Jay and Ruth Toor

Last week AASL announced the Ruth Toor Grant for Strong Public School Libraries. A brilliant woman with a far reaching career, Ruth is no longer able to be active in the profession she loves.  This grant will ensure that her name and what she has always valued will continue to be reminder to school librarians and the communities they serve of the importance of strong school library programs headed by a certified school librarians. Her husband, Jay Toor said, “Ruth and I want to ensure excellence for every student by advocating for a school library with a certified school librarian in every school. These grants will allow school librarians to talk to their community’s parent leaders, teachers, principals, school board or superintendent about the importance of strong school library programs with certified school librarians.”

Through the generosity of the Toors, winners of the grant will receive $5,000, $3,000 of which is to create and implement a project that promotes school library awareness and its accomplishments to school officials and administrators. The remaining $2,000 is for the school librarian and a school official (or volunteer parent) to attend the AASL national conference or the ALA Annual Conference during the years when there is no AASL national conference. I find this last stipulation to be indicative of the value Ruth and Jay place on how the national conference promotes growth and attending the scheduled sessions will open the eyes of any administrator to the value of school librarians.

The award criteria are a guideline for how to implement a good program. First the goals of the project must be identified, showing how the school library will use the funds to further public awareness. The plan must include a timeline (and in this case it must be completed within eleven months of the grant) and list the number of school library users who will benefit from it. Of course, a budget needs to detail how the monies will be spent.

It is a wonderful award in support of school libraries and school librarians, but it has additional meaning for me.  In the summer of 1976, Ruth and I were part of a post-Masters course offered at Rutgers University.  Both of us turned in a Volunteer Manual as a final project. Our classmates, all experienced librarians, were so impressed they urged us to combine our work into a book and 1979, The School Librarian’s Almanac was published and was a huge success.

The next year, our publisher asked us to create a monthly (ten times per year) newsletter, and the School Librarian’s Workshop was born. Originally it was sixteen pages, but among the changes we made over the years was to move to a twenty-four page publication issued bi-monthly.  We continued working together on School Librarian’s Workshop while working in for our schools and writing numerous additional books, the last ones for ALA Editions.

Early in 2011, it became obvious that Ruth could no longer work on the newsletter.  She retired completely after the June/July 2011 issue when I took it over and made it an e-newsletter. We had a long and productive partnership and friendship.  We watched each other’s children grow up, marry, and have children of their own.  Throughout, Ruth was a strong advocate for school librarians.  I am honored to have had her in my life.  I am overjoyed the award will continue her work.

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I recently was asked the question by a school librarian, and rather than just send her the link to the magazine, I decided to tell her my ideas on how we make this difference. Here’s what I said—with some commentary.

School librarians:

Show students (and teachers) how to use Google more effectively to retrieve more relevant sites- Since we know no matter what we say, for most people Google is a first stop to find information (although students are frequently going to YouTube first), we work at changing how they do it.  Students tend to check only the top two results. If their query is not well-constructed what they find will likely not be relevant.  We also let them know about Google’s filters which skew their results based on their previous searches.

Teach students how to evaluate information for accuracy and validity – In the past, students assumed if it was in print it was true.  This behavior is even truer on the Internet (and in social media).  We show them “misinformation” sites to raise their awareness and then give them techniques to ensure what they find and use—whether for academic or personal use—is accurate.

Incorporate the use of databases into research so students produce more focused projects and are ready for the extensive databases they will find in college – For students to function successfully in college, they need to be able to go beyond Google for their research. By introducing them to databases available in the library they learn how these resources are more likely to have the solid information they need and are prepared for the many more databases they will find in a college library.

Work with teachers to integrate the most current technology and online resources engaging students’ interest – Students live in a digital world.  They are turned off by assignments which are more 20^th than 21^st century.  Because school librarians keep up with new web resources and apps for content sharing, presenting, and other uses (see AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning and Best Apps for Teaching and Learning), they are uniquely positioned to help teachers integrate these authentic learning projects and/or collaborate (or cooperate) in developing global and digital citizenship projects connecting students to the larger world.

