Management Matters. Being Proactive in a Reactive World

by Kesha S. Valentine, September 2021

As librarians, who now hold pandemic teaching experience, you may notice that falling back into your pre-pandemic stride no longer suits you. Even amidst the uncertainty posed by last year, many of us found ourselves reimagining approaches to make sure our programs, and impact, were as meaningful as they could be—new rules, new pivot, for an entire school year.

Now, as we return and the chorus around us echoes "NORMAL," we are realizing all of the subtle indicators that "normal" no longer has the same meaning. As librarians, we are used to being leaders and critical supporters of our school's literacy and instructional programs. We must shift from a reactionary to a visionary role to maintain that status. In order to create a strategic vision for the upcoming year, and maybe beyond, some pertinent data will be helpful for the task. You might have access to the data and the information more readily than you think.

Let's take a look at some of our natural data sources, the types of data they can provide, and what we can do with that information.

Students and Their Families

What They Can Tell You

These stakeholders can tell you what they enjoyed about last year and the areas where they felt less successful in accessing books, programming, or other resources.

Getting Proactive

This information can help you decide:

• what parents need in order to feel successful supporting their students with library resources,
• on family programming and read together recommendations. You know, the family that reads together…enjoys that time together.
• what collaborative programming you will do with the public library, including ways to wrap the family in literacy services.
• which students might be willing to serve as ambassadors or advisory committee members. They will have the most in-touch view of the needs of their peers.
• a starting point for library instruction, armed with students' proficiency levels and necessary scaffolds.

Faculty and Administration

What They Can Tell You

Members of your school staff will be able to share their plans for approaching instruction this year. They can share personal observations about students' resiliency or academic and social challenges. It could also be helpful to find out about their new technological skills and experience with blended learning. Equally important, you might want to learn how and to what extent they used library resources.

Getting Proactive

You can use this information to:

• create new collaborative opportunities.
• offer strategic instructional support, especially in small groups or with targeted programming.
• determine a targeted approach to social and emotional programming for your students (and some teachers). Think fun!

Librarians

What They Can Tell You

Reaching out to or joining a professional learning network (PLN) of librarians is a great way to hear from others with similar goals and concerns. You might discover specific strategies librarians will adapt from last year, especially concerning student and family engagement. Most importantly, you will learn of moves they would never make again in a million years and what made them so terrible.

Getting Proactive

From making this move, you might:

• develop a network of librarians who will be great thought partners for years to come, since they are also forward thinking.
• gather some good ideas about goals and strategically plan a way to execute your ideas based on the needs of your school community.
• receive helpful feedback on your vision and stretch your thinking about the meaningful growth of your library program.

Taking Action

Once you have gathered your information, intentional planning is vital for success. Librarians can meet the needs of students and colleagues in various ways—a thought which could send you reeling from all the amazing possibilities. One approach you might use to stay grounded is taking a bird's eye view of your school's needs and the calendar, maybe beyond the current academic year. Everything can't be accomplished at once, it is not possible, not even for librarians. Consider the priorities of your school community and how your support may need to shift over time. Think about how a program or project might accomplish more than one goal. A proactive approach allows you to leverage your time to strategically implement great programming and support, rather than being stressed about trying to do everything in one year. Additionally, you will have documentation and a schedule that details your plan of action to use in your advocacy communication, or even leverage for funding some of your special projects.

Adjustment will look different for everyone as they return to school under what seems like more usual circumstances. With the library as a critical third space, it will be important to proactively create an environment where students can begin to relax again, even if it is not necessarily normal. Whether that means finding new approaches to engagement, new programming, or new ways to deliver it, we have to lead the way by reestablishing our library as a welcoming place that meets our students' current needs. Collecting multiple perspectives from a variety of stakeholders may give you the data you need to create a plan that allows you to be proactive in a reactive world.

A final word of advice, leave room to pivot within your plan because we know things can change at the drop of a dime. #lessonslearned