Blogging SLMS Part I

Right now I am at a School Library Media Specialists conference in Rochester, NY. After driving in circles to find a parking garage that hadn't collapsed, I made it to the grand ballroom just in time for Gary Hartzell's keynote address.

I was lucky to catch Gary's presentation from start to finish.

Gary was awesome.

His keynote address hit on a number of interesting topics and his anecdotes were aplenty, but his main idea centered around creating strong workplace relationships as a school librarian.

Hartzell's recurring theme and message for librarians was, "If you're going to make a difference in your school, you need to build influence. It's absolutely necessary to think long term. In order to do this, you need to be aware of the dynamics of workplace influence."

Hartzell outlined the following five attributes of influential people: likeability, expertise, integrity, energy and focused effort, and sensitivity to context.

I'm a huge fan of anecdotes and one liners. Here are a few that I loved from Hartzell

On building influence with staff members: "Positive memory association… it simply is the more that people perceive their experiences with you as positive, the more your like-ability quotient goes up."

On working with difficult teachers, "Ever try to rescue someone that's being difficult; they'll eventually bring you down. "

On the potential power of a library media specialist, "Clarifying Information=Influence Potential"

On staying positive, "Don't mistake the edge of the rut you're in for the horizon."

If you ever get the opportunity to listen to Gary Hartzell, don't pass it up. He's valuable on so many different levels.

The First Year Practitioner Part VII

While I was on the message boards last week, discussing my experiences as a newbie school librarian, I had plenty of engaging conversations. I'm impressed with how forward-thinking certain library school's are becoming; the vision and the research is on the bleeding edge.

The students came pretty hard with all different types of questions. Big questions and little questions. Interview questions and lesson plan questions. By the end of the week, my eyes were worse from staring at the monitor and my keyboard a bit more bloodied from pounding out responses.

Here's an example of one students line of questioning:

 

Hi Justin,

Thanks for sharing your experiences and taking the time out of your busy schedule to provide us with great information.

My list of questions:

What would you look for to tell whether a school/district cares about its LMC and the position of the LMS? They can talk the talk but…..

Did you get a tour of the library when you interviewed? Is that a standard
practice?

What do you believe helped to make you a “standout” from a large pool of candidates aside from the SU degree/education (not to minimize it)?

XXXXX

 

Dear XXXXX,

Great questions! I'll try to go through them one by one.

 

What would you look for to tell whether a school/district cares about its LMC and the position of the LMS? They can talk the talk but…..

 

** Look at their facility. Get to the location 20 minutes before the interview and ask for a tour of the library/ computer labs. By looking at the physical location, amount of resources, and types of available technology you'll get a good sense of where the school is headed with their library program. If you have a broom closet for a facility, three or four Apple II GS computers, and an automation system that still runs MS DOS, be very careful. Lack of commitment to a library program is usually evident in the facility.

Did you get a tour of the library when you interviewed? Is that a standard practice?

 

** Like I mentioned above, go early and ask for a tour before the interview. This will
help you gain insight regarding the types of resources you will have available to you if
you're hired. By looking at the facility beforehand, you'll have the option of sharing ideas and possibilities during the interview. For example, a question that asks, "How would you use technology your library?" You'll be able to say something like, "Well, the facility is very equipped. The LCD projector coupled with the computers will allow me to introduce and model the research process, as well as promote literature. I can see myself using technology to improve my instruction and enhance student learning.

 

What do you believe helped to make you a “standout” from a large pool of candidates aside from the SU degree/education (not to minimize it)?

 

** My education background did work as an advantage for me, but you need not have
the same credentials in order to find success. I don't think I can pin it down to one thing that made me a standout; I truly believe it was a combination of doing all the little things right. For example, I practiced my interview questions seven to ten days before the interview. I had friends ask me questions in a round-table format (I even practiced responses for questions I had no idea how to answer…come up with something diplomatic.) I had a neat but simple resume and cover letter. I spoke positively about all my fieldwork and treated them all as learning experiences. I read a few educational journals so I was up to date with current issues and trends. I dressed in suit for the interview. I smiled a lot. I made solid eye contact with each member of the committee.

One thing that a lot of candidates forget and that the interview committee really looks for is: "How well will you work with children" and "How well will you work with staff?" Think of yourself as a teacher librarian; you’ll be working with everyone in the school.

 

Photo borrowed with permission from Crystl's flickr photostream.

The First Year Practitioner Part VI

Tip Sheet for All First Year Librarians

1. Stay positive- There will always be ups and downs. It’s important to plow through any negative experiences and treat them all as learning experiences. As a school librarian you will need to be working with every teacher, every teaching assistant and every administrator in the building.

2. Make friends with the other two - At a recent conference I attended, the keynote speaker polled the audience. The question was regarding the three most powerful people in a school. Unanimously, everyone agreed that the people with the most power in any school are: the head secretary, the head custodian, and the school library media specialist. These three people interact with all of the students, all of the faculty and staff, and all of the administrators. Get to know your secretary and custodian. It’s amazing what they can do for you.