Promote critical thinking through inquiry-based learning – The AASL Standards for the 21^st Learner are the guide for doing just that.

Provide a print-rich environment coupled with comprehensive knowledge of children’s and young adult literature (fiction and nonfiction) developing student’s love of reading leading to lifelong learning – Literacy is at the core of learning.  School librarian’s knowledge of children’s and young adult literature along with their contact with students over several years make them uniquely capable of making the one-on-one contact with students to connect them with just the right book.

Every librarian has to demonstrate How School Librarians Transform Learning every day.  Are you doing all of these?  Do you have any other ways we transform learning?

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Librarians – the real super heroes.

School librarianship is a complex multi-layered profession requiring a broad range of knowledge, competencies, and skills.  You have every reason to be proud of what you know and what you do.  And yet many of you find your abilities overlooked by colleagues and administrators. Despite how much you can bring to student learning experiences, teachers at middle and high school often do not collaborate with you and elementary teachers are not interested in working cooperatively on projects.

 Our work is a far cry from the occasionally assumed, “Why do you have to go to college (let alone graduate school) to help people check out books?”  You need to understand how students learn, be familiar with the curriculum across subjects, and through the grade levels. You sometimes move from special needs students to those in honor classes and then to English Language Learners within the span of a single day. 

 AASL’s Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs identifies your roles as Teacher, Information Specialist, Instructional Partner, and Program Administrator.  You need to be well-versed in the Common Core State Standards and keep up with the latest in technology resources, apps and on the web.  You must be equally skilled in large group and one-on-one instruction.  That is a lot of hats.  What you do is unique in the school.  No one else can do it.

 So how can we be so overlooked by the teachers and administration?  Yes, they’re focused on their challenges and requirements, but can’t they see how you can help? The truth of the situation is – if you want to change attitudes you might want to take a closer look at yourself.

 Here’s an example – I knew a school librarian who felt she was exceedingly competent.  Unlike many school librarians, she had her Masters from an ALA accredited school.  She flaunted her background to the clerk who was working on a Masters from a school with NCATE accreditation and belittled the rigor of the course work.  She was knowledgeable, but she wasn’t successful as a librarian.

 Ours is a relationship profession.  Her associations with teachers was distant and perfunctory. They felt she didn’t like the students, and to some extent the students agreed with their teachers. She was always the “authority” and would direct students to where they needed to go rather than accompanying them. Whenever possible, she spent time in her office, which by choice was in an area without windows where she could see who was in the library.

 On the other hand, the clerk enjoyed a friendly give and take with students.  She was interested in who they were as people.  She made a point of knowing the teachers and had conversations with them about their families and what they were doing after school.  It’s not that she was close friends with everyone, but she was open and welcoming, always ready to help out.  Even after she got her degree, she didn’t think it demeaning to occasionally run off copies for a teacher who was in a rush to get to class.  Fresh out of library school, the former clerk had no problem getting teachers to collaborate with her.  They were open to her suggestions and support and sought her out. Something we can all hope for.

 As John C. Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”  How are you building relationships with your faculty, students, and administrators? Are they going well? How can you tell? When you regularly check in on these questions and act on your answers you’ll see your partnerships and role grow in your school.

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Image from the World Literacy Council

It once was simple in the days before apps and the Internet. When all information came by way of books, magazines, and newspapers. Literacy was easy to define. It meant you were able to read and understand printed matter.  Functional literacy was said to be the ability to read on the fourth grade level. Basic literacy as defined by the U.S. Department of Education 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy is using “print and written material to function in society and achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”

However, most often today when someone refers to literacy, you need to know which type of literacy they mean.  Information literacy?  Digital literacy?  Transliteracy?  Visual Literacy? And there are more out there.  The bottom line is that all these types of literacy are important, but it’s important to recognize that all these literacies –even visual literacy to some extent—rely on being able to read and comprehend text.

As school librarians we are responsible for guiding our students to develop fluency in all literacies, but we can’t forget the basics.  We still must provide the print rich environment leading to a love of reading and learning. All else follows from that.

