Building a Productive Relationship with Your School Administration

by Dr. Bill Chapman, Superintendent of Jarrell ISD and 2017 Winner, TASL Distinguished Library Service Award for School Administrators

Let's be honest, most school administrators do not know all that a school librarian does or can do. When your principal, assistant principal, or even yours superintendent was in school, how much time did they spend in the library? Furthermore, when that administrator was a teacher, how often did they visit the library for themselves or with their class? All of these past experiences drive what administrators know about libraries. The modern school library is much different than the ones that these administrators frequented as children, and quite possibly those that they visited as teachers. It is up to the librarians to start forging a relationship with administrators to help them understand what the library, and the librarian can do to assist the administrator in achieving their goals for the campus or district.

First and foremost, get the administrators into the libraries. Discuss everything from the furniture to the books. Explain how teachers, students, and classes utilize the library spaces. Display how and why students are using technology in the library to extend or enhance their learning. Advertise and thank your special guests or presenters who use the library to meet with students. Send administrators pictures and emails when you have special events. Publicize your events on your campus, district, or personal social media pages. Make it hard for your administrator to ignore the content you are creating in your library. Focus on things that make an impact on students and teachers. Showcase students creating, performing, and solving problems. Share those positive experiences that make learning in the library fun, unique, and memory making. In short, make it hard for them to ignore the positive things that are occurring in the library in order to help them fully realize what occurs inside that room.

Next, educate your principal or superintendent on the skills you are using in your library, sharing with students and teachers, and helping meet the academic goals of your campus or district. Let them know that you are willing to assist in in-service training for teachers, either with library specific trainings or classroom instructional tool assistance. Become a part of the academic teams on your campus or in the district. I promise you that administrators are looking for all the help they can get in improving students learning and teaching quality.

Finally, and probably most importantly, do not bring problems to your administrator. Bring solutions. All day long they are bombarded with problems from teachers, parents, and students. If you want to make a lasting impact, recognize the problem, but offer a solution to that problem at the same time. This does not mean bring them a solution that requires the campus or district to outlay funds to solve it. Come to them with a complete and total solution including funding sources. In doing this, you have taken the responsibility off of their shoulders, and help make the campus or district better.

You are working diligently to make a difference on your campus or in your district. It is not that administrator’s don’t like libraries. They may not fully understand what really happens inside the library. It is very feasible to grow that relationship, and it will reap rewards down the road. Just reach out to your campus or district administrators and make a point of showing the importance of the library and the librarian. You do wonderful things each and every day in your library; make your administrators understand just what they are and how you can help the campus or district as a whole.

This message is very similar to the one he offered in a video for the October 2016 TASL Advocacy webinar (recording of the program).