Student Voice in the Library
Course
Why [5:22]
In this first lesson we're going to talk about the importance of considering why you should think about having a student work team in the library.
First of all, in the "why we should have a student work program through the library"-- a student leadership team--I want you to think about how you spend your time each day. A lot of school librarians or any librarian's day is spent dealing in managing tasks and those are necessary tasks for us to do our business and to connect to our customer. Just as many of those tasks have to do with leadership.
As leaders of our library program, sometimes we need to find a way to delegate the lower impact jobs so that we can focus on some big picture thinking and big picture planning. I believe that having a student leadership team in the library is a brilliant solution to those time management issues. I'd like you to think about how often, whether you're in a kindergarten library or a high school library, you have your frequent flyers who come to the library for a variety of reasons, which is wonderful, and also think about how often those students may come and say to you "Do you need any help with anything?" Or maybe you have teachers who send students your way with a suggestion that maybe they can help in the library.
When I first started, I found myself resenting those customers a little bit because I was thinking "Wait a minute, I've got a lot of work to do and all these people want to do is help. I can't even finish my own to do list." Then luckily years ago, I had an "aha" moment and I said to myself "Wait a minute, I have too many things to do and I have many students who are willing to help. Why don't I pair those two things together?"
If you think about the fact that so often in a library, especially in schools, you have a captive audience. You have students who are willing, able, and interested in helping with the running of the library. They want to help, they want to be a part of something bigger than their day-to-day regular routine. You, as a busy librarian, you need help, you need a fresh set of eyes, you need extra hands, you need new perspective, and you need to delegate some of the jobs that are taking you away from some of the bigger high impact leadership activities.
If you read a lot about future ready libraries, everything that they talk about, every piece of literature that's out there, talks about libraries as hotbeds of collaboration and what a better way to model it than to include your students as part of a collaborative leadership team. You want students who leave your school, whether it's the elementary to a middle school, middle to a high school, or maybe they're even graduating, we want students who are leaving us who are effective communicators. We want students who are collaborators. We want students who are critical thinkers, and we want students who are problem solvers.
If and when you create a work program or a volunteer program or a leadership program through the library, you can empower students to have all these authentic learning experiences. When you provide these leadership opportunities for students, it's not only an amazing way for you to connect to students, it's an incredible way for you to get more people involved in the management and leadership of the library. And then it's a nice way for you to be part of the bigger mission and vision of the school and the district and through that, you can develop a team of movers and shakers in and through the library.
As you look at your to-do list each day, as you leave as the last car in the parking lot, when you go home at night and think "I wish I could," or as you're scrolling through Twitter or Facebook and making a list of amazing ideas you'd like to implement in your program, start to think about how you could empower students to become an active part of a leadership team in and through the library.
Once you start thinking about how they could add to your day, as opposed to add to your to-do list, I think you will see that including a student leadership program as part of the library is a powerful way to make a change through your school.
Sue Kowalski describes students in the school library as "a captive audience of voices, ideas, and talents," prime for tapping to accomplish tasks—and at the same time build something in themselve —in the school library. This lesson explains the "why" behind transforming students from "passengers" into engaged and accountable "crewmembers" on a team working for their library program. Part of the "why" is crossing things off the unending to-do list, but another important reason is offering students a chance to be part of something bigger in their school lives.
Instead of tackling the to-do list first, start this workshop with one of Kowalski's suggestions about finding ways to manage and try new ideas for the library program. Select an intriguing lesson, display, or event from SLC, social media, or a conference you've attended. Find or jot down the basic steps, and then think about how students might be able to contribute to the ideas, planning, and execution. For simplicity, start small. For instance, instead of the rather large task to "create a makerspace," think through the steps for just one activity.
Here is an example, building from the Kindness Challenge and "4 Ps" suggested by Angela German and Tammy Henderson in their article, "Making Kindness Count" (https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/2120930).
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Student Voice in the Library: Insert Students Here." School Library Connection, October 2024, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2078596?learningModuleId=2078594&topicCenterId=2252405.
Entry ID: 2142762
Additional Resources
About the Author
MLA Citation
Kowalski, Susan. "Student Voice in the Library. Why [5:22]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, December 2017, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2078596?learningModuleId=2078594&topicCenterId=2252405.
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2078596?learningModuleId=2078594&topicCenterId=2252405
Entry ID: 2078596