The business writers focus on this aspect of the Pareto Principle, arguing it is important to focus 80% of your time on the 20% of your customers who are responsible for 80% of sales.  That doesn’t translate into the school librarian’s world.  You need to maintain continued contact with your core 20% but you can never minimize the other 80%.  Their students need your services and expertise, so you must keep trying to get them to connect more with your library program.

The Pareto principal can help out in another way. It turns out that 80% of our decisions are based on emotions and 20% are based on logic—and then we use logic to assign a reason to our emotional decision.  This is true from how we vote to which car we decide to buy. So the teachers who are not making use of your services can logically say they have too much to cover in the curriculum to “take time out” for a library project, but an emotional reaction is underneath it all.

Your challenge is to figure out what is at the root of their emotional antipathy so you can use emotions (not logic) to change their perspective. In some cases teachers are concerned about their lack of tech skills and knowledge.  Perhaps the concern is you will judge how they teach or that their class will not behave well in the library.  Sometimes it is more basic.  They don’t know you well, or there is something about what you project that turns them off.

If tech skills are the issue, find a way to bring the teacher in to show some new program (offer coffee and a snack).  Suggest you can teach to his or her class in conjunction with a class unit and offer to give a special “tutorial” to the teacher and the two of you can report on it to supervising administrator. If you suspect worry about behavior is the issue, discuss how you take responsibility for managing group work in the library, but work with whatever structure the teacher prefers.

The emotion vs logic percentage also impacts how administrators make decisions about the library.  We have justified the importance of school library programs based on research and statistics. All true – and all logical.  In general, people really love libraries.  We need to focus on the emotional connections to libraries without getting too warm and fuzzy which makes us seem like a frill.  It’s a challenge to figure out the right approach but you can work with taglines such as “Your library program – open for your thinking 24/7,” or “Bring your questions, we can help you find the RIGHT answers.” Brainstorm with your librarian colleagues to create the message that will reach your stakeholders.  And notice – that 20% of you probably will do 80% of the work.

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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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