by Maria Petropulos, January 2018

The majority of people in the United States have some memory of visiting a school library. These memories, be they positive or negative, are what many people use to define a school library program. As a district library coordinator, I have spent the last twenty years working to educate and advocate for school libraries. Working to change people's perceptions has been the most challenging and, at the same time, the most rewarding endeavor. I work in a small district in California, and in the past six years, we have been able to change the perception of our library program one step at a time.

Six years ago, I was fortunate enough to be hired by a district supportive of their library program. However, it still felt like the program was an afterthought and not held in high esteem. Through conversations with principals, I ascertained that their common belief was that a library program was successful if students went into the library and came out with books. Principals and district administration didn't think of the library as a program that could truly impact student learning.

Develop a Shared Vision

A great deal of my first year was spent writing a new district-wide library plan. In that plan I was able to create a vision of what could be possible, including the hiring of credentialed librarians. I don't think many people believed it would ever happen, but I did. I worked with the library staff to create a shared vision, not just one that I could see, but one that we could all strive to achieve. We focused on building individual programs by updating the collections, adding new technologies, and providing more staff development specifically for the classified library staff. New library support staff were required to complete classes at the local city college, earning them a certificate in library technology and information. This certificate ensures that all library techs have the basic knowledge to work in a library. The district had just become a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) district and had begun purchasing Chromebooks. I wanted the library staff to be able to troubleshoot and help students on their Chromebooks, so I purchased a Chromebook for each staff member. At the time, I didn't realize how much this would impact our programs or what a big step this was in making our classified library staff feel valued and empowered. I slowly moved to paperless meetings and posting everything in Google Drive. We began working collaboratively on documents, creating and sharing calendars, and creating forms to gather information. Slowly we were all becoming more confident users of technology. I had the library techs visit different school libraries and gave them time to share and plan together. The libraries in the district were no longer working in isolation, but working together and supporting one another. During this time, I worked to build trusting relationships with all site administrators. These relationships have been crucial to our library program success.

Seize Opportunity

During my third year, our district's last remaining technology coach went back into the classroom. This gave me the opportunity to propose to the school board that we hire a credentialed librarian. I had been advocating for credentialed librarians since day one, and when I explained the qualifications of a librarian, I believe the board understood how much more they could get by hiring a librarian in place of a technology coach. The librarian would provide instructional leadership, be an instructional partner, promote reading, and provide instruction addressing multiple literacies, including information literacy, media literacy, and technology literacy. The librarian would teach inquiry-based approaches to learning and the research process, develop the collection to make it up to date and relevant, and provide communication to site administration on a regular basis. Hiring a credentialed librarian would give the sites a technology person and so much more.

Prepare for Conversations

Recently, I was selected to be part of the Lilead Fellows Program, an advanced and intensive professional development program for school district library supervisors from all over the United States (https://lileadproject.org/the-lilead-fellows-program/). The work I did with the Lilead Fellows opened my eyes to how I approach advocating and educating for our school libraries. Based on my Lilead revelations, I changed my approach when talking to district leaders. Instead of having a discussion about all that the library could do, the conversation shifted to student learning, the district's vision, the vision for individual sites, and how our libraries could support all of it. I've found that if I begin the conversation asking superintendents what their greatest concerns are for the district, they give a list of many issues that keep them up at night. In most cases literacy, technology issues, and online safety (digital citizenship) are all somewhere on that list. I then proceed to explain ways the library program can address these issues district-wide as well as at each site. This small modification in my communication has made a big impact.

Find the Right Person

In the last three years, I have been able to hire another five credentialed librarians. I have learned that it's not just about hiring credentialed librarians, but it's about hiring the right personality. I have gone through rounds of interviews looking for that right person. I look for somebody who mentions students throughout the interview. It is somebody who has a clear passion for school libraries and a belief that anything is possible. The person is able to articulate how they would approach difficult personality types and how they would begin to form relationships with teachers and administration. The school librarian needs to be friendly and approachable, and a sense of humor is a big plus. I have hired teachers right out of the classroom with no library experience because they had what I believe it takes to be a successful librarian. Those teachers are then required to immediately enroll in the local library program. I work closely with them as they gain the necessary training and skills needed for the job while they earn a California teacher librarian services credential.

