Check out their book trailer for the new Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by the same author as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It has a whole new layer of craft above and beyond their previous trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

If you’re more of a Ken Burns documentary fan, there’s also a pretty terrific mockumentary for Abraham Lincoln.

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Which of these arguments do you think will resonate most with administration and board members?

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In my last post, I showed Deb Logan’s library makeover.  Here, I’ll share a bit of the assignment that got students wanting to see real-world makeovers …

As a reflection assignment, students were given this floor plan. They were to imagine that they were a school librarian invited to a planning meeting for a $100,000 renovation. What ideas would they bring to the meeting?

They had some very creative, out-of-the-box ideas.  But before I share their ideas, what ideas come to mind for you?

Leave a message in the comments. (Comments are moderated, so please be patient!)

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A few weeks ago, as we were discussing facilities in our school library management class, the students were curious to see some before-and-after renovations or rearrangements. What a great idea!

Thanks to folks on AASLForum, LM_NET, and MAME, we’ve got some great befores-and-afters to share with you all in this and upcoming blog posts.

First up, Deb Logan, who endured a lengthy renovation in Mt. Gilead, Ohio.

Here are three images of her library BEFORE. Note the dark woo, mismatched computers, and overflowing bookshelves.   The veneer on the circulation desk is chipped and small. It’s clearly a library that wasn’t built to accommodate the digital age. 

And here are the AFTER shots. Wow - so light and bright.  Chairs with sled wheels move much more easily to help the library staff straighten up and to help students quickly and quietly move their seats to accommodate group works or flexible seating. Light laminate table tops brighten up teh space, as does improved lighting and more windows. The library has real computer tables that disguise more of the cables and cords. A projector hangs from the ceiling. There’s more breathing room everywhere - including behind the circ desk!

Thanks for sharing these, Deb!

What do you see in these photos that you’d like to try in your own library?

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Image from Scholastic

This past week, Scholastic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released Primary Sources: America’s Teachers on America’s Schools. It compiles survey data asked of over 40,000 people. 

Stephen Krashen waded through the document and found some interesting library-specific data, which he posted to the AASL Forum listserv.  Here’s a screen shot of what he found on page 75:

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The question asks, “Where do your students get books for their independent reading most often?” 83% of the 25,000+ respondents across K-12 say “the school library.” For middle school teachers, that number jumps to 87% File those statistics away in your PR folders … if school libraries are a source of material for that high percentage of students, as perceived by their teachers, do we not owe our students outstanding, up-to-date collections, not just a paraprofessional who can circulate and reshelve existing materials?

We often hear school board members say that students can just go to the public library to get materials if a school library closes.  But look at line three above: 38% of all respondents say their students get pleasure reading materials from the public library.  38% vs. 83% at the school library.  Take away the school library as a source, and the numbers get pretty gritty.  We’ve got a whole lot of kids who use school libraries but not public libraries, according to their teachers. If less than 40% use their public libraries, that means 60% aren’t. 

But Krashen also points out that 87% of elementary teachers responded that their students get materials from classroom libraries. That’s a higher percentage who perceive that their students get materials from school libraries.  This scares the !%$^* out of me.

It’s taken me a lot of years to calm my histimines so that I don’t get upset when a teacher says as I’m booktalking, “Boys and girls, you can get that from our classroom library.” Yes, they could, or they could take the book FROM MY HAND! 

But I remain keenly aware that classroom libraries are here to stay.  That being said, teachers have little to no guidance on how to develop quality classroom libraries.  They are extolled to spend personal dollars at garage sales or to use book club points to acquire materials.  I worry about this.  Such selection procedures do not create classroom libraries that accommodate all interests of all learners.  Classroom libraries do not have to meet the selection standards that school libraries do, nor are most influenced by reviews.

