Managing the Elementary Library

Course

Evaluation, Assessment & Reflection [4:10]

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Transcript

No matter what type of library you have it's important to continually look at what is it that you're doing, what's working well, what's not working well, and how to make it even better.

Finally, the last thing is to look at the idea of evaluation, assessment, and reflection, I put all three of those words there together a little bit. But basically, it all fits under this idea. I have a friend, Barbara Peterson, and she uses this quote, "As good as we are, we can always get better." And that's certainly the attitude that, I think, you want to have at any type of library is certainly looking at what is it that we're doing, what's working well, what's not working well, and how do we make it even better.

Some of that is by collecting data every year. I had a survey that I send out at the end of every school year. Then I had longitudinal data because I did it for 15 or 16 years to see what are the things that we were doing really well, what are the things that we can improve on. Our survey was organized around the AASL standards and of what a school library program should have. That made it a real strong message when I would share with my administrators because I could say, "Here are the standards and here's how we think we're doing with it."

That yearly survey was a great way for us to get a snapshot every year of what our teachers thought. We always looked at it every year and went, "Okay, this is something we can fix. This is something that they really love so we want to continue it." That data was really important, but it's also key that when you think about the data you're collecting, what is the data, what is the story that you need to tell.

There are so many different things about data you can collect. Whether it be circulation, whether it be how many classes were in the library, whether it be how many collaborative experiences you had, whether how many overdue books you had. Whatever data you collect is going to tell a story. Making sure that you have the data that you need to tell the story about your school library that you want to tell.

The best example I can give you of that is my particular principal, he always loved to tout that our school library checked out more books per student than any other library in the district. That piece of data told a really powerful story that then he used everywhere he could. And creating those stories with the data, that's the important part.

And making sure that you're not wasting your time collecting data that nobody's going to care about. Really focusing on what are those data is this going to help tell your story. And then using all those communication methods that we talked about earlier to get that story out. So that people really see what your school library is all about and create those advocates for school libraries that we so desperately need.

Thinking, too, when you think about this evaluation of your program and your facility, it gives you a great chance to reflect. Often in school libraries, we're often hopping from one thing to the next and that reflection time is important. And thinking in terms of, applying for awards. It takes a lot of time to apply for an award, especially, if you look at things like the National School Library Program of the Year, I bet your state probably has school library program of the year.

It's usually a pretty long, involved form or process for those types of awards, but it's such a great chance to take your program and line it up with what they're asking for and say, "Are we meeting this or are we not?" And when we're not, then you can have great conversations with administrators about, "Maybe, this is where the standard is and what grade school libraries are, how do we get there?" It can really open up the door for some great conversations.

And then if you do win, it's a great way to promote your school library program again and say, "Look, we really are doing some great things here." And thinking in terms of writing for the field, there are several journals that are out there devoted to school libraries; school library connection, obviously, being one of them. But considering how could you share the great things that are happening in your library.

I think, all too often we assume that what's happening in our library is just happening everywhere and that may or may not be the case. Somebody may really want to hear your story, your experience about what worked well, what didn't work well with a certain project or something that you did in your library. Getting a chance to write it out as an article really gives you a chance to reflect and think, "This is what worked well," or, "This didn't work well. And here's what I want to improve the next time."

Those monthly and yearly reports also are great as well as this conversation with stakeholders. All those chance to reflect and say, "Okay, here's where we are. Now, how do we decide what we're going to improve on and where do we need to go next?"

Additional Resources

About the Author

Carl A. Harvey II, MLS, MS, is associate professor of school librarianship at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Harvey received his master's degree from Indiana University and is the author of six books, most recently The 21st-Century Elementary School Library Program: Managing For Results, 2nd Edition. He is a past-president of the American Association of School Librarians, and his school has been the recipient of the National School Library Program of the Year.

E-mail: charvey@schoollibraryconnection.com

Twitter: @caharvey2

MLA Citation

Harvey, Carl A., II. "Managing the Elementary Library. Evaluation, Assessment & Reflection [4:10]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, January 2018, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2135536?learningModuleId=2135578&topicCenterId=2247903.

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https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2135536?learningModuleId=2135578&topicCenterId=2247903

Entry ID: 2135536