09.+Advocacy+Project

MARKETING AND ADVOCACY - 30 points

It is a fact of life, we cannot assume that students, teachers, administrators, and parents all equally assume that a vibrant library program is integral to the educational process. A component of our leadership skill is advocating for students and other users of the library which means often advocating for libraries, library staff, budget -- all things necessary in order to run a modern library program. Advocacy is much more talked about than done in reality. We all understand that school libraries are at a critical juncture at this point in time. Districts are deciding that librarians are expendable when the administrators have to find ways to cut the budget. All departmental budgets are vulnerable in times of economic downturn but library budgets seem to be taking more than their share of hits.

 The need for advocating for student access to healthy library media services is not new. The Lance studies began as a way to demonstrate the relation between student success and libraries. It has been demonstrated over and over again – a well-stocked library with a budget to meet the needs of students managed by a certificated librarian raises student scores. A great summary of the research being done is //School Libraries Work// published by Scholastic Library Publishing, available at []. The American Association of School Librarians has developed several tool kits which provide resources for librarians wanting to know how to start the process. State library organizations have been more and less successful at advocating for school libraries.

 The bottom line is that if your situation has gotten to the point that you have to gather reinforcements from the school and community to save your job – it’s probably too late. If your job has even come up for discussion as a way to save money keep in mind that that seed has been planted. Maybe it won’t happen this year, but it is on the table and like electricity flowing through a wire, the “amount of current through each path is inversely proportional to its electrical resistance.” – (Thank you //Wikipedia//.)

 A lot of librarians think they are doing advocacy when the put up bulletin boards, take pictures and publish them on the Web, or create a brochure detailing the services of the media center. That is public relations. Here are definitions for “advocacy,” “public relations,” and “marketing” http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslissues/advocacy/definitions.cfm

 AASL cannot save your job. MASL cannot save your job. The job each librarian does in a building is the biggest advocate for library media services. That comes down to, “who is going to miss you if you are not there?” Will students advocate for the library and the librarian? Will the staff? Will the parents?

 Here is a painful and direct reflection on librarians:

Answer this question HONESTLY, **// brutally honestly //**.

**What do you do in your position that, given the present economic circumstances, NO ONE ELSE in the building can do?** What makes you //** INDISPENSABLE **//? Don’t even bother saying something like collection development because if the district and the state are broke, nothing is going to be available to develop a collection with. Face it, our specialties are not tested on NCLB high stakes tests so in these lean times, our programs are dangerously close to being considered very expensive luxury liabilities. Say I am a traitor to our profession. Call me a rank pessimist if you wish. Just remember that pessimists are very seldom blindsided since we always expect the worst.

“Busted Flat in Baton Rouge.” //Granny Beads & Grocery Store Feet// [|>>>http://grocerystorefeet.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/busted-flat-in-baton-rouge/]

 For this project, I want to know, specifically, what you are going to do in your job as an LMS that will advocate for library services? During this next school year, what are four things you are going to/would do? Use the following for inspiration:


 * Abram, Stephen. "Have You Found Us Yet?" //Stephen's Lighthouse//. 9 June 2011. Web. 11 Aug. 2011. .
 * Dowd, Nancy. “The ‘M’ Word - Marketing Libraries: Godin, Gutenberg and Going Forward.” //New Marketing Trends// 14 May 2011. 27 May 2011. <[]>.
 * haahka1. "Like Father, Like Son." //YouTube//. 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Aug. 2011. .
 * Hamilton, Buffy. “Advocating with More Dimension to Your Monthly Reports.” //The Unquiet Librarian// 30 Oct. 2009. 28 May 2011. <[]>.
 * Johnson, Doug. "4 Rules of Library Advocacy." //Blue Skunk Blog.// 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2011. .
 * Luhtala, Michelle. "Freshman Assembly 2011." //Vimeo//. 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. .
 * METChannel98. "I Like Big Books - Dowell Middle School." //YouTube.//10 Dec. 2010. Web. 11 Aug. 2011. .
 * McKenzie, Dianne. “Library Grits: Importance of Creating an Annual Report.” //Library Grits// 27 Jun. 2009. 27 May 2011. <[]>.
 * Oldham, Martha. “The 2009 Annual Report.” //Lawrence High School Library// n. d. 27 May 2011. <[]>.
 * Walter, Carlene. "50 Ways to Love Your Library." //Saskatchewan School Library Association.// Fall 2008. PDF. 4 August 2009. "50 Ways to Love Your Library."__[| http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/documents/libraryprogram/50%20Ways%20To%20Love%20Your%20Library_cwalter_fall08.pdf]__
 * Woolls, Chapter 12, "On the Job: Advocacy and the Media Center"


 * 1)  Plan for **four** **specific tasks** you would undertake for the next school year that will advocate for your school library. Be specific in your plan and link to an example of what you would like to implement. Tell me what tools you would use to implement the projects and who your audience is. Link to the Web page that either duplicates what you would like to do or stimulated your version of what you plan to do. (20 points)
 * 2) Answer the question //Granny Beads// posted. Your answer will be a so-called "elevator speech." You have stepped onto an elevator with one of the senators from Missouri who is voting on a bill that would require money for funding school libraries. What will you say that will answer the post and defend the need for adequately funded libraries and certificated librarians? It is called an elevator speech because all the time you will have to make your points is the time that it takes to get from the first floor to, let's say, the tenth floor. You have 90 seconds. RECORD your speech and post a link to the speech on your blog. (10 points).
 * 3) Post your answers to these questions to your blog and give us the URL on Blackboard when you are done.