 responsibility on parents, will not necessarily provide protection. Banning Facebook also bans a potential learning and communication tool that engages students, and is used by many in the school community. It was not that long ago, that email was similarly excluded from many schools. However, at the moment, utilising the benefits of Facebook without the dangers, seems to be in the “too hard” basket for most schools. Similarly, use of Facebook by school libraries, must carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages, especially in the face of competing demands on staffing and resources, and other goals.
Facebook has become a major player in the information game. Andy Borowitz said, ironically, that China could disband spying and use Facebook instead to gather personal information on people. He suggested China could “scrap its elaborate array of spy satellites, eavesdropping devices and closed-circuit surveillance cameras after recognizing that Facebook put[s] them all to shame.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-borowitz/china-to-stop-spying-on-i_b_577036.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter How far from the truth is this?
Should we trust Facebook?
Or in the face of 500 million users, including most of our secondary students, should schools be addressing social networking tools more actively, regardless?
Libraries are in the business of information and resource management. One of their most important roles is communicating their services and activities to their communities. Email, email newsletters and annual reports are important methods for advocating the importance and achievements of school libraries.
Many teacher-librarians bemoan that others do not know what they do. As information specialists, it should be part of the teacher-librarian role to inform their communities about their activities and services. There is also an element of self preservation in doing this, in that it increases the likelihood that the role will be valued and therefore staffed and budgets provided appropriately. Today we have options such as email, video and online library sites to keep our communities informed, in addition to more traditional methods such as speaking, in person, to various members or groups in the school community. Many libraries are now using social networking tools such as twitter, facebook and text messaging to communicate with clients. This discussion will focus on school email newsletters, the school annual and library reports as excellent means of advocacy.
Library operations should have a structure of ongoing goal setting and regular review of progress. Once goals are agreed upon, they can be translated into projects and priorities for members of the Library team. Goals should have some flexibility to accommodate emerging community needs. Library goals should align with school learning goals. In reviewing progress on goals, a record can be created via the minutes of advancement and achievements. This information can form the basis of regular reports for the school newsletter, term reports and annual reports on library outcomes. This structure not only promotes celebration of successes, but allows reflection of performance to enhance operations.
Communication about progress on goals can facilitate improved operation of the Library team. Even when the library team is one person, a process of goal setting, review and reflection will assist time management and focus. Some staff may say that they do not have time for such structures, but a famous quote says “failure to plan is planning to fail.” Planning is about being proactive, rather than just reactive. It is about ensuring that the skills of the school library specialist are delivered.
Communication with the school community is a very important part of the teacher-librarian role. This promotes awareness and use of Library resources and services. It is too time consuming and usually impossible for the teacher-librarian to contact every member of the school community individually or even in groups. Therefore, digital and written information provides options for breaking through the communication barrier.
School email creates great opportunities for school Libraries. In the past, school newsletters were printed and mailed and therefore had to be kept short to minimize expense. However, with emailed newsletters, the distribution is virtually free. It may require negotiation to ensure space for library news in the newsletter on a regular basis. However, this is an invaluable opportunity to communicate with parents, staff and students. While not everyone will read these communications, many will do so. Photos can enhance interest. It is important to try and keep the communication targeted, interesting and relevant. Where the school does not have an emailed school newsletter, this should be pursued with school management. Here is an example of content contributed from my Library to the school weekly newsletter. It includes a report on Term 1 activities https://readingpower.wordpress.com/about/. Photos and names have been removed from the original text for publication on my external blog.
Having an email list to communicate with parents is invaluable for a wide variety of school purposes. Similarly, all students should have email. This greatly facilitates school communication. The Library can also use email to contact students regarding reservations, overdues and various Library services and activities. Use of email to automatically communicate information, such as overdues, from library management software can greatly reduce time spent on these tasks.
Similarly, the school annual is an excellent opportunity to showcase the achievements of the Library over the year. This process will be much easier if photos and information are collated regularly as events occur. There may be a need to produce 2 annual reports. The report for school leadership can be more detailed, whereas a report for the school annual is likely to be more concise and contain highlights. http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2010/07/annual-report-time.html. School annuals will invariably contain photos of sporting, debating and other such teams. Equally, shouldn’t recognition be given to library helpers, Readers’ Cup teams and Book Club members?
The school library website is a good place to collate and publish library news which also further promotes library activities to the school community. If the school does not have an online learning platform such as moodle, Blackboard or some other intranet portal, the library specialist may consider using an external site such as a blog, facebook or other such online presence. If external sites are chosen, it is important that agreement is obtained from school leadership about publishing in the public domain, and that procedures are established about what can included. This especially applies to use of student and staff names, school information and photographs.
Email can also be an effective tool for the Library to communicate with teaching staff. Many Library systems, such as Softlink Oliver, allow staff to set up email alerts so they are automatically emailed when new resources relevant to their teaching arrive. Similarly staff and students may elect to be emailed when new resources by favourite authors arrive in the Library. Obviously, email can also be an effective tool for staff and students to send suggestions regarding purchases and services to Library staff.
Recently, the use of library annual reports has been receiving much attention in the blogosphere, such as the following post from Di McKenzie which includes exemplars http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2010/07/annual-report-time.html The comments on another post by Di reinforce how powerful Annual Reports can be for Library advocacy http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.html. The following is a collaborative document where you can find many Library Annual Reports and add your own http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=rzw8hacvB7jFRUNB6L2S29Q#gid=0. Di outlines 10 reasons why every Library should prepare an annual report in the following post http://librarygrits.blogspot.com/2009/06/importance-of-creating-annual-report.html. I would be remiss if I did not specifically mention Buffy Hamilton who uses Libguides for her library reports http://theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/annualreport2009-10#. However, while these are wonderful examples of excellence, even a simple written report is a good way to start, and then grow the process from there.
Many of these library reports include video as well as images. Similarly, providing the report both by email and in print may increase the likelihood of it being read. Here are 2 Library Reports constructed using Animoto by Kathy Dacula http://librarystew.blogspot.com/2010/06/year-in-review-2009-2010.html and Joyce Valenza http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2010/06/12/a-time-to-reflect/. My library reports currently include text and statistics, but not video as yet.
It can be valuable to record lending, cataloguing and other Library information to assist planning and resourcing decisions. Some Library Reports are very long such as Fan Bullington’s at the following site, but it does provide an idea of the type of information that can be included http://informania.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/npbshslmc20092010annualreport-100610172422-phpapp021.pdf. Here is another post from Fran Bullington where she outlines her journey in writing library reports http://informania.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/advocacy-annual-reports/. While it might seem daunting at first, the following post provides information for getting started and how it ties in with evidence based practice http://kasl.typepad.com/kasl/2009/04/annual-report-as-advocacy-tool.html.
Fran Bullington uses the term bragolog and discusses how teacher-librarians should not be shy but use various methods to “toot their horn” about what they do http://informania.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/advoc