either touting what school library programs can do or wanting to be seen as invaluable to a teacher, that you go beyond what is in your power to do given your staffing and time. “Professionals deliver on promises made.”

Communicate Effectively

We are great communicators, but not necessarily on all platforms. In today’s world you need to be able to send emails, create compelling reports, text on occasion in the education world, develop informative websites, tweet, and speak effectively and to the point. In addition, you need to know the best medium for your message. It’s a tall order but if you didn’t choose the most effective means for a particular message, it’s likely to be overlooked or, worse, misinterpreted. “Whether verbal or written, professionals communicate clearly, concisely, thoroughly, and accurately.”

Follow Exceptional Guiding Principles

In this case, it’s back to the ethics of our profession as well as the Common Beliefs of the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner. Know and practice them. “Professionals adhere to high values and principles.”

Praise Your Peers Not Yourself

Always find opportunities to put teachers (and any staff you have) into the limelight. “Professionals are humble and generous in their praise of others.”

Share Your Knowledge

Of course. We wouldn’t be librarians if we didn’t do this. “Professionals help their peers and are respected for doing so.”

Say Thank You

I learned a lot from that Superintendent of Schools. A well-thought out thank you goes a long way. “Professionals thank others in a meaningful way that most benefits the recipient.”

Keep a Smile on Your Face and the Right Attitude in Your Heart

We want the library to be a warm, safe, welcoming environment. A smile is a good start. And if you have a positive attitude it will be read in your body language. Most communication is non-verbal. “Professionals are pleasant even during trying times.”

You probably do more than half of these. Are there any that you need to cultivate? My certification as a public librarian is “Professional Librarian.” I wish the one for school librarians carried that designation. Even so consider yourself a “Professional School Librarian” (or whatever you are called in your state), and work to be sure you live up to that every day.

Posted on September 12, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES – To Be Valued and Valuable

The libraries, librarians, students and teachers of tomorrow — need you NOW.

I have been writing for school librarians since 1979. I have been speaking and presenting to them for almost as long. Many would say those first years –1980’s and 1990’s – were a golden age for school librarians. Certainly we weren’t seeing librarians being eliminated, but the times weren’t perfect and many of the seeds of today’s challenges were planted then.

While this look at the past may seem laden with doom and gloom, hang on. There is light at the end of the tunnel. You can and must be part of the change. Yes, you are part of that light.

Articles in the early issues of School Librarian’s Workshop dealt with budget constraints. Libraries still got money, but it was often cut. Principals saw that large chunk of funds as a source for some of their pet projects. And how did the librarians respond? They complained to their fellow librarians. “Woe is me. My principal doesn’t see the importance of the library program.”

Sound familiar? I would give a workshop at a state conference—usually my home state—and invariably one or more librarians would tell me, “My principal has no idea what I do.” There is a connection between an administrator having no idea of what you do and not recognizing the importance of the library program. But too many librarians didn’t want to undertake more work to change perceptions.

Time and again, I was told by elementary librarians, “I am needed because I provide teachers with their contractual duty-free period.” The unsaid message was, “my position is secure.” I would respond that times change and so do contracts. The answer mostly fell on deaf ears. These same librarians would also complain that teachers dropped their class off and came back to pick students up without caring about what happened during the “library period.” “They think of me as a babysitter.” Yet, the librarians did nothing pro-active to raise teacher awareness.

At the high school level, more librarians had staff and reasonable budgets, but these were cut on occasion as well. Teachers who liked libraries and had a project would bring their classes in. Some of them worked with the librarian. So in a typical high school, English and History classes were likely to be the only ones who ever used the library.

High school librarians had rules. I know of one situation where the two librarians would not schedule all the sections a teacher had for the same day. Too much work. They only permitted teachers who gave them a copy of the students’ assignment to be sure the period wouldn’t be used to give the teacher a break. Students were allowed in the library at lunch only if they had work to do.

This is not what school libraries are like to today, but this is what they were like for a long time and what teachers saw. Librarians had a cushy job. A number of those teachers went on to be administrators. They took their perceptions of the librarian and the school library program with them.

In 1997, Gary Hartzell wrote a two-part article for School Library Journal on “The Invisible Librarian.” He pointed to the omission of the role of librarians in teacher training, the absence of librarians in many professional organizations, and the difficulty in measuring the value of librarians contributions. There was general agreement with Hartzell’s views. Librarians saw it as confirmation that they were ignored and one positive result emerged. Library researchers began investigating the contributions of a library program and developed ways to measure them. Those studies continue being made today.

