Curriculum Night Refelections
Recently, I attended my elementary school’s annual curriculum night. What a turnout…for the classroom teachers. OK, I’m being a little dramatic. The library didn’t do awful, we had our share of visitors. I did my best to pull parents in and promote our digital library services, our diverse and updated collection, and everything else under the sun. But, truth be told after speaking with parents, I’m not so sure that parents have an awareness of the school library as a foundation for 21st century information services. Parents, and I’m generalizing here, still see the school library as the same primitive repository of books and resources as it was in the 60’s and 70’s. Old attitudes die hard. Libraries and their respective librarians need to work harder in helping to shed such stereotypes.
I’m finding out, as I move forward as a school librarian, the importance of creating a brand for your library. Chris Harris is spot on with his posts that cite examples from marketing genius, Seth Godin. School Libraries need to do a better job of making their professional activities more transparent.
Chris Harris talks about using Avery labels to market your school-wide efforts. The books you used your professional judgement to recommend to a department, the technology you trained others to use, the links and websites that you provide through your homepage or wiki, they’re all part of what you do. But it is rarely noticed or considered part of the job. If teachers and administrators don’t see it, parents won’t either. Start making all the little things you do noticed, they’ll add up in a hurry.
A monthly report to your administrator isn’t a bad idea either. Creating an understanding of your position at an administrative level can only strengthen your standing. Remember, if you’re in a K-12 school, your building administrator received little or no preservice preparation in 21st century librarianship. If you aren’t talking or writing about what your doing, they can only assume you’re being the 60’s and 70’s librarian I referenced earlier.
Get involved in team and department meetings as often as possible. The more you roll your sleeves up to collaborate and work with teachers, the more your program will blossom. Teachers talk amongst other teachers. Like Gary Hartzell says, “The more people perceive their experiences with you as positive, the more your like-ability quotient will go up. Good for you as a person, and even better for your library.
We need to start doing a better job. Are you reading Seth Godin? Are you taking Chris Harris’ suggestions? What strategies are using to brand and market your library?