On June 13, 2013, ALA Council passed a resolution reaffirming ALA’s commitment to basic literacy, noting that the ALA Policy Manual “recognizes Literacy as a core service and responsibility of all libraries.” All types of libraries are charged with “making literacy a high priority in planning and budgeting.”  In schools where administrators are pushing for book-less libraries (when they are not replacing them with computers for taking PARCC and other high stakes tests), standing up for literacy in its most basic definition is not simple.

It’s not that ALA and AASL don’t recognize we are living in a digital age.  These organizations are also working at helping librarians improve their own mastery of multiple literacies to be able to share that with teachers and students. (Several years ago AASL held it biennial Fall Forum on Transliteracy.) What they realize, as noted earlier, these skills rest on basic literacy.

How can you support basic literacy in a culture focused on technology?  Do what many of the top school librarians in the country are doing.  Create programs using a variety of digital resources to coincide with and connect to reading.  An example of the simplest level is having students write online reviews of books. You can have a book club with another school or have pairs of students in different schools read the same book and have an online discussion which they then share with others.  You don’t have to come up with these yourself. Librarians on Twitter and TL Chat on Google+ are sharing what they are doing.  Respond to them with any questions. They’ll be glad to help—and get your students reading for the fun of it.

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Many of you have shared the research studies—the “big data”—with administrators and others but it fell on deaf ears.  Sometimes they dismissed the study because it was done in a different state; other times they possibly ignored it because it was too long and too dense to read. 

How important is it to you to get administrators, board members, and politicians to listen and recognize the invaluable contribution you make?  If you recognize it is critical and you do so for the sake of your students and the future of the library program, you are going to need to do some hard work.

The latest issue of Knowledge Quest, (KQ) (Volume 43, No. 3 – January/February 2015) the journal of AASL, is all about Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), and the opening article is naturally by Dr. Ross Todd, associate professor in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University. He is the leading expert on the topic, and the rest of the issue is filled with articles by academics and school librarians, explaining the practice and showing it in action. (If you are not an AASL member, contact them to find out how to purchase this issue.)

If you are new to EBP, it can be daunting.  It will take more than one reading to absorb.  Take it in little bites.  To get you started here is a brief view of what EBP entails:

Evidence for Practice – Begin with the research.  You know the studies and can easily find them. Which study would you like to demonstrate in your own building?

Evidence in Practice – Using the study you selected, develop a unit that will demonstrate it with students in your building. This is where Action Research comes in. It gives you the local data you need to pair with the “big data” from Evidence for Practice. If you are unfamiliar with Action Research, the article by Carole J. Stubeck in that KQ issue will give you a good example. You can also search on Action Research School or email me at hilda@slworkshop.net and I will send you my PowerPoint from one of my presentations on it.

Evidence of Practice – How have learners changed as result?  In addition to the results of the Action Research, gather student responses to the learning being imparted.  Using a resource such as Edmodo you can capture their reactions and thought processes.

As always, the process is circular.  Taking all the information in, you and any colleagues involved, reflect on what was achieved and what will be the next step.

While the purpose of EBP is to have a continuous practice of improving the library program, do not neglect Advocacy. You must get the word out to your stakeholders.  Visually documenting the process, possibly getting students discussing the Evidence of Practice, will add the emotional content that opens the door to the strong evidence supporting it.

To become recognized as invaluable and indispensable to students and the school community, you will have to do the work.  When you think about it, what choice do you have? And did you know that each issue of the SCHOOL LIBRARIANS WORKSHOP offers you ideas for implementing programs that can increase your contributions and visibility?

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However, the loneliness I am thinking of today comes from a topic students in my online course are discussing–censorship and book challenges. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom sponsors Banned Books Week the third week in September, but librarians face the issue all year long.  Most librarian go through their entire career without a challenge.  The few I have had were quickly resolved by praising the parent for being aware of and interested in her child’s reading. I could ensure that the decision she made for her child was appropriate, and I would see to it the child did not check out any similar titles, but since the library was for all students she couldn’t make a decision for all of them. That was my professional responsibility.