Unfortunately, most administrators and lawmakers don’t seem to care—or even know about them. They remember the librarians from their early career. Sure they would have continued library programs and kept librarians, but then the economic crisis hit. School budgets were slashed. Time to cut the expendable and not vital. Library programs were a logical place to begin.

In the slashing of programs, many wonderful librarians with outstanding programs were eliminated. We are all still reeling from how quickly we lost so much. But bemoaning the past doesn’t get us anywhere. We need to learn from it and use the current scene as an opportunity to emerge better than ever.

The big lesson is, if the school community doesn’t know who you are, what you do, and why it is unique, they won’t value you. If your principal doesn’t know what you do, how can he or she be expected to see you as vital to student learning and helping teachers teach their students critical thinking and the host of other information literacy skills which are integral to what we do? You must always find creative ways to let your administrators know about student projects and activities you developed in collaboration, cooperation, or conjunction with teachers.

You must make your presence known. It’s imperative that you step out of your comfort zone and become a leader in your building. By working with teachers, helping make their jobs easier, showing them how to integrate tech into their lessons, you become invaluable to them. They know what you do and want more of it.

Serve on building and district communities to show how you contribute. And finally, you must help other librarians in your district be leaders as well. The past has shown us it’s not enough for one of you to be great. The broom sweeps out everything at once.

You must do whatever you can to build that advocacy program. Get ideas from the AASL Health and Wellness Toolkit. Look for programs on leadership and advocacy at your state association’s conference. Re-read the blog from two weeks ago on mentorship—and become one.

And if you need an incentive, think of Elizabeth Warren’s quote: “If you aren’t at the table, you are probably on the menu.”

How are you demonstrating leadership? How are you building more leaders? How are you contributing to the future of school libraries?

Posted on September 6, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Always have a plan

The school year has begun. Everything is new again. Where do you want to be when it ends? Have you given it any thought? Now is the time to chart your course.

I have written and taught about strategic planning, feeling very strongly that every library program needs to have a direction for the future. But strategic planning is normally for a two to three year timeline. If you haven’t gotten that far, make a plan for this one year. It will give you the confidence to create bolder and longer term ones.

Start by looking at your Mission Statement. Every library program should have one that declares its purpose in a compelling way. If you don’t have one, time to get it written. I did a blog on it one year ago that briefly explains how to craft the statement. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always tweak it later. Check websites of other school librarians to see if they have a Mission Statement. Borrow wording you like and make it suit your library. The statement needs to promote the unique purpose of the library program.

Once you have your Mission, identify any part you haven’t achieved yet. For example, perhaps mention teacher collaborations yet very few teachers are collaborating with you. Or if you refer to tech resources, what would you most like to add to your collection? Is your book budget far too small—or non-existent – for you to build the lifelong readers you stated as part of your purpose? Do you think an author visit would promote reading? What else is lacking?

Now comes the challenge. How can you achieve this one change in the course of the school year? If teacher collaboration is your target, identify the teacher(s) most likely to work with you. You really can start with just one teacher to discover what works and what doesn’t. Remember, you need to have a relationship first before you are likely to win that teacher over.

Figure out what curricular unit would be the best fit for a mini-research project. Look for one occurring early in the school year so you can build from that. Speak to the teacher, stressing what you are willing and able to do. You don’t want to add to the teacher’s workload. Do your homework first and have a list of helpful resource ready for you share with the teacher. Offer ideas for a culminating unit in which students demonstrate critical thinking and create new knowledge.

For tech issues and increasing money for book purchases, you need to identify a source of funding. Can you get a grant from the local education foundation? Will the parent association give you money from a book fair? Are there other sources in your community? Look into DonorsChoose,org as a possible source.

Before you apply for any outside funding, develop a rationale for your plan. Know what you want to do as a follow-up. Speak with your principal. Discuss your Mission and why you want to work on developing this aspect of it. If you are prepared, you should be able to get approval without much if any difficulty.

Leaders plan and always have a plan. While you will focus on one thing for this school year, have a list of everything you want to do to strengthen the library program and make your Mission Statement a reality for everyone in the school. Then you start working on achieving your Vision.

You never know when an opportunity will arise and you have a chance to do something but have to move quickly. I have known of librarians who are informed there is suddenly a specified amount of money available but it must be spent within a short time frame. I had it happen and called a vendor I trusted, set up a meeting and gave the rep a big order.

