Dennis has a wealth of experiences within the state and at national levels with his leadership roles in ALA, AASL, ALSC, and AIME / ILF.
Learn more by visiting the information webpage at
http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/leloup.html
To get started this year, I have emailed Dennis a brief question: "What is it that people don't get about your job?" Wait for his response and then join in with your own questions or extended ideas.
To get started this year, I have emailed Dennis a brief question: "What is it that people don't get about your job?" Wait for his response and then join in with your own questions or extended ideas.
Have a great three days sharing information and ideas with Dennis LeLoup.
What is it that people don't get about my job? This is a tough question to answer, although all librarians have heard it many times and, like myself, have tried to craft clever responses to it. I firmly believe that people, even in this day of technology, only understand the clerical aspect. We check books in and out and shelve. There is no accounting for wikis, blogs, forms of digital technology, smart devices, etc., even in this age of technology. There is no thought for media orders, websites, podcasts, dealing with lost or overdue books, booklists, etc. However, I guess that's part and parcel of the job, just like there are things about all jobs that most people don't comprehend. I'm concerned about the loss of school librarian jobs, as I believe this loss is reflective of the lack of understanding. As President of the Indiana Library Federation next year, I want to focus on advocacy issues and programs for school librarians. In a recent board meeting I mentioned this concern for loss of positions for both school and public librarians. It was suggested I focus on service and I do believe this is the fundamental way to go. AASL advocacy programs focus on student achievement. If we can focus on service to students, and how student achievement is interrupted by a lack of certified school personnel or programs, we might begin to make headway. However, this has to be a continual issue. We can't just make a push once during the year. I want to encourage school librarians to do things continually during the school year that showcase school librarians and service to students. I want to encourage AISLE to try and suggest or engineer things on a regular basis. I would like to have monthly programs or publicity to showcase service. These programs can take several formats. However, I think it's important to do things on a recurring basis throughout the year, not just once or twice, so that our message stays in the forefront continually. School librarians can focus on what they are doing on school websites regularly. We need to keep ourselves and our programs active and vital, so that parents, teachers, and students can see the impact we are making. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, feel free to email me anytime, even after this three day period is over! Thank you. Posted by Dennis
ReplyDeleteA good answer to a question that I've received some variant of quite frequently this year. I'm two months into a new high school media specialist position, taking over for someone who did not do much in the way of library self-promotion. Like you said, I'm sure there are plenty of jobs out there to which I am completely ignorant of the inner-workings, but I'm having more and more trouble biting my tongue when people say, "It must be nice to just sit in your office and read books all day." I feel like I've already done more this school year than I ever did by the end of September when I was in the classroom! Perhaps it's time to step up my visible contributions to the school instead of quietly relishing in the fact that this school -- like so many -- would fall apart without a healthy library. Pardon the sweeping generalization, but I think many librarians are of a similar disposition: we don't need (or want) the spotlight, we just want to see our students and school thrive.
ReplyDeleteMy question stems from one of the tasks that I knew I was ill-prepared to tackle when I took this position: effective budgeting. My collection's print, non fiction titles are older than the kids in the building and rarely see much use. I feel obligated to start updating them, however the vast majority of teachers in the building do not require print resources for their papers, instead requiring online sources. That being said, I'm torn between updating a worn-down print collection and spending that money to potentially subscribe to an online database or two. What are your thoughts on this aspect of collection development?
--Clint
I read your post at a timely point in my day. Earlier this morning we were having a discussion about college with my sophomores. This is a part of the college fair day we have at our school. I mentioned that I was actually still taking classes, but now towards becoming a librarian. One student asked, “You need a degree to be a librarian?” another student said, “Don’t they just check out books… beep… beep” and he pretended to swipe a book over a scanner. I had to laugh a little and added that librarians get to pick the books and magazines that go to the library. I didn’t want to get too far off topic from college, but I didn’t want to leave their misconceptions without any attempt to give them at least a sliver of the truth of what it is to be a librarian.
ReplyDeleteToday on LM NET (list serv) this video was posted: http://public.sd38.bc.ca/~gpowell/tech/FOV4-00090749/Lethbridge/ I thought did a nice job of explaining what librarians really do. I think it would be neat to have a short maybe catchier video to share that covered some of the same ideas.
I was also excited to see this article published about the connection between librarians and reading test scores: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissue/currentissue/891612-427/something_to_shout_about_new.html.csp.
What “real-world” advice would you give to a new librarian as he or she started in a school library/media center?
-Alison Williams
I work in a school district where all but three of the media specialists were replaced by media aides. In talking to some of the remaining MSs (who work to oversee the aides and order materials only), it seems like they're not hopeful that the administration will ever bring back full time MSs to the corporation - the aides are working out fine (in the eyes of the administrators and principals). How do you think it's possible to reach administrators who aren't regularly working with MSs? It seems like funding and resources are directed toward subjects found on standardized tests like ISTEP - what are your thoughts on advocating for an information skills assessment as part of these tests?
ReplyDeleteThank you Clint. I appreciate your letter. You are right. We just want to see our students and our school thrive. Good luck in your career and your new position.
ReplyDeleteYour question is a good one and I don't know how good of an answer I can provide, but here goes! Prior to this school year, I was in a K-4 situation where online databases weren't used much by teachers. However, on the high school level, they are probably used frequently. This year, most of my time is at an Intermediate school. In most cases older grade levels will probably use online resources more. Online resources are also more current, which is a very important consideration. Know your faculty! Will they push the students to use online resources? Are there online resources that duplicate others being considered, as far as information received is concerned. You want some duplication, but you might be able to weed out some of the online resources being considered if you look at it in this light and if you are considering the purchase of several. I also think it's good to update your worn collection as much as possible. Look for grants to help you with your purchases. What grants can you find for online resources versus normal collection development? Which grants are better and which would you stand a good chance of receiving? I suggest you try to purchase some online resources but also try to update your print collection some. You may not be able to do a lot in either, but some is better than nothing in either. What does your staff want? What will the students use?? This latter question is probably the best focus question deserving an answer.
