Library Advocacy NOW Dont Delay Start Today

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Library Advocacy NOW!Dont Delay Start Today

• Presented by
• Holly Bunt, Western Reserve Academy
• bunth_at_wra.net
• Jacque Miller, Western Reserve Academy
• Kim Barsella, Western Reserve Academy

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Library Advocacy NOW!

• My Goal
• To help school librarians promote themselves to
  their
• Administrators
• Faculty Members
• Students
• Parents
• School Community

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Library Advocacy NOW!

• Your Goal
• Be able to justify how your library program
  enhances your schools mission.
• In turn, this could protect
• Your job
• Your budget
• Your program

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Public Relations Committee Web Site

• httpweb2.lnoca.org4040/PR.htm

PR - Quick Tips Advocacy
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PR Quick Tips
The top part of the web site is dedicated to PR
Quick Tips.
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Advocacy Web Sites
The bottom part of the web site has a list of
Advocacy Web Sites.
Make sure you check out the Principals Project
web site created by ILILE. http//www.ilile.org/i
nitiatives/Principal_Project/index.html
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How to Use the PR Quick Tip Web Site
By clicking the number, you will receive the
explanation or instructional message for this
Quick Tip.
Important Note By submitting your documents,
you are giving other school librarians permission
to use and revise your information as they see
fit. Of course, as professionals, we will give
credit to the original creator.
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PR Quick Tip 1 Accomplishment Worksheets
Here is a great opportunity to open the lines of
communication with your administration and prove
why it is important to have YOU in charge of your
library!
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PR Quick Tip 3 Bibliographic Instruction -
Worksheet
An example of collecting raw data.
See handout 1 for WRAs updated version of this
worksheet.
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PR Quick Tip 3Part of an Annual Report (For
additional examples of Annual Library Reports,
look at PR Quick Tip 16)
Use your raw data to create graphs/charts for
your administrator.
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PR Quick Tip 3Additional Statistical
Information WRA Keeps

• Information Literacy Skills
• of Faculty/Subject Areas
• of Participants (Students or Faculty)
• of Classes Taught
• Topic/Skills Taught
• Individual Student Sessions chart (see handout
  2)
• Faculty Collaboration Training chart (see
  handout 3)
• Research Database Usage
• Library Usage (individual/group visits to the
  library)
• Number of Students in the Library
• Day, Evening, and Weekend counts
• Library Staff Information
• Number of Items Ordered
• Book AV Materials
• of Items Requested by Faculty and Students
• of Items Donated
• Gift Books / Gift Book Collections
• Circulation Information

(see handout 1)
You may find it useful to take a look at PR Quick
Tip 9 Template Spreadsheet for Library
Reporting.
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PR Quick Tip 8 Student Recommendation Bookmarks
When the book circulates, the recommending
student receives his/her bookmark as a keepsake.
New this year at WRA. I started to
note down titles of books that the Headmaster,
Faculty Members, or Guests mentioned when giving
a speech. Then the book is displayed along with
a sign.
This book was mentioned by the Headmaster during
Morning Meeting on Friday, September 5,
2008. This book is available for checkout.
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PR Quick Tip 11 Goal Worksheet and Sample Survey

• At WRA we use several methods to collect the
  data
• Surveys
• Tally Marks
• Observation
• Sign-in Sheets
• Feedback from Faculty Students
• Research Sessions with Students
• Individual Student Appointments
• Student Assessments

For more information on Student Assessments look
at PR Quick Tip 28
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PR Quick Tip 11 Goal Worksheet and Sample Survey
The Situation In the 2004-05 school year, WRAs
Senior Seminar Faculty decided to only have 1
Information Literacy Skill Session instead of
their normal 4. The Librarian Response After
the research paper was turned in, the WRA
Librarians presented the faculty with our survey
results. Our findings showed a high number of
students felt they needed additional assistances
with library resources. We also provided the
faculty with data showing that we had to conduct
55 individual student sessions. (See Handout 2
for an example of our Individual Student Session
chart) The Final Result The Senior Seminar
Faculty decided to go back to having 4 or more
Information Literacy Skill Sessions.
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PR Quick Tip 11 Goal Worksheet and Sample Survey

