The bottom line is in order to be relevant in todays’ world, our resources must always be accessible, and we as librarians are responsible for making that happen. Students and faculty should be able to access your online catalog, databases, and e-reference from whatever is their preferred device. You are always “open” when you are involved in online collaboration with teachers via Google Drive, participate in blended learning with stations for making audio and/or video presentions, Your website and the content you put on it is still another way you are available 24/7. 

But all this won’t make you an intrinsic part of the 21^st century learning landscape unless you recognize the importance of being a leader in your building.  According to Ann Martin and Kathleen Roberts you need to be able to self-assess, manage people and technology, develop leadership dispositions (attitudes, behaviors, habits of mind, — see the Disposition strand in the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner for examples), communicate effectively (across all types of platforms), and accept responsibility.

Communication is a huge piece of being Anywhere/Anytime. According to keynoter David Warlick, “every 5 seconds there are 417 tweets, 50 new Facebook members, and 120,370 Google searches.”  YouTube is the second largest website and the #2 search engine. Outside the classroom, our students are constantly learning by asking questions and exchanging knowledge and skills.  They learn complex games without instructions by asking questions and learn to success by getting it wrong.  We need to translate this quest for knowledge and the acceptance of “failure” as part of the process into what happens within the library and classroom.

I urge you to check #aasl14 for the conversations that occurred and some of the great links included, one of them being a 15 minute YouTube video covering 15 of the AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning and Best Apps for Teaching and Learning.  The Genius Hour was also mentioned by several participants.

Some questions we were asked to consider: How can I make this learning environment talk back to the learner?  How can it require learners to exchange knowledge?  How can I add value for the learner?  And some final words from David Warlick as to what our business is,”…it is not just what you you can be trained to achieve, but it’s what you can resourcefully accomplish, and “It is not a ‘Race to the Top’ but it is a joyful exploring, discovering, and inventing The Future!”

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Technology brought us the classic tale of a company unable to see beyond its paradigm when Xerox, the premier copier of the day, foresightedly set up the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) staffed and funded it well, basically asking the “geeks” to create the future.  They did.  They came up bitmap displays, desktop publishing, laser printing, Ethernet, peer-to-peer and client server computers, and a graphic user interface (which Steve Jobs saw in 1979 and brought back to Apple).  Xerox could have dominated computers, but they failed to see the uses for what was being invented. It was living in a paradigm that was coming to an end, but they couldn’t see it.  More recently, Kodak failed to see how digital cameras would affect their market.

It is very hard to see the future from where we stand today.  We only extrapolate from what is and hope we are guessing correctly. Even the aforementioned Steve Jobs, who brought the iPod to the world, had no idea what would spring from it.  There is a huge “i-Industry” not only with Apple products but from those who make things for those products (docking stations, speakers, skins, etc.).  Those looking at the first personal computers couldn’t see what people would really do with it.

Which brings me to predictions.  I love reading them.  They open my mind to possibilities. I just posted on the School Librarian’s Workshop Facebook page, an article entitled “21 Things that Will Become Obsolete in Education in 2020.” The ideas Shelley Blake-Plock puts forth are exciting.  I like thinking classes will become ungraded and based on student interests and that school desks will disappear. I know students will cheer at the thought of AP exams and the SATs vanishing. I believe some of her ideas will happen.  I am sure not all of them will.

Two push-pulls will be at work.  The resistance of the education institutions to change is one.  I am appalled that the individual student desk still exists and too many classrooms are still arranged in rows.  Smartboards are often just fancy blackboards and students create products with tech glitz that have no more substance than the dioramas and posters of the 20^th century.  On the other hand there are the kids who infiltrate the latest tech into schools.  After much resistance, district after district is accepting BYOD (bring your own device).

My question is, how will this all play out?  Can we even pretend to see what the future holds? Yet isn’t there a huge risk if we don’t attempt to envision it?  What is “the next thing” and how will it change everything?  And what are you looking forward to?

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I often hear librarians complain their principal has no idea what they do.  But whose fault is that?  It’s our job to let administrators know what we do –and to what purpose.  The challenge is doing it in a way that they listen to it.  Memos are pretty much a dead form of communication – unless your administrator doesn’t handle tech well.  Emails are not designed for length messages, but can be useful if used properly.  So how do you reach them?