I was fortunate.  In places where there is no selection policy establishing a procedure for handling a challenge or where the procedure is ignored in a knee-jerk reaction, the situation can quickly escalate and the librarian feels threatened—even when he or she has tenure. I know of one high school librarian who had books challenged at a school board meeting, meaning the press was immediately involved.  She was courageous and stood her ground.  She got assistance from her state’s school library association and from the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. Her administration was cautiously supportive and her students became involved in a research project on censorship. Ultimately, the books were kept in circulation.  The students learned about censorship and about integrity.  But the librarian admitted how lonely she felt during the on-going process.

The threat of having to live through a situation like that is present in the mind of every librarian while reading reviews and determining what to order.  Budgets are limited these days. You can’t order everything you want.  So skip the book on a transsexual teen.  Don’t get the one about a kid in the inner city when the language is realistic to the location.  You really don’t need a picture book about a family with two dads and no mom.  Do you? Who will know if you don’t buy them?  All alone at your desk, you sit and weigh the tough choices.  Do you choose books based on their quality, age appropriateness, and connection to curriculum and students’ lives?  Or do you make your selections on the basis of your own safety?

Librarians are often lonely champions of the freedom of access to information.  If we don’t provide the books, where will students find their answers?  How will they learn to live in a diverse multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and possibly multi-gender world?

We make tough choices and I honor and salute those who make them.

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Why isn’t our message being heard?

I think it’s because our priorities are in (almost) reverse order with the decision makers who hold the power.  Our priorities—in order—are students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community.  But the power hierarchy in ranked orders consists of the community (in the form of the Board of Education) administrators, parents, students, and teachers.

We must never forget our true priorities which is working with students (most often through teachers) to develop their competencies as lifelong learners through inquiry learning, love of reading, digital citizenship, and the host of skills associated with information literacy.  Building collaborative relationships with teachers is essential in accomplishing this.

But—and it’s a big but—we can never neglect the power structure. There are four essential truths that librarians must accept.

1. All libraries, regardless of their type, belong to a larger host system.
2. All libraries, regardless of their type, receive all their funds and resources from this larger host system.
3. Libraries get their funds and resources based on their value to the host system.
4. That value is determined by the host system, not the librarian.

The last truth is often overlooked.  In order to be valued by those who decide on whether your program will be funded rarely know what you do and how it contributes to the learning environment.  How many of you know all your Board of Education members?  Do you know what their agenda is?  How can your program advance it?  This is what you need to communicate.

Using visual media, target specific Board members – or the entire Board.  Don’t do this without alerting your principal (and supervisor if she is not the principal).  You never blindside an administrator.

Your Superintendent of Schools is another major player. In some districts the Board rubber stamps his decisions.  In others, he follows the Board lead for the most part.  Do you know what the situation is in your district?  Do you know what your Superintendent wants?  What is his vision or goal?  Where can your library program fit in to it?  Once again be ready to communicate that information – keeping your building level administrators in the loop.

If you want to be a Visible Librarian and have your Value recognized, the ones who make the money decisions must become aware of your worth to them.  What can you do to get the word out?  And what’s the message you are going to send?

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We have just finished the annual

But the issue is far larger. Banned Books Week is a personal reminder of why I am so proud to be a librarian.  Chatter on the social media is easy, but being a bastion for intellectual freedom and freedom of access to information can be both challenging and frightening. While our everyday workload may be hard, it is nothing compared to what it takes to stand against censors.

Every year ALA and its divisions, including AASL (American Association for School Librarians) present an Intellectual Freedom Award to a librarian who stood up for ALA’s Code of Ethics and most particularly the Library Bill of Rights.  Most state library associations have the same award.  I have known at least one recipient personally, and while she got support from ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom and from her state organization, she said it was lonely and she was often fearful.  She had a positive outcome, and the challenged books were re-instated in the library.  Even better, she was a role model for her students.  But, it was a very difficult time.

Sitting alone and selecting which books to order, librarians quietly face the dilemma of whether to adhere to the strong beliefs which are a foundation of our profession or take the easy way out.  Many decide it isn’t worth the risk, rationalize their budgets aren’t large enough to buy all the books they would like, and pass over titles on LGBTQ subjects or other hot-button issues in their communities.  No one knows of their individual decisions.  There are no consequences for their action or inaction – except for a student or patron who doesn’t get access to much needed information and/or reassurance.

