AASL Fifty Ways to Succeed @: Your Library
Managing, Teaching, Public Relations and That Extra Effort
Blanche Woolls (bwoolls@slis.sjsu.edu)
If you use these, please give credit to those who shared their ideas.
Managing:
1. Make your library appealing to all who enter.
2. Don’t put up with broken, scarred, wrong size mismatched furniture and shelving
3. Improve your signage.
4. Take some hints from public librarians.
5. Merchandise your collection.
6. Weed your collection.
7. Change displays, bulletin boards, exhibitions frequently.
8. Be sure you help students learn about continuing their educations.
Teaching:
9. Work with teachers and students making the teaching job easier for teachers and the
learning job easier for students.
10. Meet with teachers informally and formally and plan.
11. Teach, with their teachers, things students need to learn.
12. Teach your teachers all the new bells and whistles technology has to offer.
13. Take all teachers with a smile.
14. Share with your teachers new articles from your professional collection.
15. Dream up new ways to approach same old same old.
16. Be especially helpful with new teachers or things new to a teacher.
17. Encouraging reading has always been our assignment.
Public Relations
18. Copy Walmart’s greeter scheme.
19. Watch rules.
20. Watch and remove rules that limit students.
21. Make sure the students understand it is their library.
22. Overcome overdues.
23. Forget fines.
24. Resist broadcasting any negative messages over the public address system.
25. Resist negative reminders in the library.
26. Have great programs.
27. Encourage students to volunteer in the library.
28. Keep the principal informed of exciting things going on in the library.
29. Maintain a great web site where you have links to great information.
30. Keep your principal informed about what is new in the professional literature.
31. Have an advisory committee for the library.
32. Provide at least one event in the library each semester to show parents.
That extra effort
33. Watch for opportunities for proposal writing.
34. Find out about contests in which your students can participate.
35. Find out about field trips.
36. Don’t miss school events.
37. Show your worth.
38. Keep records of your successful experiences.
39. Conduct “real” research.
40. Make frequent reports.
41. Visit your legislators.
42. Invite the school board to your school.
43. Invite your legislators to visit your school.
44. Volunteer to provide a session at your state conference.
45. Volunteer to write for a professional periodical.
46. Bring in the media as often as you can.
In closing,
47. Make sure students understand Frances Henne’s description of the ultimate in
information literacy: “For some students, and in certain schools, this may be many
students, the only library skill that they should have to acquire is an awareness
imprinted indelibly and happily upon them, that the library is a friendly place where
the librarians are eager to help.”
48. Think before you whine, then don’t.
49. Most of all, enjoy your job, all day, every day. The contribution you are making to the
teachers and students in your school cannot be measured.
50. Smile
Managing Additions:
1. New book displays for teachers with refreshments. (Hayakawa)
2. Gifford: Students help weed, especially fiction.
3. Online schedules (Isiminger) My library/lab/equipment schedules are online so my
teachers can see them wherever they are and not need to come into the media center just
to see the schedule.
4. Botzenhardt and Doyle in Las Vegas, NV: Have a monthly meeting for all new
librarians in our district to discuss topics selected by the librarians themselves (30-35 new
librarians each year.) They also have a library online forum.
5. Tully has a newsletter blog. This makes it really easy for the whole staff to provide
fresh content. We use Feed 2 JS to pull the headlines onto our web page:
www.andover.edu/library.
6. Library Crew (Lewis) Create a library crew of students who can support you with a
variety of library maintenance projects: shelf reading, signage, podcasts, etc. They get
first choice on new materials, pizza (twice a year), and they never come alone.
7. Fish (Ghio) Students are fascinated and calmed, and it is attractive.
8. Saying “Yes” (Ghio) If you say “yes” to teachers who need a place to meet with
classes for the entire day because of a disaster (flood, new heater, etc.) then work with the
teacher while they are there. Shows them what’s possible.
