TLA Library Snapshot Day is NOW!!!

by Dorcas Hand, Editor TASLTalks

So, keeping it short today but getting this reminder out. The official date for Library Snapshot Day is Monday, Oct. 31 – but you can designate any day in October as your Snapshot Day. This day offers a fabulous opportunity to photograph your library program in action as well as in data and anecdotes. Use this aggregated info to bolster your advocacy efforts all year long – campus newsletter articles, conversations with stakeholders, seeds of new ideas to work in later this school year, …. You can also strengthen TLA’s presence as an advocate for ALL libraries in Texas by uploading your info and images to TLA’s links:

·        offers links to send your info and to access the flikr feed for upload. Look in the top right corner.

TLA has sponsored this event since 2010 – you can see the original 2010 summary here: 

It is fun to see the collected numbers of users, circulation, and activities to get a sense of how important libraries are to Texas residents. It is also important to be sure school libraries are well represented in these figures because TLA can use that when they go to legislators in our behalf.

To see the photo feed. 

The 2015 data and anecdotal summary is also posted.

So, what can you do? Pick a day in October that looks really busy – exciting can be fun, but even a day where you see many groups of children back to back works. Count how many kids, how many teachers, how many campus administrators, how many books read aloud, items circulated, research or other lessons taught, books shelved – don’t obsess about precision, use round numbers. Keep it easy!   What can you count? And what stories come from your day – the student who never remembers their overdue does and is thrilled by a new selection; the teacher whose unusual request you can satisfy; … Anecdotes can be just as effective as raw data. If you want to look at the survey first to see how TLA asks the questions, do that – or just collect the data.

After you contribute your info to TLA, think of a display for your own library featuring how much you do in a day to support student growth in literacy, information skills and love of learning. It isn’t really work when it gives you the pleasure of bragging on your library program – which will also give parents, teachers and principals a chance to do the same. You might even send a summary to the PTA officers, the district, your school board rep. Take full advantage of the data with every audience you can think of.

Have fun! Be creative. make this work for you as well as your colleagues across the state.