We’ve probably all enjoyed some version of Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe.” (My favorite is probably Cookie Monster’s version.) But thanks to my Pinterest obsession I found this, and with the dedication of some hard-working library science students, we made this bulletin board. Students can scan the QR codes to watch the trailer and then check out the book of the one they like! Fun with a purpose is always a good thing.
Holly Frilot, Collins Hill High School
From the Georgia Public Library Service:
I’m writing to announce a couple of enhancements to Webjunction Georgia (WJGA). Effective immediately, WJGA members (you must be an employee of a public, academic, or school library in the state; an employee of GALILEO; a trustee of any Georgia library or library system; or a library science student at Valdosta State University) will be able to enroll in unlimited courses without charge. Here’s a short video promoting the changes that I encourage you to share with your colleagues throughout our library community.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpXYIMW69s&hd=1]
The highlights of these enhancements include:
Also, Webjunction has enhanced how it handles its webinars. WJGA members will now receive advance registration notices for WJ webinars and attendance certificates that may qualify for continuing education credit. All members of the WJ community will continue to enjoy the free online webinar programming that WJ offers each month.
The Webjunction service provided by GPLS can be an invaluable resource in supporting your continuing education and learning needs. Please share this message or our promo video with your colleagues and encourage them to register for a WJGA account if they have not done so already and begin enjoying unlimited access to quality, online learning.
Feel free to shoot Jay an email or give him a call if you have any questions!
If you decide to sign up for a Webjunction account…please read this information:
Jay Turner| Director, Continuing Education| Georgia Public Library Service
1800 Century Place, Suite 150, Atlanta, GA 30345-4304
404.235.7124 | 404.235.7201 fax |
jturner@georgialibraries.org | www.georgialibraries.org
With mandated library funding rapidly becoming a thing of the past, grant writing is no longer just a nice skill to have. Rather, it is a necessary and important part of the school librarian’s job description. While I certainly haven’t received every grant I’ve ever applied for, these strategies have helped me earn over $30,000 of supplemental funds for my school library over the last several years. I hope they will help you too!
Think Locally: There are tons of great federal and corporate grants out there and some of them offer big pots of money. However, with big pots come big competition and, sometimes, big strings attached. Plus, local foundations, businesses and civic organizations have something the big boys don’t -and that’s a potential tie to your community. You’ve got a better chance at making a personal connection with your application, if the folks reading it *know* your school or even just your community or region. Regardless of the grant you’re applying for, it’s important to use the limited number of words you’ve been given to paint a picture for the team reading it. Taking a shot at winning some homegrown grant dollars, makes doing that a little bit easier.
It’s Okay to Put the Cart Before the Horse: While it may seem logical to identify a need in your library BEFORE hunting for grant monies, sometimes locating the grant first can yield better results. Let’s face it, most organizations offer grants, at least in part, to further their own agendas. In addition to whatever tax benefit an organization receives for giving you their money, publically aligning themselves with certain causes can also serve as a potential shot in the arm for the donor. The reality is that grant committees consider more than just your needs when deciding which applications to fund, they also look at which proposals best meet their needs. Therefore when you’re hunting for a grant, try to look at it from the donor’s perspective. Do you have a need that furthers the mission of the funding organization? Is there a programmatic match between your library and the company donating the money? Besides the obvious boon of philanthropy, what does the donor get from giving their money to you? In other words, ask yourself not what this grant can do for you, but what you can do for the grant provider.
There No Such Thing as One Stop Shopping: Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something akin to a grant supermarket out there? A free money mega store, where you could simply stroll down the “grants for great libraries” aisle, read a few labels and then fill your cart with all the items on your list! Alas, no such place exists in either the real or virtual world. However, what we have is even better: we have each other! When I was asked to write this post, I spent some time thinking about where I’d found grants over the years. Through that reflection, I realized that all of the grants I have received were brought to my attention as a result of being involved with my professional community. Whether stumbling across a grant in the pages of School Library Journal, in a post on a library listserv, posted on one of the blogs I subscribe to or while sharing resources on twitter, it’s that involvement with my colleagues that always leads me to the best stuff.
Put Those Research Skills to Work: As research specialists, grants provide us with the opportunity to follow the very advice that we give our students every day. Regardless of the grant you are applying for, be sure to: proofread, (you only get one chance to make a first impression and spelling and grammar mistakes do not convey professionalism), follow the donor’s instructions to the letter, (a failure to follow instructions is often the first criteria used by the donor to eliminate applicants from consideration), and, if possible, cite research that supports the program for which you are requesting funding.
Be Prepared: Back in library school, Dr. Karen Lowe told me to begin each school year by preparing an up to date personal statement – as though I was, at that moment, applying for a grant. Although they are sometimes called different things, every grant requires this step: a statement (usually a few pages) dedicated to telling the donor about your school. Most of the information they require is statistical, but sometimes you are asked to describe your school or the types of learners you serve. What Dr. Lowe suggested turned out to be some of the best grant related advice I’ve ever received. Each year I update this personal statement with the most recent enrollment, demographic and socioeconomic information at my disposal. Then I spend some time thinking about my school and our learners, tweaking each descriptive element as necessary. Then, when the grants come along, I’m ready. An aside: this proved very true just last year when a $6,000 grant for art related library materials was brought to my attention only 2 days before the deadline. Thanks to Dr. Lowe’s advice, I was able to submit an application on time – and what do you know? We got it!