• Excerpt from the WRA 2004-05 Survey Summary for
  Teachers
• Question Which area(s) do you think you needed
  more help or instruction with in order to prepare
  your paper?
• The five top areas
• Help locating journal or magazine articles 32
• Help revising the paper 30
• Help choosing a topic 27
• Guidance with the writing process 24
• Help evaluating resources on the Internet 23

It should be noted that in 2003-04 this question
did not exist on the Senior Seminar Survey. We
added it because we thought it would be helpful
when trying to prove to the faculty that we
needed additional Information Literacy Skill
Sessions with the students.
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PR Quick Tip 12 Professional Collection Book
Cart/Basket
A new twist on an old proverb If the faculty
will not go to the library, let the library go to
the faculty.
My faculty is too busy to stop by the library
and browse our Professional Development
Collection. So, before each long break, we take
a basket of these books over to the Faculty Room.
The result - the checkout rate for these books
increased.
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PR Quick Tip 13 Make Time to Collect the
Data/Evidence
Excerpt from this document
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PR Quick Tip 22 Library Guide for New Teachers
Table of Contents Welcome Letter (attachment
1) General Information Overview of this
section (attachment 2) Class Usage of
Library Overview (attachment 3) Library Services
Available for Class Research (attachment 4) How
to Schedule a Class in the Library (attachment
5) Library Use for Class Research Projects
(attachment 6) Research Databases General
Information Overview (attachment 7) Research
Databases Instructions Overview (attachment
8) EBSCOhost Database Instructions (attachment
9) Plagiarism Overview (attachment
10) Creating Citations Library Publications
Overview (attachment 11) Articles of Interest
Extra items included in the binder Ong Library
leather bookmark Faculty Staff Loaning Policies
Hours bookmark Library Map Contract for Library
Etiquette (attachment 12)
You may want to take a look at PR Quick Tip 24
PowerPoint on Avoiding Plagiarism
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PR Quick Tip 22 Tips for Creating Your Own
Library Web Page
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PR Quick Tip 30 Internet Safety Resources and
Tips
The OELMA Listserv had a recent entry (sent by
Joanna McNally) regarding an article that
discusses how schools will soon be required to
teach Internet Safety. The Broadband Data
Improvement Act (S.1492), requires the Federal
Trade Commission to carry out a national public
awareness program focused on educating children
how to use the internet in safe and responsible
ways. "Schools Soon Required to Teach Web
Safety." eSchool News 13 Oct. 2008. 17 Oct.
     2008 ws/index.cfm?i55557.
McNally recommends the following in her listserv
post I think school librarians can position
themselves as the leaders in the
building/district to assist with this new federal
law.
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PR Quick Tip 31 AASL Survey School Libraries
Count!
For the Library Profession and for YOURSELF,
please make sure you fill-out the 2009 AASL
Survey.  AASL wants everyone to fill-out the
survey including NON-MEMBERS. Link to the Survey
(it is not active yet)  http//www.aaslsurvey.org
Intended Launch Date Late January 2009 AASL
anticipates a 6 8 week window to fill in the
survey. Below is the link for the Final Report
of the 2008 and 2007 AASL Survey. http//www.ala.o
rg/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/schlibrariesandyou/slcsurve
y.cfm
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PR Quick Tip 31 AASL Survey School Libraries
Count!
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PR Quick Tip 31 AASL Survey School Libraries
Count!
Quick Tips Suggestions  There are 21 questions
in this survey. For questions that need a little
extra effort for the answers, quick tips have
been provided.  Survey Components Library
Hours (questions 1 2) Library Staff (questions
3 6) Library Staff Activity (questions 7 -
9) Library Collection (questions 10
14) Questions 10, 12, 13 14 - you will need to
find this information in your Catalog/Circulation
program.  The PR Committee provided attached
documents for the complete instructions on
finding these answers in Sirsis Workflow
program. Technology (questions 15
18) Question 16 may require you to contact your
IT department and ask them for the total number
of computers outside of the library. Library
Usage per Typical Week (questions 19 20) If you
are not collecting this information, START NOW. 
For the next five days, keep track of library
visits.  Then fill in the survey. Question 19
of individual students that visit per
week Question 20 -  of group visits per
week Annual Library Expenditures (question
21) Question 21 does NOT require you to reveal
your entire budget just how much is spent on your
Information Resources (print, AV, databases,
etc).
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Library Advocacy NOW!
Dont Delay Start Today!