I also used to make it a practice to see my Superintendent of Schools over the summer. Depending on how your district works, you probably would do this only with your principal. In that quiet time of the year, I would discuss where I wanted to take the library next and why and how it might affect the budget. We would negotiate for the funds I wanted for a given project. I would agree to take money from one part of my budget and she would acquiesce in getting me additional funds to make it happen.

What was most telling is that she once said to me, “I have the feeling that if I go one step with you, you have nine others waiting.” She was right. I needed those other possibilities. In case my first idea was shot down, I would bring up the next. She also said to me on another occasion that she learned the easiest way to deal with requests was to say no. Almost everyone would take that for an answer and go away. But those like me, who came back with an alternative were listened to. She could see we were committed to getting something done.

So what’s your plan? What do you want to see happen by school’s end? What else? What else? Dream, plan, and work. Create a mission, build relationships, and grow your program. You can make it happen.

Posted on August 29, 2016August 29, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Mentors – Get One Or Be One

Mentoring has long been a business practice, but it didn’t have much of a role in education until states began allowing people to become certified through alternate routes rather than taking traditional education course in college. These new hires had limited knowledge of pedagogy and educational practices. To get them up to speed quickly, many states instituted mentorships whereby an experienced teacher would guide these newbies through the routines, paperwork, and assorted requirements.

While it’s nice for a school librarian to have a teacher mentor, it does not solve most of the challenges facing someone who is new or relatively new on the job. A teacher can show you the ropes as they apply to the building or district, but not the ones directly related to being librarian. Teachers don’t deal with budgets, purchase orders, people walking in and out of their rooms, a vague or non-existent curriculum, or administrators who don’t know what you are supposed to do other than teach.

In addition, as a librarian you deal with teacher demands, tech responsibilities, and the tech department for a host of issues ranging from updating your automation system and inputting new students and teachers into that system to loading any new databases. Where can you get help? Not from a teacher. You need a school librarian as your mentor.

Getting a Mentor

You have a few options as to how to acquire a mentor. It might be simplest to find another librarian in your district and ask him or her to be your mentor. They are familiar with how the district operates, probably order from the same vendor that you will, and know the people and practices of your districts’ tech department.

Another way to acquire a mentor is to go to your state library association’s website and see if they have a mentor program. Many do and will find one for you, preferably located close to you geographically. My own state of New Jersey has a detailed mentorship program with explanations of the responsibilities of mentors and mentees, the reporting process, and more.

If that avenue is not available, go to you association’s online discussion board (also called listserv). Monitor it for a while to see who is most active and which contributors seem to be the most respected and well-versed in the latest practices in school librarianship. Email one of these librarians and ask him or her to be your mentor.

Being a Mentor

Those of you who are quite experienced and who are regarded as leaders in your state need to step up and become mentors. If you want school library programs to flourish, you are responsible to help all school librarians to be successful and to grow into being leaders. One of my favorite quotes is by Tom Peters who said, “Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.

Now that you accept your responsibility to become a mentor, you need to find mentees. If your state association doesn’t have a mentorship program, propose one. Use a national forum such as LM_NET or AASL_Forum to find out which states have a program and are willing to share it with you. No need to re-create the wheel.

In the meantime, check to see if your district has any new hires. Positions that once were eliminated are slowly (OK, very slowly) being restored in places. More often than in the recent past, when a librarian leaves or retires the position is not being eliminated, so districts are getting more new librarians. Reach out to these newbies and offer you services.

You can also go on you state association’s discussion board and suggest a core of volunteer mentors for new librarians, saying you would want to be one to help those starting out be successful. The simple act of putting yourself out there should bring both requests from those who recognize what a gift this is and volunteers who will join you in becoming mentors.

Mentor/Mentee Relationship

Both mentors and mentees have responsibilities in this relationship and it’s best if these are discussed clearly from the beginning. The mentee has the obligation of honoring the mentors’ time and using the communication channel the mentor prefers whether it’s phone, email, skype, or whatever seems best. Sometimes the mentor can come to the mentee’s school. Also determine the frequency of communications. It can be on an as-needed basis or there can be a regular schedule.

Additionally the mentee must be clear as to his/her needs. What specifically does the mentee want to know or learn? I have had mentees email me a copy of an evaluation they received, explained what happened, and asked for the best way to respond to it I have been asked to help craft a memo to a principal regarding a problem situation and do it in a way the librarian didn’t sound as though she was whining or complaining.

