Librarians as Change Agents
Librarians know that they are the driving force behind change, progress, and growth in school libraries. Unfortunately however, outdated concepts of what librarians and their staffs do on a day to day basis still persist with some in the educational field. As this Gale article details, Dr. Thomas Tucker, superintendent of Ohio’s Princeton City Schools and 2016’s AASA National Superintendent of the Year, believes that librarians need to be proactive in demonstrating everything that they and their teams are capable of, in order to drive positive change in their libraries and at their schools.
“A lot of your principals, a lot of your superintendents, don’t know the skills that you may have. In their mind, they see the library of 20 years ago—come check your book out, come, leave, you’re done. Show them what you can do with your staff. You are a change agent. You’re a curriculum person. You’re an instruction person. You’re a professional development person… Sell your value. Show your value. That’s where you make a difference,” Tucker said at the School Library Journal’s October 2017 Leadership Summit.
As the article outlines, librarians and school administrators suggest the following eight tips for driving progress in school libraries.
1. Embrace chaos. Bill Chapman, superintendent of the Jarrell Independent School District in Texas, believes that libraries have to be active, offering a wide range of resources and activities, in order to entice students.
“In my middle school library, we’ve got a green screen in one room, we’ve got puzzles everywhere, we’ve got LEGOs… “Books are still important, but our kids know what’s going on. They’re in there before school, they’re in there after school,” he said. Similarly, Allison Long, school library media coordinator at Mooresville Middle School in North Carolina, has rebranded her library as the CAVE, for Collaborative, Active, Vital Experience.
“[Students] just love to be in here and sit in the spaces. They don’t see it as, They have to be quiet — I mean, they have to be respectful, but it’s their space, and that’s the way I’ve always tried to make it,” she said.
2. Start Small, Think Big. Change can be difficult, and many administrators and educational professionals can be resistant if too much change is proposed at once. Instead, starting with small steps forward can be more beneficial. And for librarians, this many mean starting with themselves – implementing the changes that they are capable of making on their own. For example, Carson LeMaster of the Environmental Sciences STEAm Magnet School in Nashville, Tennessee, hoped to create a maker space in her library but found it difficult to demonstrate its value to administrators and failed to secure funding for it. So she began searching for ways to offer STEAM activities on her own, without spending money.
“The craziest thing that I did was I just started saving trash,” LeMaster says. “Kids can make so much stuff with found objects and found materials. So I started saving boxes, the little extra pieces of the laminating roll, lots of toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls, bags, paper — and I called it the Imagination Station.”
Her innovative thinking demonstrated the significance of creating maker spaces for students, and she ultimately received funding.
3. Watch Your Language. When speaking with administrators, it’s important to use language that explains the value of any proposals you suggest. What might seem apparent to a librarian may not be as obvious to an administrator. Janet Wile, supervisor of library services for Central Unified School District in California, explains how she reframed her argument that her school’s library should be open for a full eight hours each day using language that resonated with administrators.
“What I’ve had to learn to do, rather than just say, ‘Your library should be open eight hours a day because that’s the right thing to do,’ is say, ‘We need to improve the access for our students to have the ability to get to the resources they need. And to have a place where not only can they access those resources, but there’s a qualified, trained library staff member in place to help them with those resources,” Wile said.
4. Zero in on Outcomes. At the end of the day, outcomes are likely the most powerful factor in convincing administrators that a particular change or program is valuable and worth the required funding. Librarians who are able to take proactive steps to demonstrate that their proposed programs will have tangible, real-world benefits are more likely to be successful in winning over reluctant administrators who may feel the pressure of budgetary constraints.
5. Share Your Successes. Once a project has been funded, it may be easy to retreat, or to move on to the next challenge. But as Priscille Dando, coordinator of library information services for Fairfax County Schools in Virginia, explains, successes are the perfect opportunity to follow up with administrators. Making a habit of showing administrators how their decisions to fund projects have resulted in positive outcomes makes them more likely to approve future requests.
“You start getting—like a confirmation bias—oh, this person’s really on it,” Dando says. “They’re going to listen to you more, and they know that their return on their investment in you as an individual is worth it.”
6. Connect to School Leadership. Building positive, ongoing relationships with the school administration is critical, as it gives librarians the opportunity to communicate with the school’s leaders before problems arise. That way, librarians aren’t forced into the position of playing catch-up.
Linda Martin, librarian at the Sugar Hill Academy of Talent and Career in Gainesville, Georgia, explains her practice of dropping by regularly for short chats with her school’s principal. “I make a point of letting her know, ‘This was a really successful lesson,’ or ‘This has been a great day because I was able to go into this classroom with this teacher ….”
7. Reach Out to Teachers. Teachers have important and rewarding jobs – but their role is also very demanding and they may feel that changes will put additional pressure on them. Connecting with teachers to let them know you are happy to support them in any way you can will make them more likely to support your proposals. Martin describes a situation in which one of her school’s teachers was reluctant to make use of new online classes the library had begun offering.
“[The teacher] was afraid of using the online classes because she didn’t know how to set them up. [So] I set up the class, made her a co-teacher, and this year she copied the class and she did it on her own,” Martin said.
8. Persevere. For librarians, it’s easily to get frustrated. Especially if you feel like you’ve already tried to implement changes and it hasn’t made a difference. But continuing to be proactive, to take small steps if necessary, and to implement the changes that can be made independently will ultimately lead to positive change and tangible results.
