"Library Voice" blog post by Shannon McClintock Miller sharing Future Ready Library Plan Google Sheets template, and Padlet to view multiple library plans from districts around the country. Read blog post, "Let's Share our Future Ready Librarian Plans with one another here!"
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Future Ready Schools has published this guide to help create SMART goals.
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A Timeline for Completing a District (K-12) Library Long Range Plan Prepared by Becki George, Rice Lake Area School District, 2/2021 Shared with Library Planning Group - CESA 1, 11, 12 - 2.24.2021 Disclaimer: This is the process we have used, successfully in my school district for a number of years. Adjust it as needed for your local situation. Key Questions: Is the plan aligned with or connected to District goals? Is the plan researched, supported with evidence, based on a needs assessment or survey data? Are the needs of students and staff supported by the plan? Is the plan realistic, manageable, and/or doable in 1 year? (or the duration of the plan)
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Creating a library plan can be daunting. In this brief blog post, I share three lessons I wish I had known when I began to create our school's library plan.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Sometimes, the process of creating a library plan can be...well...not fun. Professionally, we are pulled in many different directions at our schools, and we may have multiple people we are answering to who have their own ideas and priorities. It can be tricky to distill our goals into clear and concise statements about where we want to move our library for the benefit of our stakeholders. I am in the process of creating my second library plan (the first plan had been approved 3 years ago, and our plan was due for an update). I found the article, "The Future Ready Librarian in Practice" to be a very helpful quick read, and a reminder about what I hope to do in my library: create a space that invites experimentation, creative, research, and collaboration. I would recommend this article to any librarian who is beginning their Library Plan process for the first time, and to colleagues, like me, who are revising their plans. The suggestions in the article, such as "Empower your students to lead" are helpful reminders that we don't need to copy what another library is doing. What does that statement mean to you? How would you like it to be a reality in your library? Those moments of inspiration can be great sources for new library goals. I had a draft of my library plan prepared, but have been reflecting on my goals before showing it to my administration before asking for school board approval. This article made me re-think some of the goals I had in my draft. It may do the same for you. Happy reading, and reflecting!
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This is a Google Doc version of the Future Ready Framework that you can copy and edit for your own district. Answering the questions can help you to create your library plan. My administration loved this form.
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Not even sure where to start with library planning. Here are a few tools that might help you get started writing your library plan.
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In Wisconsin, having a district library plan approved by the school board is a legislative requirement, but following a rule does not invite inspiration or provide a complete picture of why this work must be done. We have created a community of school librarians who inspire and guide each other through library planning. Working through the creation and implementation of library plans aligns the library program with school and district needs. It creates a pathway for advocacy, building positive relationships, and increasing the visibility and value of library programs throughout our state. During the webinar, the guests shared how: A library plan allows for telling important stories to administrators and board members, adding value and understanding of how a strong library program positively impacts students Using The FRL Framework as your evaluation tool for your library program provides structure and intentionality Wisconsin is building a supportive network for school librarians who often feel isolated in their work
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In Wisconsin, having a district library plan that is approved by the school board is a legislative requirement, but following a rule does not invite inspiration or provide a complete picture of why this work needs to be done. We have worked to create a process for library planning that incorporates aligning library program goals to school and district needs and creating a pathway for building positive relationships in an effort to increase visibility and value of library programs throughout our state.
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At the end of every school year I put together an Animoto video that highlights our library program at Riverside Elementary (D.C. Everest). My entire budget (except for $225 for supplies) is made up of Common School Funds so we couldn't do what we do without that funding.
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Presentation slides focused on connecting budgeting to library planning and using tools to improve the effectiveness and intentionality of spending Common School Funds.
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A resource from the Alliance for Excellent Education
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The purpose of this collective case study was to develop an understanding of why California K12 public school administrators distribute instructional leadership responsibilities to either instructional coaches or teacher librarians and how the two roles compare within the context of the implementation of the California Common Core State Standards in ELA/Literacy. The study addressed the following research questions: Why do administrators select instructional coaches/teacher librarians to help them provide instructional leadership? How do administrators and instructional coaches/teacher librarians work together to provide professional learning within daily instructional practice? How do administrators evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional coaches’/teacher librarians’ instructional leadership roles? Participants were district administrators who oversee the population, site administrators who directly supervise site-based instructional coaches or teacher librarians, and the corresponding instructional coaches and teacher librarians. Data were collected from multiple sources, including documents, interviews, observations, and focus groups with participants. Within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted to develop a naturalistic generalization of what was learned about how the coach and teacher librarian contributed to instructional leadership. Results demonstrated that administrators’ personal values influence their decisions to select and utilize instructional coaches or teacher librarians to provide instructional leadership. Instructional coaches are considered to be extensions of administrators as instructional leaders in ELA while teacher librarians are considered to be resources that can be called upon to provide occasional instructional support in ELA.
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This step-by-step guide is designed to help librarians start and sustain strategic conversations with school and district leaders.
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A resource created by AASL/ALSC/YALSA to provide resources fostering collaboration.
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This document is an example of a School District Community Partner Agreement.
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Abstract from webpage: While librarians in schools often face significant budgetary cuts, they can play an important role in supporting learning in literacy and literature. However, little is known about the practices that they may employ to this end. Of particular interest is the role of librarians in schools in supporting struggling readers, as these students may be increasingly disadvantaged as they move through the years of schooling. Semi-structured interview data were collected from teacher librarians at 30 schools and analysed to identify practices exercised by teacher librarians that aligned with extant research around supporting struggling readers. Teacher librarians provided support by identifying struggling readers, providing them with age and skill-appropriate materials, undertaking skill scaffolding supporting choice, supporting students with special needs, providing one-to-one matching, promoting access to books, enhancing the social position of books and reading, reading aloud to students, facilitating silent reading, and preparing students for high-stakes literacy testing.
Material Type: Case Study
Dr. Krashen, professor emiritus from the University of Southern California, is a linquist specialist who strongly supports school libraries. He explains the intention of this paper as, "My goal in this paper is to suggest another approach that is consistent with theory and research: self-selected pleasure reading in English. Libraries and teacher librarians play a central role in carrying out this suggestion."
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Collaboration between teachers and teacher librarians (TLs) faces fundamental challenges in the high school setting. Studies of professional library organizations have suggested that collaborations between teachers and TLs are effective in improving student learning, encouraging personal reading, and raising digital citizenship awareness. The conceptual framework and structure of the teacher and librarian collaboration model (TLC-III) is based on the notion that robust collaboration efforts involving groups of teachers have positive effects on students. Researchers have validated the TLC-III model in studies with various groups of teachers and TLs as instructional partners, but have not done so at the high school level. The aim of this study was accordingly to validate the TLC-III model at this level with various high school teachers across disciplines and to determine why some choose to collaborate with TLs while others do not and the factors that influence the formation of a collaborative environment at a large, comprehensive high school. This mixed-method study relied on 62 anonymous surveys and 22 face-to-face interviews to assess what is needed to improve collaboration as part of the learning environment at this school.
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Article from ISTE provides research and strategies for helping students identify reliable information.
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