It is also a good idea for the mentee to keep track of the number and content of the communications. This serves as documentation of the mentees’ growth. If kept general enough, the mentee might be able to use it to show the principal what he/she learned.

The role of the mentor is more than simply being a coach. Yes, the mentor cheers on the mentee on those down days when all seems to be going wrong and points to places where the mentee has shown growth, but in addition they need to be good listeners and not rush in with answers and advice. They ask guiding questions, much the way we do with students. It’s important that the mentee learn to think through problems and situations on his/her own.

The mentor is also the mentee’s link to resources. This included reminding them of national association websites, informing them of tech resources and apps as well as connecting and introducing them to other leaders. Slowly the mentor guides the mentee not only to be confident and successful on the job, but more importantly, the mentor helps the mentee on the path to leadership.

Do you have a mentor or have you had one? What did you learn? Have you ever been a mentor? What did you learn and gain from it?

BONUS!! Download your free Mentor-Mentee contract here!

Posted on August 22, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES: Leaders Empower Others

The word “empowerment” has been coming up often. The AASL guidelines for school library programs has the title Empowering Students. “Empower” has become one of the buzz words used in business and education. As with many overused terms, frequency blurs meaning. It is a very strong word and should be thoroughly understood so you know what it is you are expected to do.

Merriam Webster defines it as “to give power to (someone)” or “to give official authority or legal power to (someone).” Obviously we use the first meaning most often, but even so, what power are we giving students? Through our inquiry-based lessons they develop the power to learn on their own, follow their passions, knowing they have become skilled users and producers of information.

But there is a more subtle meaning of empower. When we empower someone we make them more confident, in control of their life, and able to believe in and trust their abilities. That is a huge responsibility. Yet if you follow your students over their several years in your building, you see that is exactly what you do.

The AASL Guidelines were published in 2009 and the use of “empowering” in the title was new in the world of education. Although it didn’t discuss why the word was chosen, it was on target. We need to embrace the concept of empowerment.

As a leader you need to take on the challenge of empowering others. Recognize how and when to empower your stakeholders. When you bring relevant aspects of your expertise to them, they become more confident in what they are doing and, whether or not they acknowledge what you have done, they are aware that they have grown as a result.

Students, of course, are your first stakeholders, and you know how you empower them. You do so with every inquiry based lesson, every time you expand their range of leisure reading, or guide them in their searches for their assignments or personal interest. Tune into how you are building their confidence and trust in their own abilities to learn on their own.

Your teachers are the next group you need to empower. To do so, analyze where they are unsure of themselves and need some help. Because of rapid changes, teachers are usually not nearly as capable as you are at integrating tech resource. They are unaware of the vast range of them and the new ones that keep sprouting up. One librarian I know of, sends teachers information on one tech resource each week, offering to help them see how it can be used in their curriculum units. Knowing that you are there to hold their hand as they learn how to use it, makes the prospect less intimidating and builds their confidence.

Some teachers are not well versed in crafting units with Essential Questions (EQs) and Enduring Understandings (EUs). As you work with them, having built a relationship so they trust you, suggest possibilities to use in a learning experience. The more the two of you work together, the greater the teacher’s confidence grows in writing the EQs and EUs on their own.

Finally, the importance of inquiry-based learning is being touted as important in student learning. Too often the implication is it can be accomplished solely in the classroom. Considering it has students select the direction of what they want to learn about a topic and invariably requires research, it can’t really be limited to the classroom. But you can point out how you structure an inquiry-based unit. Working with you is safe as you do not evaluate teachers so they are willing to ask questions and learn as they go.

The strong relationships and growing history of collaboration or cooperation you have built with teachers are the foundations on which you empower them. In an era when many eyes are on classroom teachers, judging and evaluating what they do – and usually negatively, you give them the confidence and the vocabulary to show they are valuable. And you are therefore valuable to them.

Your next step is empowering administrators. While many work hard to keep up with changes in technology and what is happening in their buildings, too often they are even more overworked than you and the teachers. When you inform them of projects teachers have done with you, always spotlighting the teacher, and students learning and reactions, you give them a deeper understanding of how collaboration (or cooperation) is impacting both faculty and students. With this knowledge, the administrator gets to know more details of what is happening in the building that could be obtained from the few classroom observations. The added benefit is that it promotes your program.

Parents are another group of stakeholders you can empower. They are aware of the dangers their children might get into in cyberspace but lack the knowledge to know how to prepare them and keep an eye of their child’s digital footprint. If you give a presentation to parents on keeping kids safe in cyberspace and/or posting helpful information for parents on your website, you empower them. Even keeping them informed about projects classes are doing is a form of empowerment as it makes them feel closer to their children’s day.