9. Prepare a 3” notebook with articles for teachers. Orient new teachers. When principal
insists on fines, increase checkout time to 3 weeks and add 5 days of grace. During open
house events, let parents know how much things cost. Prepare a one-page report monthly
with # children before and after school, # classes, # teachers talked with, # updates to
web page, pathfinders constructed, books pulled for classes, new books received, etc.
(Roberts)
10. If you have a problem to present to the boss, have a couple of suggestions for
solutions. (Murray)
11. Subscribe to infodoodads.com by RSS. Share these new tech ideas with faculty.
(Lum)
12. Be involved in school site council and their leadership committees. Your presence is
an ideal opportunity to promote your program, advocate for library needs, and provide
avenues for seeking additional funding. (Walker)
13. Present to your board at least once a year. Be honest about program strengths and
weaknesses. I’ve gotten additional part-time staff as a result of a board presentation and
board member comments to administration. (Walker)
14. Smither made a “collaborative” notebook for each department of her high school. It
was divided into sections: 1) web sites, 2) articles, 3) information, and 4) best lessons.
15. Have your schools TV production class make your orientation video. Pay them a
nominal fee if necessary. The students really pay attention to what other students do, so
they listen to the video. (Smither)
16. Use your media center as the portal for welcoming new students to your school.
(Smither)
17. Advertise new materials by using a power point on an old computer to show new
books. Use a picture of the cover and add author, title, and a summary of the book.
(Alery)
Public Relations Additions:
Many recommended a “hot off the press” e-mail list of new books to teachers, students,
and even parent volunteers.
1. Write articles for your school newsletter or website. (Ungaro)
2. Invite your communications director to cover an event, i.e., picture or writeup that will
bring attention to library programming. (Ugaro)
3.a. If you should have fines, work them off rather than have charge. (Hayakawa)
3.b. If you do “charge for overdue books, take donations of food for a food bank, two
cans takes care of the entire fine. (Terry)
3.c. Pay off fines by having the student read for an amount of time. (Hutchinson)
4. Hallway checkouts before vacations. (Hayakawa)
5. Parties in the library four times a year. (Hayakawa)
6. Volunteers (Miller) She has a large number of parent volunteers and they advocate for
the library.
7. Teacher Read Posters (Absi and Gifford) Take pictures of teachers promoting their
favorite books and make “Read” posters for them to post in their classrooms. A big hit
with teachers and students. Gifford takes photographs of seniors with their favorite book,
teachers who are leaving, and teachers who teach seniors.
8. Wetzel: monthly newsletter to staff; monthly “coffee house” for 4th/5th grade students;
put all lessons/units on website to share with new LMS in my district and region; send
positive notes home to parents to build good rapport and help them see special area
teachers as part of the teaching staff.
9. Coffin (formerly Backe) suggests “Seek out the veteran teachers and support their use
of technology, websites, databases, etc. Bring them new books. They repay you in
frequent verbal praise with faculty and students.
10. Let the principal hold her early morning parent coffee in the library. (Ghio)
11. Podcast books reviews/short summaries of new books. Create RSS feed (Guistwhite)
12. Very short presentations at staff meetings every week. Sometimes show software
programs. Show new books, explain new resources. These short presentations seem to
have more impact than long inservice presentations. (Murray)
13. Have fun, easy contests on a regular basis (ex. “Pop into the library” with a drawing
for a can of soda pop and packet of popcorn.) (Lum)
14. Merchandising (Walter) I use multi-sided plastic sign holders like you see on tables at
restaurants with appetizers. I use these to “whet the appetite” of our readers by creating
colorful signs with a cover of the book accompanied by a student review. As a result, the
books we promote this way are always the most requested.
15. Holiday Celebration of the Arts (Thompson)
Art show in library with lunch by culinary arts students, choir, band, drama,
performing. Invite district officials, school board, congress members, etc. Decorate and
make the library very fancy.
16. Book fair for teachers (Thompson). During an inservice rotation, I have tables by
department with our own library books displayed so they get an opportunity to “shop.”