Dennis
Thank you Alison. The best advice I can give to any new librarian is to publicize what you are doing. Send a newsletter home via email each month so parents will be aware of your programs and what you have planned. It may build their perceptions of what actually goes on in a media center. Send an email to staff regularly where you communicate new procedures, technologies, ideas, etc. Plan fun things with students using library resources, attempting to show how the library can be used in a variety of situations for a variety of programs. Put little tidbits in your daily emails, communicating things like librarian connections to student test scores. Put all of these things on your website. Make certain you and your program are known school wide on a regular basis, perhaps monthly. Things like this help to promote your program! Above all, we must connect ourselves to student achievement. Show how your programs connect with students and their success!
ReplyDeleteDennis
Hi Jessica. I know the future looks dim for school librarians, particularly in some areas of the state or country. In light of recent budget cuts it's hard to be enthused about the future. However, I refuse to give up! I refuse to say that these positions will never be filled again. We have to try and change minds and change perceptions. I believe one way we can do this is through regular communications with students, parents, and staff about what is happening in the library. Show what you are doing to impact student needs! Read my previous emails to Clint and Alison. I touched on some ideas in their emails. I think it's important to do monthly "library advocacy" programs. These can be simple and don't have to be expensive. Anything that promotes your library can possibly be library advocacy. I think we as librarians need to promote ourselves, and this is one idea I would like to communicate and attempt during my tenure as ILF President. We need to showcase ourselves and our programs, showing how we make a difference. I'm not saying we will always win, but it doesn't hurt to try. We will also have good luck and good rewards. Remember, "can't never did anything." We need to be "can do" librarians. Involve administrators in your programs. Involve parents, teachers, and students in some of your programs. Involving our stakeholders in our programs is a good way of reaching them directly. Bring them to conference. ILF is coming up and there will be good school library media sessions! I think we should advocate for an information skills assessment. Prior to doing so though, we should have suggestions on who will be assessed, what will be included, and how this is beneficial to other assessment tools, among other things. Many people should be included in a discussion of skills assessment. For something like this, many minds are better than one or two minds!
ReplyDeleteDennis
There are a lot of school media specialists out there who are doing awesome things with their programs - but there are a lot who aren't, and this, I think, is part of the problem. How do we spread the message that school media specialists are vital to schools who've seen their school librarian do nothing but sit on books for the past 20 years? I guess what I'm saying is, how do we reach those principals and administrators who don't have the effective school librarians that are making a real impact? Should the profession start taking out ad space? Lobbying?
ReplyDeleteJessica, that's a very good point and I don't have the complete answer, but I can give it a stab. I think we need to publicize what we are doing. I mentioned this in one of my emails yesterday, perhaps to both you and Allison. We need to work hard to develop our programs and find venues for showcasing what we are doing in our schools. Communicate with parents via newsletters, webpages, and other venues. Plan events and programs on a regular basis. Involve parents. Perhaps there are some outreach programs that can involve business. I don't have any specific message here, except to say that we need to be busy showing how the school library is the hub of the school and the types of programs we do. Do things that get publicity. We had a reading program one year and the principal and I gave our students a challenge. If they met their reading goal, we would spend the night on the roof of the school. I also promised to kiss a pig; the pig idea came about because of our theme: "Go hog wild and read." They met and surpassed their goal. We spent the night on the roof and I kissed a pig. The community came out all evening and brought snacks and drinks to us; the Indianapolis Star came out and photographed me kissing a live pig! Many people were involved and it showcased what was happening at the school. This is only one idea. We need to show how we affect student achievement. We need to lobby and advocate for libraries. There are little inexpensive things we can do to publicize our programs and there are larger initiatives where we try to find ways of showing legislators what goes on in a vibrant and active school library. I mentioned earlier that I wanted to find methods of advocating for school libraries as President of the Indiana Library Federation in 2012. I want to find ways of encouraging school libraries to get involved and show legislators what is happening in today's school libraries. I want this to be a continual "in your face" effort thoughout the year. I don't know how successful I can be, but I want to try. Basically I think we need to be about the business of promoting our programs and connecting with students. Showcase our connections to students and student achievement!
ReplyDeleteDennis
My school district decided not to give our media specialists any money this year to purchase books. The media specialist at my school uses PTO funds and Scholastic Book Fairs as ways to make money to purchase new books. Do you have any other suggestions for how to acquire new books?
ReplyDeleteLook for grants. There used to be a variety of grants available and I imagine there still are. Grants would be a wonderful place to start. I have a folder on grants, but it hasn't been updated lately. It is also not with me right now. It may be at my school; I just changed schools but I think I took it with me. Regardless, ask your administrators or other local educators about good grant opportunities. Are you on LM-Net; pose a question on LM-Net about grant opportunities or just do a general search. I hesitate to pose my next suggestion, but you might contact a local business and see if they will support you in your efforts, providing your school district has no problem with this. I don't know of any school-business partnerships offhand that have enabled schools to purchase books for students. If you could go this route, it would be wise to see what their stipulations are first. This is a tough question and I will think further on it. If I'm not able to respond here, then I will make certain a response gets to you via Larry. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteDennis
Hi again. I just did a Google search using the term "grant opportunities for teachers." Several things were uncovered, and it would be wise to check the validity of most of these sites. However, I thought two were prominent in just a quick search: NEA Foundation and Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators. These would be good starting points.
ReplyDeleteDennis
Thank you for your advice! I am on LM-Net, so I will take your suggestion and pose a question there.
ReplyDelete