Who are you empowering? How are you doing it? What help do you need? Remember – your peers and mentors are here to empower you!

Posted on August 15, 2016August 15, 2016 by hildaweisburg

ON LIBRARIES – Weeding and Leading

I recently realized these two topics are related when I discovered how many librarians are reluctant to weed, and the many issues that arise when they do. Perhaps you’ll feel better about the process when you realize weeding gives you several ways to promote your program. As you make your collection more relevant and less burdened by past choices, you show your program’s (and your) relevance.

The Issue of Weeding

I first encountered weeding back in the 1980s when I took over a high school library from a librarian who feared administrative reaction if she threw books out. After all they were bought with hard-earned taxpayer money. I had no such qualms.

Among the treasures I found on my shelves was a book called Percy Goes to Yale, the complete Sue Barton series starting with Sue Barton Student Nurse which I had read twenty plus years before in high school. Other treasures included a 300+ page book on homeroom guidance, a science book with a chapter on the Piltdown Man, first “discovered” in 1912 and proved a hoax in 1949, and a guide for young ladies called What’s Your PQ? about how girls should keep their intellect and skills hidden so as not to seem superior to their dates.

Weeding needs to be a continuous process to keep collections current. Having books on the shelf just for the sake of having them is a disservice to students. Worrying about keeping a certain number so you have 20 books per student or whatever formula you are following means nothing if the books aren’t helpful.

While librarians are still be eliminated, in other places the positions have been restored. The newly hired librarians are faced with books that haven’t circulated in years and nothing current. This is one place leadership shows up. If you put books you have weeded onto a cart and either show the howlers to your principal or take a picture of them and share it, you will show how you mean to take charge of your library. Tie it into your view of what a 21^st century program should be and use it to show your leadership.

You can also use weeding as a means of building advocates for the library program by inviting volunteers to assist you. If you don’t have library volunteers, with the principal’s approval, see if the PTA will work with you to sponsor a Weeding Saturday. Have carts and criteria ready along with snacks and drinks.

Choosing What to Weed

For criteria, many librarians use the CREW and MUSTIE method created by Belinda Boon and presented in full in The CREW Method; Expanded Guidelines for Collection Evaluation and Weeding for Small and Medium-Sized Public Libraries (Austin, Texas: The Texas State Library, 1995). In it she explains the two acronyms. CREW stands for Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding while MUSTIE helps you decide what to throw out:

M- Misleading—factually inaccurate
U- Ugly –worn beyond mending or rebinding
S- Superseded—by a new edition or a much better book on the subject
T- Trivial—of no discernible literary or scientific merit
I- Irrelevant to the needs and interests of the library’s community
E- Elsewhere—the material is easily available from another library.

My personal favorite resource on weeding is Less is More: A Practical Guide to Weeding School Library Collections by Donna J. Baumbach and Linda L. Miller (Chicago: ALA, 2006). While now 10 years old, it is still incredibly helpful.

library girl - weeding — The FRESH approach of Library Girl

Library Girl offers the acronym FRESH. The image at the left explains her measures and if you click on image (or her name at the beginning of this sentence), you’ll read her article on the subject.

When your volunteers arrive, explain the criteria to them and let them begin. Be sure they know you will review each item because once in a while, they pull a classic that really should be kept. Keep track of the total number of books to discard and photograph everyone hard at work as well as the results of their labor – the piles of books and the uncluttered shelves.

Part two of the weeding process brings up what can be a thorny issue. What do you do with the discards? Before you begin, find out what the district’s policy is. Assuming you have the right to dispose of them as you wish, think twice before you send them to Africa, to a school lacking in books, or to classroom collections. I know it’s hard for most of us to throw books out. And tossing what were expensive reference sets seems wrong but why would you burden another collection with books that aren’t valuable.

Before you choose one of those options, I urge you to read an article by Gail Dickinson in the April/May 2005 issue of Library Media Connection. In addition to explaining the weeding process succinctly, going through all relevant steps –and discussing MUSTY (which I like even better than MUSTIE) she makes an analogy between milk in your refrigerator that is past the sale date and has curdled and books that are outdated and contain misinformation.

Weeding Shows Leadership

One more story from my past. I was working with a group of volunteers on a community service project doing some cleanup in an inner city school. One team worked on the playground, another in the cafeteria/ gym/auditorium, and I headed up those who wanted to clean up the library.

