How might we ‘ sell’ the LLC within our schools? To staff ? To parents? To students? To administrators?
by Jeanne Buckley, Magda Kalkowska, Lisa Loffredi, and Natalie Kekki
This paper presentation by a team of secondary teacher-librarians in York Catholic District School Board really illustrates the power and potential of collaborative research. What do you do when presented with a common challenge? Learn how this team worked together to investigate their problem and put their collective expertise and creativity together to address their advocacy issues.
Jeanne Buckley is the teacher-librarian at St. Robert Catholic High School in Thornhill, Ontario.. She has been a teacher-librarian for 25 years in both secondary and elementary schools. She has a Master's Degree in Education with a focus on Teacher-Librarianship from the University of Alberta. Her professional interests include supporting students in academic research, particularly in the Extended Essay portion of the IB Diploma program, and in experiential learning -- leading the Aviation and Aerospace Major, a SHSM program at her school. She is the secondary co-president of the York Catholic Teacher-Librarian Association.
Magda Kalkowska has been a Teacher Librarian at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Academy in Keswick, Ontario for the past two years. She has over 20 years of teaching experience with the YCDSB in various departments including Canadian & World Studies, English and Religion. Her professional interests lie in supporting teachers with grant writing, STEAM integration and library advocacy. Magda’s personal interests include hiking, reading and travel.
Lisa Loffredi is an experienced educator and librarian with 22 years in various teaching roles. Currently, she serves as the teacher-librarian at Sacred Heart Catholic High School in Newmarket, part of the York Catholic District School Board, where she strives to cultivate a passion for reading, writing, and lifelong learning among students. Additionally, Lisa is a member of the Forest of Reading Steering Committee, focusing on the Blue Spruce and White Pine nominees, and also serves on the editorial board for "The Teaching Librarian", the official magazine of the Ontario School Library Association.
Natalie Kekki, teacher-librarian at St. Brother André Catholic High School in Markham, Ontario, will celebrate 30 years in education this year. She has been enjoying the privilege of supporting students and staff as teacher librarian over the past 6 years, previously served as Department Head of Modern Languages for 19 years, and has taught French, English, Religion, and Special Education, including 8 years in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Natalie is passionate about literacy, equity, and student empowerment, and leads the school’s Student Wellness, Feminist Alliance, and ASPECT committees. She especially values working with students in the Functional Life Skills program. Her current goals include developing experiential project-based learning opportunities, building community through collaboration, and enhancing the library user experience. Natalie has a genuine love for research, libraries, and learning.
Jeanne, Magda, Lisa, and Natalie - thank you for contributing to the body of research on school library advocacy. I just finished commenting on Cynthia Duncalfe's paper on a similar theme (more advocacy than accountability, but that's another topic). Your research is timely. We can't use a "one size fits all" approach to advocacy. What will attract our students might not have the same appeal to the parents of those same students, (as you show on slide 22) although your graphs on slides 9-12 are quite similar in their results. I love how ambitious and large-scale your data collection was - 4 schools and 3 different target groups! How did you select the foundation questions? Your best practices infographic on slide 15 would be an excellent foundation for developing a separate category, something Wendy Burch Jones recommends in her TMC8 paper. I found interesting the advice on slide 24 (advice item #6) that it should be positive. Where then do we place the sense of urgency that dire predictions, which could be seen as negative threats, fit in? I also like your questions on slide 31. I think that's why I so often see advocacy campaigns (like the ones created by my AQ candidates in their TL AQ courses) as "books AND more". They don't want to abandon the the core tenets (I was going to say "throw the baby out with the bathwater" but I think that idiom is a bit classist) but they know it's important to keep them in there somehow as an anchor for people who don't work in the field but are needed for advocacy efforts.
ReplyDeleteDiana Maliszewski
Hi Diana! Thank you for commenting on our research. When we were planning our data collection, we each came up with 5-10 library foundation statements and then consolidated and narrowed our list to the 5 library foundation statements we thought represented our library learning commons and the work we do. We had a short period of time to collect the data, but enough to give us some insight into what attracts our stakeholders support of the library. With regards to our advice item #6, you are correct in that it is difficult to promote positive word-of-mouth that enhances the library's reputation during times when it feels that school libraries are under attack. In reading the AASL recent book "Elevating the School Library: Building Positive Perceptions through Brand Behaviour" it comments on how the disposition of the school librarian is part of the brand of the library. This is where the positive communication piece plays a role. Overall, advocacy has many facets and we need to focus on those practices that we feel work best with our individual school communities.