First a big Do Not .If and when your supervisor or principal drops by the library, if you are not in the middle of working with someone greet her and ask if she wants/needs something.  Do not use this time to bring up any problems or concerns you have. The last thing you want is for her to associate you with complaints. If you are helping someone, excuse yourself briefly, check in with the administrator and let her know you will get back to her in a few minutes. For some reason principals seem to have a sixth sense and show up more often when the library is almost empty.  Quickly explain the “lull” and say, “If you want to see the library as it usually is, I can send you a list of classes who will be coming that you might want to watch.”  (That’s one good use of e-mails.)

The way to let your principal know what you do — and bring concerns to her attention is visually.  Use a resource such as Animoto or, even better, Issuu to make your reports.  And yes, you need to do reports even if they are not required.  Monthly is usually too difficult but you should strive for quarterly. Focus on activities based on student learning (and how these connect to Common Core).  Include short videos of students at work.  Use graphs and other visuals to illustrate statistics.  Don’t limit these to circulation figures.  Look for more meaningful ones.  How many students came to the library before school? After school?  How many classes came?  Highlight one or two outstanding projects, giving the name of the teacher.  At the middle and high school, show how many different departments used the library.

Address concerns by highlighting what you are trying to achieve and why.  Briefly explain what needs to be done to get there, and identify your suggestions for dealing with the obstacles. Brevity is key in all this.  Avoid going into too much detail.  If your principal wants more information, she’ll ask.

The beauty of this approach is that when your report is interesting, your principal will likely include it, or at least information from it the Superintendent and from there to an important group of stakeholders most librarians forget –Board of Education members.  Although not always seen in the school they ultimately play a life or death role in the library program.  It is good advocacy to get to know who they are and what their chief concerns and interests are. A number of participants in my ALA Editions e-course decided to make the Board members a focus, planning to attend at least some meetings and targeting one board member a year.  Do inform your principal before sending something to a Board member, but opening that channel of communication will result in more stakeholders knowing the value of the library program?

Does your principal know what you do?  How well do you know Board members?

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We seem to fluctuate between telling non-educators too much or incorporating too many terms such as “information literacy” and “deeper reading” which border on jargon (if it sounds like it needs quotes around it – it’s probably jargon), making us sound knowledgeable but imparting little information or worse, making our community feel ignorant.  When I explain what 21^st century skills are, I say they can be reduced to three words: Connect, Collaborate, and Create, all of which must be present in a 21^st century lesson. 

“Collaborate” is obvious. Students need to work with each other.  We are in a participatory culture and working alone (or writing a paper for one reader) is not how the world now operates. “Create” is a reminder that students are not supposed to be reproducing what is already known.  Innovation and growth—which is vital to the future of our country—does not come from repeating what has been done before.  We expect students to turn the information they have gathered into something new.  School Library leaders and professors refer to the importance of making meaning and content creation.   It’s a big challenge.

“Connect” is an aspect that can be the most exciting.  On the simplest level, it refers to students connecting with multi-type resources across a range of platforms, known as “transliteracy.”  But on a larger scale, “Connect” has them reaching out beyond the walls of the library and school and, at its best, extending across borders.

In the upcoming August/ September 2014 issue of School Librarian’s Workshop, Shannon McClintock Miller reports on a project with her 3^rd grade students that started with their own interest in Rainbow Loom bracelets. Using a variety of online resources they shared their project, connecting with children in an orphanage in Mangalore, India.  Her young students have learned what it is to be a member of the global community.  That’s 21^st century learning!

Look for ways to have your students reach out and connect with the world.  Libraries are so much larger than their walls.  How are you explaining and showing this to your community?  Do you need support?

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Aside from the content, I particular admire the choice of the word “Declaration.”  The best definitions for it in this context are proclamation or pronouncement.  It is the proud statement of belief—what we as a profession stand for.  Making such a huge public announcement carries risk.  Some might argue with it or consider it was promulgated from self interest.  It takes courage to stand up for your beliefs.  It reminds me of the Declaration of Independence, a bold statement putting the lives of the signers in jeopardy.  While not as extreme, the Declaration for the Right to Libraries brings librarians out from our behind-the-scenes service and boldly asserts the value of what we provide.