There hadn’t been a librarian in several years and the library had been rearranged to meet teacher needs, so there was no Dewey order and no card catalog. The shelves however were packed. I gave my team guidelines and in a few hours we had an enormous pile of books to discard. One was about family life in the 1950s complete with a picture of the family watching a tiny black and white television.

The volunteers were very pleased with how the library looked and so was the principal. He was very impressed and told me if I had been his librarian, he would never have eliminated the position. He had no idea of who I was other than a librarian. He didn’t know about the books I had written or what I was doing in AASL. He just saw results. And that is why weeding is tied to leadership.

How often are you weeding? Do you get help? What “howlers” have you found?

Posted on August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 by hildaweisburg · 1 Comment

ON LIBRARIES: A Matter of Time

With the start of the school year, the demands on your time just increased exponentially. By the end of the first week some of you feel you are already a month behind. To prevent yourself from spending the year in a constant state of overwhelm, you need to develop time management techniques that work for you, allowing you to get your work done and still be able to be with family and friends. In other words, have a life outside of school.

Leaders know how to manage their time. They have to. Last October I blogged about the stories we tell ourselves as to why we can’t be leaders. The first one was you didn’t have time. As you take on more tasks and responsibilities, you can quickly find yourself buried in tasks. Even with good time management, you can get swamped. You just need to know how to minimize those times when you are in work and some techniques for getting your life back in order.

You almost undoubtedly have days when you feel you will never get done. Mostly, it’s a matter of finding out what organizational techniques work best for you. Then you must become sufficiently disciplined to use them.

No one has more than twenty-four hours in a day. Realistically you need time to sleep, eat, and be with family and friends. That leaves a limited number of hours to get everything done. Yet if you look around, you will see that some people do it very well and others are constantly floundering.

The truth that you know, but hate to face, is you are probably wasting a great deal of time. It’s getting easier and easier to do so with lures such as Candy Crush or other Facebook games, checking email, or looking at posts on your social media of choice. Procrastination has always been with us, and it seems we have more ways to avoid what we don’t feel like doing.

Take an honest inventory of your habits. Make of list of how you spend (squander?) time. What tasks do you avoid doing for as long as possible? This is not meant for you to blame yourself for these habits. Even the most organized people need downtime. You can’t shift from one task to a dissimilar one without a brief break of some type. The brain doesn’t work that way. The difficulty is not to turn that brief break into an extended waste of time.

Make another list of your daily routines and your “regular” ones. Which ones require a deep focus and which are “no-brainers?” It is important to be recognize that all tasks are not equal in how much concentration they need. You should know what time of day you are best suited for the ones that involve the most attention, so that to the extent possible you can deal with them at the optimum time for you.

Think about how you spend your average work week. I sometimes characterize many librarians as living with a fire extinguisher and duct tape as their prime tools. They are spending much of their time putting out fires or patching up problems. That’s draining. For the most part it is caused by not having a Mission and Vision (which I hope you have since I have blogged about it previously), and setting goals for attaining desired objectives. As the great philosopher, Yogi Berra, is reputed to have said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up someplace else.”

Stay focused and be productive by finding a way to have a to-do list that works for you. Some highly obsessive, motivated people can have one for the day with a list of all tasks prioritized. They consider completing it a mark of their success.

The nature of your job makes it unlikely that you can do that. Your day can be very unpredictable. Consider a weekly to-do list. I have one that is for two or three days. I have a column on the right where I list the different categories of my tasks. For you it could be “back room” for tasks such as cataloging, ordering books, etc, “administration” for doing reports, and “teaching” for getting materials for a class. You would be the one to best set the categories.

I put stars next to my high priority tasks. Another way to do it is to identify tasks by whether they take concentrated time or can be done whenever you have a few free minutes. Writing a report is one that takes focused time. If you stop in the middle, you need to review what you did before continuing. Checking email can be done between complex tasks.

Some of you will find it most efficient to keep your to-do list on your phone or tablet. Others prefer a traditional pencil and paper to have it in view all the time. This is not one-size-fits-all. How you organize your available time is personal and must fit your personality, work style, and your situation. Keep experimenting until you find the one that works best for you.

For those of you who routinely stay late, it’s time to pack it up. Allow yourself only one or two late days. You have a life waiting at home. You will never finish everything. Tasks keep coming. My mantra is, “If it’s important, it will get done. It always does.”

What’s your best time management tip?

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Hilda K. Weisburg

Author: hildaweisburg