3. Information overload will happen to you- Even the most detailed oriented person will be trudging through the paperwork, procedures, passwords, committees, etc…Throughout much of your first year, you’ll be on information overload. And when you think you have everything to the automatic level, something you don’t expect will be at your doorstep. Have an efficient filing system and be good about saving documents, like reproducibles and lesson plans.

4. Recognize that you’ll never catch up- Face it, it’s your first year. You’ll spend the first few months trying to keep your head above water. Each school day I want to desperately slow down the clock, just a little, so I can finish everything. There will never be enough time to read all the books you want, teach all the lessons you love, turn every kid into a book hound, and make your library paradise on earth.

5. Develop yourself professionally- Make a point of establishing a connection with your School Library System (SLS) via BOCES, attend conferences, and network with other’s while at conferences. Remember that your SLS is there to support you - they need you as much as you need them.

6. Read journals and possibly start your own blog- Reading and contributing to school library oriented blogs has been quite possibly, the most rewarding undertaking of my young professional career. I’m confident that if more school librarians blogged, the profession would benefit from its increased amount of transparency. Reading blogs, and possibly starting your own, will help you to get a great idea of current issues in school librarianship and better prepare you for your career. Here is a listing of the blogs that I frequent

a) http://www.schoolof.info/infomancy/

b) http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/index.php

c) http://www.andycarvin.com/

d) http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/rss.xml

e) http://deepthinking.blogsome.com/

f) http://fromtheinsideout.squarespace.com/blog/

g) http://www.beiffert.net/wordpress/

h) http://nlcommunities.com/communities/wanderings/default.aspx

 

The First Year Practitioner Part V

Budget-

I once heard somewhere that running a school library can be a lot like running a small business. They weren’t kidding. My budget is rather generous and offers me a considerable amount of money for books, periodicals, A-V software and electronic media. Whether its your mission to bring your library up to the 21^st century or maintain what your predecessor left you with, spending budget money can be quite the task.

In my situation, the person I succeeded left little in the way of technology. Other than a 1992 JVC camcorder and a few cassette players, the library sorely lacks technological resources for students and staff. As you go through your first year, keep an updated word document of materials and supplies that you need or that have been requested. When it comes time to order, you can easily refer back to your running list. It seems rather simple, but just this last week I had to have every dollar in my budget spent, or else the library would lose it. School libraries are often struggling for adequate funding. Don’t let any money slip through your fingertips.

Photo borrowed with permission from nzdaver's flickr photostream.

The First Year Practitioner Part IV

Once the school year begins-
You will have a lot on your plate. Start with the essentials. The biggest is planning and teaching lessons and units of study. You’ll also need to become acquainted with your system of automation. If you have a library secretary or a colleague that runs the computer lab, get them onboard ASAP. You need to have a strong relationship with anyone that you’ll be working with closely.

As you grow into your role you’ll need to begin working and planning with classroom teachers. Go after the teachers that are open and willing to collaborate. You want to start small fires and have them spread. You want to have teachers talking about what comes out of the library. There will be at least one teacher in your building that won’t want to collaborate. Maybe it was a bad experience with your predecessor. Maybe the library doesn’t appeal to them. Whatever the case, don’t take it personally. Work with those willing to meet you halfway, especially if you’re in the first few years of your career. When you work with the willing and do a kick-butt job, they’ll be trumpeting the librarian, the facility, etc.. to all the other teachers. The metaphor of a wildfire is perfect, start it in one place and watch it spread.

Photo borrowed with permission from keithvass' flickr photostream.

The First Year Practitioner Part III

Before the school year begins-
Make sure you touch base with the school secretary about making a few stops in to your school before the year begins. When you arrive, there will be a lot waiting for you. Most of it will be junk mail, but you’ll have school documents, procedures, student information (like IEP’s) to look through. You will also need to get acquainted with your facility–What’s in your collection? What type of automation is the district running and how will you become acquainted? Do you have enough supplies? What is your schedule? It will all be there waiting for you…

Don’t feel bad if you do not have a decision on every procedure. You will need to learn a lot based on your successes and failures on the job. Be flexible and approach everything with an open mind.

Recommended Reading before school begins:

How To Be An Effective Teacher: The First Days of School by Harry K Wong & Rosemary T. Wong

This book does a great job providing advice and practical strategies for classroom management and lesson mastery. The book walks a teacher, either novice or veteran, through the most effective ways to begin a school year and continue to become an effective teacher.

The First Year Practitioner Part II

The Interview-

The interviewing process in the new age of education is difficult. With all the accountability from NCLB and the increased pressure on testing, school districts want to make sure that they are making the right selection when it comes to hiring you. They’re going to put you through the meat grinder.

I was informed, while at new teacher orientation at my school district, that for regular education jobs, they had 15 pages of names of applicants. Not 15 names, 15 pages of names. Granted the applicant pool for library jobs is drastically smaller, but be aware that the interviewing process is still the same. It’s competitive and rigorous.