Those who would remove books often point to librarians’ decisions on what to purchase and what not to buy, claiming it, too, is censorship, but they miss a fundamental point.  Book selection—which is what librarians do—is based on the merits of the work as a whole and whether it serves the library’s population. Censorship focuses on snippets—a word, picture, or idea-found unacceptable. It seeks to impose what should be a personal decision on all the library’s users.  As a guide, many of us hold that every library should have something that offends someone – including the librarian who purchased it. I have had works by Klansman and other equally personally offensive titles in my libraries because it was my responsibility to present a broad range of viewpoints.

So as another Banned Books Week comes to an end, I want to honor and celebrate the courageous librarians who take on the toughest aspect of our profession.  I hope those of you who are librarians are equally brave. For non-librarian of this blog, I wish you have these librarians in charge of the library you use.

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It needs to be equally true that school libraries transform the educational community.  When there is an active, certificated librarian with adequate funding for the library program, this is the case.  School librarians instill a love of reading (leaving it to teachers to teach the “how”) and guide students to discover how to develop research strategies so the information they find is relevant and accurate, crafting (hopefully in collaboration with teachers) projects which connect them to a global perspective where they create new content of value to others.  In addition, school librarians are skilled tech integrators and help teachers incorporate the latest advances, websites, and apps into the curriculum.

But this ideal doesn’t happen everywhere.  It certainly isn’t present in schools that have closed their school libraries or put them in the hands of well-motivated but untrained volunteers.  The transformational potential of school libraries is also usually absent in schools where the librarian is overworked and underfunded.

What is needed with this new mission statement and directive is a transformation of school librarianship. School librarians must re-evaluate how they do business, what they should do to be more effective, and how they can communicate what they are able to bring to students, teachers, administrators, parents, and even the wider community.  I am looking forward to seeing how the new mission will be put into action as part of AASLs new strategic plan as well as hearing how librarians are living this in their schools.

How does this new statement affect the Mission Statement you have for your library?  Now is the time to be thinking of it so you are ready when school starts. And if you need help – just email me at hilda@slworkshop.net.  I’m here to help you be indispensable.

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I am just back from the American Library Association’s Annual Conference, held this year in Las Vegas (and I admit that I hope they don’t go back there any time soon).  Conferences are one of the best sources for my professional development because not only do I learn from the programs and the vendor exhibits, I also network with colleagues from across the country.  Despite Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and the other social networks, these personal conversations alert me to new ideas and the people who are putting them into action.  I know not everyone can afford the cost –or the time—to attend national conferences so other sources are needed.

Everyone is now on summer vacation – no matter whether your school year ends in May or June so it’s the perfect time to focus on your personal learning.  Are you reading any books from ALA editions, ABC-CLIO, ASCD, Capstone Professional or other publishers of professional literature?  You may have had little or no time to read professional journals during the school year now is a good time to catch up.  (Don’t forget to take a closer look at School Librarian’s Workshop. There are PD articles every month.)

What areas do you want to strengthen?  Do you want to be more pro-active working with teachers on Common Core?  Need to learn more on how the library can support STEM in the school?  Check for webinars – most are free.

If you are a member of Linkedin (I am), look for groups related to schools and school libraries.  AASL has one and there is one for International School Librarians and for School Librarians.  You can start a discussion on a topic of interest to you and get feedback. Find leaders to follow on Twitter and join some of the weekly chats.

Currently I am facilitating Being Indispensable: A School Librarian’s Guide to Proving Your Value and Keeping Your Job, a course I wrote for ALA Editions based on my book.  Judging from participants’ posts on the discussion boards they are developing new skills and perspectives for learning how to promote their programs and being visible and vital to various stakeholders.  I was told there is now a waiting list for the next time I give the course. (If you are interested, contact Dan Freeman dfreeman@ala.org.)

Summer will be over all too soon.  Share what you are doing for your professional development, and if you haven’t started yet, there is no time like the present.  Remember – you are a lifelong learner too!

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