With few exceptions, classroom library books may not represent as wide a range of reading levels or include genres like comics, graphic novels (or, as a pen pal of mine says, THOSE TWO ARE THE SAME THING), non-fiction, how-to books, or short stories. They may have been acquired at garage sales and have older copyright dates, which can lead to less diversity within their pages.  They may be overly influenced by book orders (any surprise that the question above asks about book clubs and book fairs when Scholastic is a sponsor?). 

Do you subscribe to review journals? I do. Do you share those journals with your teachers? Uhhhh …. I don’t.  But I think I’d better.Â

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I’m excited to let folks know that Patrick Allen has a new book on conferencing during Reader’s Workshop called Conferring, and Stenhouse has a full-text preview online!

In my afternoon gig as staff developer, I keep reminding administrators that school librarians can be part of these initiatives, reducing teacher stress and maximizing student contact.  As librarians, staying on top of what’s new helps us hold our value in tough times.

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Per the Michigan Department of Education Web site:

This tool is to be used to measure the quality of School Library programs within individual school buildings in Michigan. To achieve Qualified and Exemplary Status for their School Library program, completed criteria measurement evaluations are to be submitted to the Library of Michigan, an Office of the Michigan Department of Education. School administrators are to evaluate their building’s School Library program in conjunction with their School Librarian and submissions require the signature of their District Superintendent. Status earned will be valid for two years. This tool is a companion to the Michigan School Library Media Program Guidelines approved by the Library of Michigan Board of Trustees in January 2007.

Thanks, MAME!

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I believe that school librarians should go into a school knowing our professional standards for learning.  Then, like Margaret Mead, we set about the task of getting to know our kids and our learning community.  How will we get from where we are to where our profession encourages us to be?

It’s that ability to visualize and shore up the bridge from Here to There that helps us be change agents.   Keisa does a great job of showing the realities of how this works.  In order to start building her big dreams (tech integration), she had to start with smaller building blocks (keyboarding practice).

Congratulations, Keisa!

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She has noticed that all of the presentations share two key features.  First, the presenter talks about the school’s use of technology and how forward-thinking they are.  And secondly, the presenter isn’t touching the computer.  Instead, there’s someone –introduced to the group as the school’s wonderful librarian — sitting at the computer pushing the button to advance the slides.

Being super-smart and super-observant, my relative is drawing these two conclusions:

1. The people who are promoting the use of technology aren’t confident enough to run even a simple PowerPoint. I have sat through way too many presentations where an administrator runs the PowerPoint in edit, not slideshow, view.  Trust me - people in corporate America notice these things.
2. The librarian is being introduced to future parents as an accessory/crutch, not an active leader.  Not only is the librarian not a presenter, but she (it’s always been a she) is subservient to the message. In fact, the presenters seem to apologize frequently for the fact that the librarian advances the slides at the “wrong” time. In the school hierarchy, she’s at the bottom, and she doesn’t seem very good at what she does.

Now flash forward to those many working parents whose only exposure to the school is at these informational evenings. What is their perception of the role of the school librarian if “eliminate elementary librarians” comes up on the cut list? Does the human remote seem expendable? Absolutely.

Please, please, please.  If your principal or teachers don’t know how to run a PowerPoint, you need to teach them.  Find a nice way to point out that running one’s own PowerPoint communicates a sense of authority and knowledge.  (Honestly, they’re not doing a TED talk – they don’t need an A/V crew.)

Get out of being the human remote.

Now I’ll bet there’s a reader out there who’s going to say, “Now, Kristin, you tell us we need to be integral to the school experience and to step in where it’s needed.  How come you are telling us to back off?”

Yup, that sounds like something I’d say.  But here’s the thing: if we walk the talk, we’re professional development facilitators and technology leaders.  If our folks can’t run their own PowerPoint, we haven’t done a very good job at empowering or even training our staff.  Buy them a $40 remote (it looks cooler than we do!) and get yourself on the speaking agenda instead. Stand by if they need help until they are confident to present on their own. Write tips sheets. Help hand out leaflets if needed.

But keep your hands off their keyboard.

Please.

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