Soft Skills for School Librarians

Course

Time Management [3:30]

Learn time management concepts that will facilitate smoother, more productive days.

Time management skills are essential as a school librarian, because the job includes a range of instructional responsibilities and administrative duties.

Let's talk about key concepts that can help you strengthen your time management skills: assessing time spent, crafting effective to-do lists, and understanding common procrastination traps.

First, before making any changes, get an accurate assessment of where your time goes each day. Do so by keeping a daily log that graphs out your time hour by hour, both during the school day when students are present, and in the hours you're working outside of that time. Take note of how you feel: when is your daily energy level at its peak? What time of day do you feel most productive? As you write down how you spend your time, categorize the activities. How much time is spent engaging in instructional work with students? How much is spent on the administrative duties that focus on the big picture or help the library run efficiently day-to-day? And of course, check your log to see if you're giving yourself sufficient downtime during lunch and breaks. Be realistic about how much time certain tasks take, not how much time you feel they should take. An accurate time assessment is key to making productive shifts in your patterns.

Second, look at how you craft your daily to-do list. It's a great feeling to cross items off a list, but that list can often end up being a long column of broad goals that never get accomplished. Be specific on your to-do list by letting each item have three notes attached to it: One: identify a specific action that will move you towards a goal. Two: rank how high it should be prioritized. And three: include a realistic deadline, remembering that sometimes deadlines must be changed as daily priorities shift.

Whether you use an organizer app on your phone or you prefer a handy notebook at your side, you can revamp the way you write your to-do lists to make sure that by the end of the day, you've experienced that great feeling of crossing items off your list.

Third, become aware of your own time-consuming habits, particularly when it comes to procrastination. Many of us have a tendency to procrastinate and it can be helpful to know the causes. Often, when we procrastinate, we're putting a short-term gratification before a long-term achievement. We scroll through social media on our phones, make unnecessary calls, or become consumed with less important tasks when we should be focusing on more pressing goals.

Sometimes we procrastinate because the task we should be working on is less interesting, more intimidating, or simply too big for us to get a handle on. Understanding why we procrastinate can do a lot to help us minimize our tendency to put things off. As a result, our time management skills can improve quickly.

Assessing your time accurately, using the right tools to prioritize your agenda, and understanding what gets in the way of productivity—all these strategies can help you take your time management skills to the next level.

Self-Assessment

After watching the "Time Management" video, are you ready to take the first step in boosting your scheduling effectiveness? Then it's time to start assessing your current patterns: where does your time go? What methods do you use to prioritize? What procrastination traps have you been known to fall into? Read some tips from Mary Keeling in the articles found in the Resources and then use the Reflect & Practice activity to help you take an accurate look at what you're currently doing well and what could be improved.

RESOURCES:

Activity 7.1_Soft Skills for School Librarians

Form

Management Matters. Enrich the Library Program with Volunteers: A Thousand Actions...End in One Purpose

Library Volunteers

Deadlines

REFLECT & PRACTICE:

After reading the articles by Mary Keeling, take some time to reflect on your time management habits using the questions and prompts provided in the above form.

MLA Citation

"Soft Skills for School Librarians: Self-Assessment." School Library Connection, April 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2194645?learningModuleId=2194635&topicCenterId=2247902.

Entry ID: 2196952

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Authors

Rebecca J. Morris, MLIS, PhD, is teaching associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. She earned her master's degree and doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh and her undergraduate degree in elementary education at Pennsylvania State University. Rebecca has published articles in journals including School Library Research, Knowledge Quest, School Libraries Worldwide, Teacher Librarian and the Journal of Research on Young Adults in Libraries. She is the author of School Libraries and Student Learning: A Guide for School Leaders (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2015). Rebecca is a former elementary classroom teacher and middle school librarian.

Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com

Twitter: @rebeccajm87.

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

Casey Rawson, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a PhD in 2016 and an MSLS in 2011 with a concentration in school library media. She also holds an MAT in middle grades education from the University of Louisville and is a former sixth- and seventh-grade science teacher. Her research interests include teacher-librarian collaboration in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) content areas, diversity and equity in youth services librarianship, and portrayals of scientists in children's literature. Her articles include “Are All Lists Created Equal? Diversity in Award-Winning and Bestselling Young Adult Fiction,” which received the 2012 YALSA Writing Award; and “Rethinking the Texts We Use in Literacy Instruction with Adolescent African American Males,” written with Sandra Hughes-Hassell, which received a 2013 Virginia Hamilton Essay Award Honor Citation.

Seth Taylor, MFA, has 20 years of experience in education as a teacher, administrator, and professional development specialist. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Rhetoric, Composition and Research Methodology at San Diego State University, Colorado State University, and the University of Redlands.

Jane Cullina, MSEd, is the professional development manager for School Library Connection and ABC-CLIO. A former children's librarian and humanities teacher, Jane earned her master's degree from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City and has taught in Boston, New York, Maine, California, and South Africa.

MLA Citation

"Soft Skills for School Librarians. Time Management [3:30]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, April 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2194645?learningModuleId=2194635&topicCenterId=2247902.

View all citation styles

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2194645?learningModuleId=2194635&topicCenterId=2247902

Entry ID: 2194645