Back in 2012, I was chairing a meeting of Aransas County
ISD’s Curriculum Team when the district’s five librarians burst into the
conference room with noise-makers and flowers.
“Congratulations, Dr. Kelly!” they cried. “You’ve been named the 2012 TASL Administrator
of the Year!” Such an honor was
completely unexpected and exceptionally humbling because of one somewhat
embarrassing fact about me: five years earlier, when I came to Aransas
County ISD in 2007– with 23 years of experience in education at every level
from early childhood to graduate school – I did not truly understand the critical role of school librarians. One certainly would have been hard pressed to
consider me an advocate. I viewed
librarians in the traditional light of managing a collection of books and
making kids be quiet. I always thought
librarians were nice to have, but not necessarily essential. After all, I had worked in schools that were
getting by with a paraprofessional managing the library.
But those lovely librarians
from my school district opened my eyes. Two things happened
in the spring of my first year at ACISD.
First, they used money from a library grant to have teachers attend the
annual TLA conference. How wise! They had the foresight to know that teacher attendance
at the conference would promote a partnership between librarians and teachers
that would be long-reaching. They all
came home on fire and shared their desire to start a new grassroots team within
the district – the Library, Media, and Technology Collaborative, or LMaT. Inspired by their enthusiasm, I asked to be a
part of the group, and was able to witness their leadership and innovative
spirit blossom. Today, seven years after its formation, LMaT is a thriving
collaborative that organizes an annual district-wide Media Fair and develops
policies for ever-evolving technology use in ACISD schools. In addition to
staff members from all campuses in the district, LMaT now includes high school student
representatives. Media Fair consistently receives the highest evaluations of
all professional development sessions within the district, and observation data
reveal that teachers have increased both the quantity and quality of technology
integration.
The second thing that happened that spring was that I received
from the librarians their Annual Report and Five-Year Plan. This 25-page document floored me! I had no idea what they truly did on their
campuses! I met with my superintendent
and asked that the librarians be given the opportunity to present the document
to our School Board. I still remember
that first presentation. The Board members were as shocked and impressed as I
had been, and made several comments to the effect of “This is nothing like I
remember from the library when I was in school!” and “Well, these aren’t my
momma’s librarians!” Thankfully, this has turned into an annual report to the
Board. With each presentation, the
librarians showcase their innovative practice and demonstrate to Board members
the myriad ways they are supporting district academic goals.
After that first year, everything snowballed. The librarians invited me into their world,
and I began to pay attention to their role in our schools: providing monthly professional development to
staff, securing resources for teachers, teaching research skills, advancing
technology integration, planning and facilitating parent education, providing
enrichment experiences for students, networking with colleagues in other
districts, presenting at conferences, spending hours and hours staying abreast
of children’s and young adult literature so that they would have that just
right book for every student… This was
not the school librarian I remembered from my childhood. These professionals were constantly
challenging themselves to do more to support teachers and contribute to student
achievement, to ensure that the library is truly the hub of the campus, and to
help every student and every adult be an effective user of ideas and
information.
In short, over the next few years, I developed a huge crush
on our school librarians. It really was their fault, because they were
passionate and talented, and they were
willing to step up and make themselves indispensable. I became an advocate for our librarians and
their programs because they were just so incredibly good. So good, in fact, that our library programs were
recognized as a model for others in the region.
So good that, in the midst of difficult staffing decisions,
administrators and school board members continue to confirm their value by
maintaining all professional and paraprofessional library positions in the
district.
There are far too
many people out there who are just as ignorant as I was seven years ago.
The evidence of this is seen in the number of school librarians who were
reassigned to teaching positions and replaced with paraprofessionals when
school budgets were slashed in 2011. I strongly believe that school librarians
must advocate for themselves as we face an upcoming legislative session in
Texas that could once again impact public school budgets. This is not the time to be modest! You must educate others – your school board,
your central office administrators, your campus administrators – so that they
too will really come to understand the vital role you plan in the success of
our students.
Neva Kelly, Ed. D, served as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Aransas County ISD from 2008-2013. She currently works as an educational consultant. In 2012, Dr. Kelly won the TASL Distinguished Library Service Award for School Administrators in recognition of her continued support of ACISD library services.
