Marketing Your School Library June 29, 2009
Posted by jfreeman in : Advocacy , add a commentDuring the summer weeks we often have time to think more about the “big picture” ideas, instead of the everyday details. One such idea to consider is marketing for our school libraries. Public and academic libraries have budgets and staff to design and carry out marketing plans, but there are useful ideas for school librarians found in articles and blogs about library marketing.
Library Marketing: Thinking Outside the Book is a recently discontinued (but still available) blog written by Jill Stover, with marketing ideas which can be adapted to school libraries. Relevant topics include creativity, statistics, advocacy, and trends.
Contrary to popular perception, promotional activities (advertising, public relations, etc.), are not always about convincing people to buy the latest and greatest [fill in the blank]. Often, promotion objectives include changing attitudes and behaviors.
Telling the Library Story Toolkit from the State Library of Iowa encourages libraries to share their libraries using the key elements of storytelling.
The Telling the Library Story Tool Kit was jointly developed by the Iowa Library Service Areas and the State Library of Iowa to assist Iowa libraries in explaining and demonstrating the value of their services in order to increase use of and support for libraries.
The ‘M’ Word: Marketing Libraries by Kathy Dempsey and Kathy Dowd introduces the idea of marketing to librarians using their own experiences.
We also discussed that annoying question, “why do we still need libraries when we have the internet?” and I suggested some snappy comebacks for you to fire at those who dared ask.
Please add your own marketing resources and ideas in the comments.
Primary Sources: Alive, Well, & Digitized June 20, 2009
Posted by Wendy Stephens in : Check this out! , add a commentWhile many students are content with the first few hits from Google, there remain curricula and events that demand more intensive research and resource analysis. National History Day coordinators said 600,000 students from the 50 states and other, further-flung locales such as Department of Defense schools and Guam, participate in preliminary county, regional, and state history competitions.
Though the research manifests itself in a range of final products – from traditional research papers and tri-fold exhibits to performance, documentary, and web design – the National History Day coordinators emphasize quality inquiry at every level. Students are expected to engage with texts and images to draw their own conclusions from archival materials. The top two student projects from each state qualified for the national competition at the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park, June 14-28, 2009, with events webcast on http://www.history.com/classroom.
Thanks to digitizing and online archiving, it has never been easier for school librarians to locate and share primary resources; freely web-accessible databases have become a persistent quality option when materials budgets evaporate. Unlike Google’s Life photo archive, many digital archives are part of the deeper web. The resources not accessible via search engine may require some training and practice to fully master various retrieval capabilities, teacher resources, and lesson plans. Leading the way in digitization is the Library of Congress with its http://www.myloc.gov personal interface. LC offers excellent summer educator workshops in Washington and usually has a booth for demonstrations and training at NECC, ALA, and AASL conferences. Like the resources, the training is often provided free, and web-based training is often available.
Another valuable source for primary documents related to American history is the Gilder-Lehrman Institute. Valuable state and local resources exist for most areas of the country, as well. In this state, the Encyclopedia of Alabama, recognized this year by Library Journal as one of the “Best of Free Reference”, offers a list of other state and topical online repositories. Another project, the Alabama Mosaic, encourages creation as well as use of its resources, even providing the requisite software for school librarians to participate in digitizing images and documents to preserve the state’s historical and cultural heritage.
Best of all, helping classroom teachers identify appropriate resources and craft quality research experiences from materials that are freely accessible foregrounds the school librarian as a instructional partner. Collaborating with teachers to tailor assignments to meet curricular objectives, especially when optimizing the use of free materials, ensures that the library media specialist remains a visible and proactive member of the school community.
Today Show Segment Relevant for SLMP June 11, 2009
Posted by Melissa Jacobsen in : Advocacy, Check this out! , add a commentThis morning the Today Show ran a segment on the important role libraries play during the recession, using data and resources provided by the ALA and public libraries:
Libraries lend a hand in tough times
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/31237988#31237988
The ALA Public Information Office worked with the Today Show on this segment and has followed up to encourage NBC affiliates to take up the story locally. But you can help extend the reach of this positive story in several ways:
1) Include the Today Show link on your library Web site
2) Reach out to your local media this week with your local story (particularly NBC affiliates), complemented by national data from the ALA. Two key data points from the Today Show were: 73% of public libraries report they provide the only free access to the Internet in their communities. This rises to 83 percent for rural libraries: http://tinyurl.com/mupmzd and www.ala.org/plinternetfunding . Also, 68 percent of Americans have a library card: http://tinyurl.com/9ewpcc.
3) Take advantage of free ALA resources to help tell your story to media, elected officials and funders:
Job-Seeking in U.S. Public Libraries
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/plftas/Issues%20brief-jobs.pdf
Using data from the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, the issues brief discusses the range of library resources available to job seekers and the challenges to maintaining these services. Additional briefing reports are at: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ors/plftas/Issues_Briefs.cfm. Get a free copy of the PDF by emailing Larra Clark at lclark@ala.org.
Advocating in a Tough Economy Toolkit
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/advocacy/advocacyuniversity/toolkit/index.cfm
Get tips, tools and messages that work.
Get the word out!
For questions or support around media outreach, please contact Macey Morales, mmorales@ala.org, or Jennifer Petersen, jpetersen@ala.org, in the ALA Public Information Office.
For questions or support around advocacy tools, please contact Marci Merola, mmerola@ala.org, or Jaclyn Finneke, jfinneke@ala.org.
For questions or support around statistics and research, please contact Denise Davis, dmdavis@ala.org, or Larra Clark at lclark@ala.org.
AASL Webinar – April 22 – Dispositions in Action June 8, 2009
Posted by jjones in : Check this out! , add a commentThe AASL Webinars held during the month of April on the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner provided a great opportunity to understand and apply the standards—the skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies– to our everyday work as school librarians.
The topic on April 22 was dispositions. Although dispositions have been a topic in educational literature since the 1960s, these have entered the radar of American school librarians with the release in 2007 of the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.
The complexity of this topic is evidenced by the questions raised by approximately 45 participants (school library supervisors, school librarians, and faculty) who attended the Webinar. During this Webinar several concerns about dispositions were expressed that mirror those in the literature. The four concerns expressed by Webinar attendees about dispositions are: (1) What is the meaning of dispositions? (2) What do dispositions look like? (3) How are dispositions acquired? (4) How are dispositions assessed?
The answer to the first question is pretty clear cut. Dispositions are basically observable behaviors that one applies to achieve a particular goal. Dispositions are a behavior we choose (think of it as a behavior of choice).
So much discussion about dispositions is still needed to answer the other three questions brought up at this Webinar. Although there is work to be done, I must say that including dispositions in our new AASL Standards makes sense and recognizes the importance of helping students to acquire meaningful and necessary behaviors such as flexibility, persistence, employing a critical stance, and demonstrating teamwork that are needed to thrive in what Thomas L. Friedman terms a “flat world.”
Gail Bush and I will be presenting a session at AASL on dispositions and we hope you can join us to continue the discussion about dispositions—what they look like, how they are acquired, and how they are assessed.