17. Host a “Lunch and Learn” where teachers bring their lunches to the library and the
LMS teaches a new skill or talks about new issues. (Kramer)
18. Have one person from each department on your Library Advisory Committee to
promote the library, discuss the collection, weeding. Feed them breakfast or lunch.
(Alery)
19. Poetry Event (Alery) Two times a year, have an all day Poetry Café. They have
coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cider, cookies, and popcorn. We get as many as 300 students
each time.
That Extra Effort Additions:
1. Books in the Courtyard (Stephenson)
In conjunction with summer school, the public library gives out free books every Friday
for 8 weeks. A former reading teacher started the program and it’s been going over 10
years.
2. Read Aloud Lunch for Middle School Students (Terry)
Teachers are invited to sign up as guest readers for one session. They read from a
favorite book (poetry, fiction, non-fiction) with students sitting in a circle. If they choose,
they may sit on the floor. Students are treated to snacks and a drink. Because of time
constraints, students may bring their lunch. Everyone has a great time. Sessions occur
every three weeks.
3. Local “One Book, One Community” (Absi)
This group consists of public and college librarians. Students helped to vote for the
community choice along with adults who were voting through newspapers and at store
locations. Students were able to participate in community events, and one of the guest
speakers presented in the school as well as in the public library. The school was included
as a sponsor of the program, and I was able to serve as liaison with the other middle and
high schools.
4. Summer Reading for Faculty (Harper)
List prepared (30 titles), booktalks at end of year, books circulate for the summer. List
is posted on website.
5. Lewis suggests, “Don’t forget local businesses when you are looking for support.”
6. “Deliver new materials directly to the teachers. Post professional development
opportunities for teachers, grants, study abroad. Help teachers who are taking classes in
graduate school with materials. Welcome new students in computer and announcements.”
(Swarlis)
7. Ghio suggests, “Go to the prom and dance. Agreed to act in a student production.”
8. Have iPods with audiobooks. Do a banned book presentation during Banned Book
Week. (Lum)
9. Make your business manager a close ally. They will know about all those little pots of
money that could be used for library purposes you might otherwise not know about.
(Walker)
10. Hutchinson recommends a used book exchange at her elementary K-4 school.
Students brought in books they wanted to donate and during parent-teacher conferences,
they got to come to the library and get different books. My school has 180 students and
they donated 600 books! It also shows students how they can organize a service project.
11. “Collaborate with your local bookstore to bring authors into your schools.
12. At end of school year have a “Garage sale/exchange” and invite teachers to bring
things to the library they are getting rid of (not books) and invite them to “swap.”
(Watson)
Some much longer suggestions:
1. The Sakura Medal Reading Program (Hayakawa)
Eighteen international schools in Japan participate in a listserv and use a Google.Doc to
make lists of 25 books for picture books, chapter books, Japanese picture books, middle
school, high school and middle/high school Japanese. Student who read 5 books get one
vote.
In February, they have an art contest. Each school can submit 5 entries on each level.
The winning art goes to the winning author in a diploma with a certificate. The author
also gets the gold Sakura Medal (made in Beijing.)
2. The I-Search Idol for all the 9th trade (Hayakawa)
A collaborative unit with English teachers. We want all students to succeed with this
first research project, so we order two books for each topic; and some topics are very
esoteric. Then, I teach 3 lessons on authenticating resources, keywords, deconstructing
URLs, the research cycle, etc. Also databases.
The students need to interview an expert so we help them find one.
Three-fourths of the paper is the journey, how they got the information. It has a public
relations component. At the end, we throw the I-Search Idol party in the library. We set
up a stage and have refreshments. Each class selects three finalists who read excerps from
their papers.
The three 10th grade English teachers who have read all the papers ahead of time, play
the American Idol judges, Randy, Paula, and Simon. Their comments are hilarious! Then
we give the winner a rophy made for us by the art teachers.