Develop Key Relationships

principals are another key player in the success of a school library program. Without the support of a site administrator, it is difficult to have an exemplary program. I have spent years trying to convince principals that the library program can support the vision of their school and I never give up. If a principal has had a negative experience or no experience at all with a successful library program, they are very hesitant to invest funds or give support for their school's program. Having the right person running the library makes all the difference in the success or failure of a program. The library tech needs to be educated about school libraries as well as encouraged, supported, and allowed to try new things as they work to promote literacy. The library tech must be there to support the school librarian, as the school librarian must be allowed to teach, and not expected to simultaneously run the library and teach. The site principal needs to communicate on a regular basis with all library staff as they work to align the program with the school vision. When principals have an understanding of how the library supports classroom teachers and students, they become the biggest and loudest supporters of the library program.

Be Visible

Through the work of the library team, we strive to make our programs and all that we do visible to not only our board and administration, but to the community as well. In the beginning, for many of the staff, it was uncomfortable to toot their own horn, but unless we share all that we are doing, people's perceptions will not change. The library team has had many conversations about how we can make the library programs more visible. Because of these conversations, we decided to highlight student learning taking place in our libraries and the literacy activities we are doing on a daily basis. We made the decision to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to create this visibility. We also use our library website, our local newspaper, and community events and host family literacy nights. All of these efforts have paid off and our program has more support than it has ever had.

Collect Data

The work is never complete in a school library program, and there's always room to improve. Collecting data is a crucial way to show the impact the program is having on student success and supporting teachers. Qualitative and quantitative data needs to be collected on a regular basis. In my district, we have a company that sends out an educator effectiveness survey each month to all teachers who have collaborated with a librarian. In addition to demographic questions, the respondents are asked categorical questions about the formats in which they worked with their librarians, the content area in which they worked, the duration of their work together, and the focus of their work. They are also asked perception questions regarding how safe they felt to take risks and share, the productiveness of the experience, the effectiveness of time used to meet goals, the use of data/standards, the extent to which effective strategies were shared, and to what extent the overall support helped them improve their practice. All respondents could also add personal comments. The librarians also give teachers a simple reflection survey asking about the benefits of the collaboration, areas for improvements, and additional resources they would like. This year we are creating library advisory committees at each site that will include administrators, teachers, parents, and students. This will allow us to gather input each month and make changes as needed throughout the year. In the spring, all of this data will be compiled and shared with key stakeholders such as board members, district and site administration, and parents.

Building a successful school library program depends on many key players. Working in school libraries for many years has given me the opportunity to learn what it takes to create strong school library programs. It has also given me opportunities to hear and see the challenges a library program faces when it does not have the right people in place and the support of its district. A library supervisor, with knowledge and expertise in school libraries, who can be the voice for the library staff and advocate for the program is the first step. Having the right people as paraprofessionals and credentialed librarians is crucial to growing the program. Successful library programs cannot happen without district support through funds for staffing, library materials, and technology.

The journey towards building a strong library program begins with a change in perception for many teachers and administrators. The school library is nothing like it was thirty years ago. It is constantly evolving and growing to support our students and prepare them for the future. I hope that the program in my district will continue to evolve and be essential to our schools long after I'm gone. I hope it will continue to be staffed by educated and supported paraprofessionals, who nobody believes just stamp books, as well as credentialed librarians making an impact on our most vulnerable students. I hope that funding will continue to be a priority, allowing our libraries to have the most up-to-date, relevant collections. Through what we have achieved, I know when our students are adults, their memory of their school library will be a positive one.