One of the things that you’ll have going for you, is that you will be able to market your unique skill set. Syracuse University has a great library program, and you’ll be able use that to your advantage. Be sure to talk about all of your fieldwork and practical experiences. Most likely, the outgoing librarian will have been there for 25 years plus. Think of everything that has changed in libraries over the last 10 years. The interview committee will be looking for some fresh ideas and you will be able to supply them with plenty.

In my case, I was terrified of the interview process. I knew I could teach, but talking about my pedagogy was a completely different story. My best advice is to practice, practice, practice your interview questions. It helps if you sit down and write out your responses to sample interview questions.

If you make it through the initial interview, you will be asked to follow up with a performance portion of the interview, where administrators will observe your instructional strategies. The most difficult part can be deciding what to teach. Definitely go online and dig up as much as possible about the school district’s standards and benchmarks for the library media program and incorporate them into your lesson plan. At the very least, include a few standards from Information Power (199 onto your written lesson plan. Do not leave them off. Administrators want to see that you have a working knowledge of the standards and are able to integrate them into your planning and instruction. Because of NCLB, schools have spent a lot of time and a lot of money developing new benchmarks for all curriculum areas, especially for the library.

The First Year Practitioner Part I

I was recently approached by my supervisor from my Master’s program at Syracuse U. to return to WebCT for a week and discuss with student teacher-librarians, my experiences as a first-year practitioner in a school library.

I felt that it might be a good idea to post most of it on my blog for the millions and millions that subscribe to School LibraryLand’s RSS feed

Here is part one (1) of what I presented:

Bio:

In 2003, I graduated from Syracuse University’s School of Education with a B.S. in Inclusive Elementary and Special Education. From there, I further diversified and received my M.S. in Library and Information Science: School Media Specialization in the Spring of 2005. The Summer of 2005 was an unbelievable hectic period because I was right in the thick of the job hunt. I don’t care what anyone says, looking for a job in education is stressful! I interviewed for two library positions and one as a math specialist, all of which were in central New York. In mid-June I had accepted a K-5 position as a School Library Media Specialist in CNY. Working with young students has been quite the experience. I’m looking forward to completing my first year, enjoying summer, fixing the things I screwed up, and starting back in on my second year. My only hope is that the clock slows down a little bit in the summer, but I know it won’t.

Blogging Pam Berger

It was a long month. An unbelievably long month. I was ready for a conference day. Today I got my wish. I spent my day at a BER conference called "21st Strategies for Strengthening Your School Library Program" at the Clarion Riverside in Rochester, NY.

The keynote presenter was Pam Berger. She did an awesome job! The morning portion of the session was particularly good, and I'll try my best to dissect some of it in this post.

Here are three morning anecdotes that stuck in my head: (particularly useful for the first year librarian)

Berger: Depending on the topic, you will most likely be a novice or an expert, and don't be surprised if most times you're a novice.
Ashworth: Realizing it, and coming to terms with it are completely different. It's OK to be a novice about a library related topic, even if you are a certified teacher librarian. You'll never have time to master it all.

Berger: Teachers that won't collaborate aren't your problem, they're the principals problem. Go after the teachers that are open and willing to collaborate. You want to start small fires and have them spread. You want to have teachers talking about what comes out of the library.

Ashworth: THIS WILL HAPPEN!! There will be at least one teacher in your building that won't want to collaborate. Maybe it was a bad experience with your predecessor. Maybe the library doesn't appeal to them. Whatever the case, don't take it personally. Work with those willing to meet you halfway, especially if you're in the first few years of your career. When you work with the willing and do a kick-butt job, they'll be trumpeting the librarian, the facility, etc.. to all the other teachers. The metaphor of a wildfire is perfect, start it in one place and watch it spread.

Berger: In terms of bibliometrics in your school library, don't look at the books that circulate (which in terms of percentages is only about 10-20% of your entire collection), instead look at the books that don't circulate and haven't circulated for years. Get rid of the things that don't circulate. Smaller more targeted collections generally do better than those that are large and topically pervasive. School Libraries are NOT archives.

Ashworth: Right on! Now, run those reports and start putting the junk in the circular file. But, if you're in your first year, wait until at least the summer so you've had a chance to see what circulates in one school year. And also, you don't want to take on another project in your first year. It might kill you if you're not careful.

You can see that she made quite the impression on me, even if I am only a neophyte, first year, know-nothing teacher librarian.

It's important to take conference days every now and again. At the very least, it keeps you honest and makes you aware of successful programs within the field. It's an added bonus when you get to listen to someone like Pam Berger. She's a tremendous advocate for school libraries, an inquiry based junkie, and an information expert. Not a bad combination at all.

Image excerpted from Chapter 3, "Collaboration, Leadership, and Technology," of Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Copyright © 1998 American Library Association and Association for Educational Communications and Technology. ISBN 0-8389-3470-6. Order by phone at 1-866 SHOP ALA (1-866-746-7252).