Libraries Transform - Especially when Speaking with One Voice

by Dorcas Hand, School Library Advocate, www.studentsneedlibrariesinHISD.org, ALA Councilor-at-Large, and TASLTalks Editor


(All images used with the permission of the ALA Office for Library Advocacy)

At ALA MidWinter 2018, I attended two preconferences and another hour session about the Libraries Transform advocacy platform – and I need to share my enthusiasm with Texas.

Libraries Transform offers us a chance to offer a single set of messages that support all libraries, with specific details about our individual situations. The LibrariesTransform Two Year Report offers a few case studies from different places and types of libraries – more stories appear on the website. Once you are trained in using the resources, you’ll have some other specific examples. And there is no charge for these tools. To anyone.

And the collected Because statements are really clever as posters or bookmarks or digital badges – like Let Students Discover Their Passions as they think, create, share and grow.

This also refers to the new AASL National School Library Standards.

Or this reference to how school libraries work with public libraries to keep our students moving forward - not to mention some districts that send bookmobiles around in the summer.

The Friday Bootcamps were inspirational – and I am now an official trainer, able to spread this word to any of you who would like to learn. Bootcamp is a 2-3 hour session about taking your message to your community easily, with stories to illustrate your points. Maybe you have stories, but the Office of Library Advocacy has compiled some you might use/adapt as well. More stories are here, too.

There are four key messages that work for all libraries.

 So, Libraries Transform Lives might refer to that student you have worked to connect to the perfect book and now is an avid reader. That translates to improved literacy scores.

Libraries Transform Communities might refer to the district bookmobile that shows up through the summer in areas where there are no libraries, working against summer slide and again supporting stronger literacy skills and scores.

Librarians are passionate supporters of lifelong learning could focus on the materials available to support the personal enthusiasms of students and even staff, the ones that inspire them to learn on their own. Students who learn to do that are better prepared for life and citizenship.

Libraries are a smart Investment. Yes, we are the only teacher in the school who is trained to work with every student and every teacher, providing both literacy skill support and broader academic resources.

But those examples are intentionally vague – because YOU, the boots on the ground, have the specifics that will gain best traction in your community. PLEASE take advantage of this resource.

I understand that ALA feels a long way off for many Texas school librarians, but programs like this are available regardless of membership. Libraries Transform also demonstrates the breadth of work ALA accomplishes in behalf of all kinds of libraries across the US. I saw many TASL leaders here in Denver, also learning about better ways to help TASL membership progress.

I went. I learned. I'm ready to help you use this advocacy resource. I even have the tshirt. You can too! Access does mean opportunity - to students who need libraries, and to librarians who need advocacy resources.