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).