DeleteI look forward to chatting with you at the TMC8 event this week.
Jeanne, Magda, Lisa, and Natalie! I was so excited to see your submission and very impressed by your research, findings, and the very user-friendly way it is presented. I must say I am surprised that students didn't find the Library LC to support well-being even though you do cite that Guidance and Chaplaincy may be the cause. Practice 5-use of social media is one I for which I am a strong advocate (as you know), and creating content which will engage students to interact is a great idea. I am wondering about the language of Best Practice 9; I think it's because I don't like to think of our patrons as customers. The infographic describes this practice by acknowledging that the Library LC can transform lives by providing opportunities for personalization and discovery. I love this! I can't wait to see you at TMC8!!
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer!! We are really looking forward to seeing and reconnecting with you at the OLA Super Conference and TMC8 this week. Thank you for your feedback on our research. We were also surprised to see that our library learning commons are not seen as a place to support well-being, although students did indicate in our data collection that they associate the LLC with a place that makes them feel welcomed and that they belong, which definitely plays a role in their well-being. One of my goals this year is using our LLC Instagram account more to engage students, to make library announcements, and to share information. So far, it has been successful as I have obtained more followers and student reactions to my posts.
DeleteHowever, sometimes it feels that the whole social media component of advocacy can feel overwhelming. I would love to chat with you about any tips and tricks you have about streamlining the process and making social media communications more effective. With regards to our Best Practice 9, our literature review did support the notion that just as retail tailors their services and products to their customers, so should teacher-librarians tailor their library services and activities to the needs of their students. It is the idea of creating persona profiles for the students that frequent our spaces and then tailoring our book purchases, technology integrations, makerspaces, etc. to those students. It's similar to the empathy mapping involved in design thinking. However, I can see how the theme of 'Services & Customers' can seem a bit impersonal when speaking of our students.
Can't wait to see you at TMC8 this week!
Hi Jennifer. We also found it surprising that our stakeholders didn't think it was important that the library supports student well-being. Perhaps though, they just didn't think it was the MOST important role -- not that it wasn't important at all. Our methodology would not lead us to that level of detailed analysis. We were looking to see what would resonate with our various stakeholders in advocacy messages -- and we needed a simple data-collection method. We wanted some current local data to incorporate with our literature review data.
ReplyDeleteHello Jeanne, Magda, Lisa and Natalie, This really resonates with me in your "Questions We Still Have" section: Should we use language in your promotional material that reflects an outdated understanding of the library? In my humble opinion the answer is: Yes, and.... You have to appeal to the currency of your stakeholders -- but you can also use this opportunity to infiltrate their mindset with the additional purposes you have in mind. However, and this is where the advocacy part comes in, when push comes to shove, you exist to keep the lights on, the space supervised, and the resources available. We've all seen this now when positions are reduced or even non-existent. So those 'extras', always became the advocacy part for me and I was able to secure funding and time through this only through direct conversations with administrators, and instructional consultants at the board level. So it's all more like triage -- what should take your greatest focus. You know they want you to keep the lights on, so how do you leverage that for opportunities to press your values into place?
ReplyDeleteHi Alanna! Thank you so much for your feedback on our research. I remember meeting you for the first time at a 'Pedagogy B4 Technology' conference and you left a lasting impression on me. I wasn't a teacher-librarian at the time, but I was amazed by all the wonderful work you were doing in the library and the many hats you wore. I'm looking forward to connecting with you again at TMC8!
DeleteI completely agree with your feedback. We should educate our stakeholders and our school community about the newer contributions of our library spaces (i.e. student well-being) as a means of advocating for our relevancy, since the traditional understanding of school libraries is to be expected. Unfortunately, we are in a difficult spot now, both as teacher-librarians in the province and in our board, where it almost seems difficult to secure any funding to support our initiatives; however, difficult doesn't mean impossible. We simply need to think creatively in our approaches.