The specific focus for each school must be a local decision based on the school’s needs and priorities. (Stripling, 2014, p. 10).
As I read through different articles about advocacy in the library, I kept coming back to the idea that although each school may have a framework that they follow based on national or district guidelines, the focus must be based on the needs of their students, teachers and curriculum. Furthermore, each school library program will have different areas of strength and weakness, which will then help to determine areas for growth or expansion.
I began my reading this week with Barbara Stripling’s ‘Reimagining Advocacy for School Libraries’ (Stripling, 2014). By starting with this article, I was able to quickly see that there is no one size fits all rule to advocating for your program, but there some important points to consider:
- Keep the focus on the students and the learning taking place (p. 10, 11)
- Consider your audience and their preferred format for receiving a message, as well as their priorities to ensure you target the right information to the right person (p. 11, 13)
- Collect data to support your goals and determine the effectiveness of your advocacy (p. 11, 13)
- Advocacy is ongoing and not only for dealing with a crisis (p. 12)
I quickly realised that I need to first determine the strengths/weaknesses/challenges and success of my own program before I can determine where to first focus my advocacy. I have been looking closely at the Leading Learning ‘Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada (Canadian Library Association, 2014) and have begun to analyse our program. A next step is to share this with our Curriculum Director and IT Director to see if we can use this as a framework for determining the path our recent Ed tech/Library merger takes. This, alongside the ISTE standards and Future Ready Librarians Framework will help me to determine how to best advocate for the power of our current program and where we need to move to be the best program we can be.
Stripling’s article may not have given concrete examples of how to advocate for my program, but it gave me the framework of how to focus my advocacy for the biggest impact. If I focus more on what I have or don’t have, instead of the unique value I bring to the school, I won’t gain the attention or support of members of the community, whose voices can be used to advocate alongside me.
“Many options are available for delivering advocacy messages: email messages, videos, podcasts, photos, blogs, tweets, brochures, presentations, articles, op-eds, infographics, newsletters, library websites, and much more” Stripling (2014, p. 13).
After reading Stripling’s article, I was reminded of a module from LIBE 461 and went back to some articles I read there to see more specific examples of advocacy. Burn (2018), Foote (2010) Giles (2020), Gruenthal (2012) and Howard (2009) reinforced the power of collaboration and building relationships to gain partners in advocating for the program. I have worked hard to develop strong collaborative relationships with teachers and parents, and now need to consider how I can use these relationships to vocalise the power and needs of my program further.
Through all of this reading, I realised that before I can jump into setting up websites, or starting a blog, I need to determine what I am advocating for and who I need to advocate to. If I don’t narrow my current focus and determine the best way to meet my needs, I will be unable to sustain any meaningful means of communication. Using the Leading Learning document, as well as the ISTE standards and Future Ready framework to critically analyse my program and space will help me to determine my next steps and how best to approach different members of my community going forward. What are the current greatest needs? What data and research can I gather to support the need to improve these? What are my strengths and how can I use these to best promote how the library uses these to support and improve teaching and learning?
References:
Burns, E. A. (2018). Advocating for change in school library perceptions. In Teacher librarian, 46, 8- 14. http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/2136838594?accountid=14656
Canadian School Libraries (2014). Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada. http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/supporting-you-measurement-growth-tool/
Future Ready iCal. Future ready framework – future ready. https://futureready.org/ourwork/future-ready-frameworks/
Foote, C. (2010). Everyday advocacy. In School library journal, 56(8), 28-30. http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=502997296&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Giles, N. (2020). One small voice: My school library advocacy journey. Knowledge Quest, 48(4), 22. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1250005.pdf
Gruenthal, Heather ( 2012). A School library advocacy alphabet. Young Adult Library Services, 11(1), 13-18. https://web.s.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=d04dccf2-4b38-46b4-9515-43be2b1540a7%40redis
Howard, J. (2009). Advocacy through relationships. In School library monthly, 26(2). http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=502988115&site=ehost-live&scope=site
International Society for Technology in Education (2016). ISTE standards. https://cdn.iste.org/www-root/Libraries/Documents%20%26%20Files/ISTEU%20Docs/iste-standards-e_frl-crosswalk_6-2018_v7-2.pdf?wv1MfDhoPKserxbH7V1mM6CJT39klO3F=&_ga=2.230448604.1994065637.1643545400-18829666.1642092666
Stripling, Barbara K. (2014). Reimagining advocacy for school libraries. American Libraries Magazine, September/October, 8-13. https://digital.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=6c7cb940-d8fb-43d8-8ad8-864bf0e83f38
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