There is a lesson here for individual librarians.  Hiding your light under a bushel, doing a great job but not communicating it out loud, keeps you invisible.  And invisible all too often these days means eliminated.  Paraphrasing a famous quote, it’s time to “boldly go where librarians have not gone before.”  Get the word out about all the ways you work with teachers, students, and administrators.  Learn through Twitter, Facebook, conferences, (and School Librarian’s Workshop) the best platforms for reaching your target audience.  Share your successes so others can follow your lead.

I love this quote by Nora Roberts, “If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.”  What do you want?  Do you really want to remain in the same place you are in?  What are you going to do about it?  Declare yourself!

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The first threesome consists of PR, marketing, and advocacy. AASL has simple definitions for the three on its website http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/definitions.  PR and marketing are tools for building support from stakeholders.  We are not supposed to be the ones advocating.  Others should be doing it for us. The challenge is getting them to recognize why they need us.

I have come to realize that the word “advocacy” isn’t resonating with anyone. It has become more of a plea for help in saving our jobs, making us sound weak and needy. Not an image we want to cultivate.  How did that happen, and what can be done to change it? 

My suggestion is to begin with another threesome: leadership, networking, and legislation.  Leadership is first.  People must know who you are and what you give them.  Note that what you give them must be what they want, not what you think they need.  It requires that you get to know your stakeholders and what they value and then be visible in meeting those needs.  (Use PR and marketing to help get the word out.)

Networking means outreach and creating relationships.  Who do you know?  How do you leverage those contacts?  What do you give them?  How do you acknowledge them?  Are you using current methods i.e., social media to maintain the relationships?

Finally become politically aware.  Challenges to your program don’t always arise at the district level. Both state and federal governments have negatively impacted our programs.  Get alerts from ALA’s Washington Office http://www.ala.org/wo and respond to requests to contact legislators.  Better yet, ask your network to do as well.  It takes almost no time.  Find out what your state association is doing with legislation.  Know your local government officials and look for ways to make them welcome in the library—with photo ops.

Is this time consuming?  Yes!  But putting in the work here (you can create a targeted strategic plan for doing it), could be just what is need to insure you “Live Long and Prosper.”  I know many of you are doing this. How did you reach out? What do you suggest to fellow librarians?

AND –  If you want help – consider taking advantage of SLW’s new program of “ASK HILDA!  Send me an email at hilda@slworkshop.net and I’ll be in touch. 

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Most school librarians work alone.  Teachers and administrators assume you learned everything you need to know to do your job at library school, but this is far from the reality.  Managing the environment without having the structure of a classroom is a challenge in itself. Getting to the “backroom” responsibilities and doing clerical tasks or overseeing a clerk or volunteers (increasingly rare) handling them while still focusing on teaching and meeting student and teacher needs require focus and organizational skills you were not likely to have been taught. Generally, school librarians are thrown into the deep end and have to learn to swim.

In 2007, my colleague Ruth Toor (now retired) and I wrote New on the Job (ALA Editions) to deal with the challenge. I am now working on the second edition.  Ironically, it has become a text book in a number of library school courses. Although I believe it is a solid resource for beginning librarians, it does not replace the benefits of a mentor.

My state association, New Jersey Association of School Librarians, works with our Department of Education to provide mentoring for new librarians.  A handbook (unfortunately in need of updating) guides mentor and mentee through the requirements and responsibilities of the relationship.  Over the years it has been in place, I have taken the opportunity to mentor a number of librarians, giving back to the profession I love.

If you have been a librarian for over five years, consider offering to mentor a newbie.  For those entering the profession, I strongly recommend you seek out a mentor.  Look for someone who is active at the state and/or national level. Don’t be afraid to approach people you think are “famous.”  They are usually more than happy to help.

Your mentor will guide you through the pitfalls of dealing with teachers, administrators, and board members who wander into your library.  They can help you with classroom management and creating a budget. When you need to vent, your mentor is a safe person to whom you can turn.

We cannot afford to have any librarian fail.  It puts their jobs, their programs, and the students and teachers they serve at risk. Ask for help – or be the one to provide it.

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