Be Fierce! Joyce Valenza recently declared 2011 the “Year to be Fierce,” encouraging all school librarians to “own power, clearly define our roles, [and] design our future.” When it comes to supplementing our dwindling budgets with grant monies, we must also be fierce. Fierce librarians never say “I can’t.” There’s no doubt, times are tough. But we are tougher. So… go get ‘em!
Jennifer LaGarde (aka Library Girl!) is the Lead Media Specialist for New Hanover County Schools as well as well as the Teacher Librarian at Myrtle Grove Middle School in Wilmington, North Carolina. After 10 years as a middle school Language Arts teacher, in 2007, Jennifer traded in her red pen for a classroom with a lot more books, when she began her career as a Media Specialist/Teacher Librarian. Jennifer is a confirmed gadget girl with a penchant for reading, learning and rabble rousing who believes the world would be a better place if only it were run by librarians. When she’s not blogging, tweeting or playing Words with Friends, Jennifer can be found making mischief with her husband and two dogs.
from Melissa Johnston via the aaslforum list-serv:
Posting on behalf of Dr. Nancy Everhart and Dr. Marcia Mardis. Please excuse cross postings.
We are gathering information from school librarians on how they are integrating technology in their schools. We hope this research will help to further define the role of the school librarian in technology integration efforts. Now is your chance to express your opinion!
The survey will only take about 15 minutes to complete. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary and there are no foreseeable risks associated with this project. However, if you feel uncomfortable answering any questions, you can stop answering questions on the survey at any point without being penalized.
If you agree to participate in the study, you will be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon.com gift card. If you decide NOT to participate in this study, you will NOT be penalized. Research staff will only use your name and address (if provided by you) to send you additional information or for the drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card, if you indicate you are willing.
If you would like to participate in this research project, the survey can be accessed at http://palm.pnmi.com/. Please complete the survey by December 1, 2010. We are sending this to a number of lists. Please excuse the cross posting. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Nancy Everhart, Director, PALM Center
Marcia Mardis, Associate Director, PALM Center
Buffy Hamilton, Ed.S.
Creekview High School
GLMA Communications Chair
In a recent Voya online exclusive super school librarian Joyce Valenza shared her “Manifesto for 21st Century School Librarians.” I knew right away that I wanted to share what she had to say on the GLMA blog so I started to read to look for her most thought-provoking statement to use as the subject line. I ended up choosing the last item on her list of things school librarians should unlearn. Is your practice at the point where you are doing so many things differently that you really can’t identify the box you’re thinking outside of? That is a powerful idea!
Joyce’s article is full of great links to examples of the kind of practice that she identifies as non-negotiable for 21st century learners. 
The creator of this image (creative commons attribution) says it is a tornado on a “squared sky afternoon.” That seemed like a perfect match for Joyce’s powerful ideas!
Judi Repman, Georgia Southern University
Have you been tuning into the Teacher Librarian Virtual Cafe webinars that started in February? If not, bookmark this site for the latest news and upcoming webinars!
If you missed the Teacher Librarian Cafe Crisis Webinar that was attended by 130+ this past Monday(April 19) night, you can catch the full archive at http://tlvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com/Crisis_Webinar. I was honored to co-present with Chris Harris, one of the sharpest minds in our profession; many sincere and heartfelt thanks to Joyce Valenza,Gwyneth Jones, and Carolyn Foote for their tremendous help in organizing this event as well as all the attendees.
AASL is sponsoring a longitudinal survey that will provide data on the health of the nation’s school library programs. The annual survey is open to library centers at all schools teaching at the primary and secondary levels. The first survey was conducted in 2007, with annual results posted each year. Most of the questions are tracking questions, though each year the survey includes a short series of topical questions. In 2010 the topical questions are focused on digital content and resources in school library programs.
Click here to take part in AASL’s 2010 School Libraries Count! Survey
School Libraries Count Tip Sheet - AASL’s longitudinal survey is a fairly short annual survey looking to collect vital statistics over time to watch for trends in school library programs across the country. To help increase your survey efficiency this document outlines the areas of information needed for you to gather prior to beginning the survey.
Panel Discussion: “Is There a Place for Media Specialists Who Don’t Know Social Media?” – The Future of Education via kwout
“The Future of Education” will be hosting another thought provoking and FREE web event this Thursday, June 18 at 8PM EST. : “”Is There a Place for Media Specialists Who Don’t Know Social Media?” This session will be held via Elluminate for free; you will want to log in about 20-30 minutes ahead of time to load the Elluminate platform (at no charge) and to test your audio settings. If you cannot attend, the session will be recorded and archived; you can access the session archives at the link above.
In this session, Joyce Valenza leads a discussion on the future of librarians and their role in education with Buffy Hamilton, Cathy Nelson, and Carolyn Foote.
Participants will also want to visit the wiki Joyce Valenza has set up to supplement and facilitate the conversation on Thursday evening; you can access the webinar wiki by clicking right here.
If you don’t follow the insightful blog of Meredith Farkas (you should!), then surf over and read her latest post in which she discusses the need for librarians to have better preparation and training in sales and marketing. While she is speaking to academic librarianship, I believe this idea definitely applies to school librarians, too.
How many times do we lament that our patrons and teachers don’t really comprehend the wealth of resources and services we have to offer in spite of our best efforts to promote them? Most school librarians I know would also say collaboration is the number one challenge they face—perhaps if we had some kind of training in marketing and sales techniques, we might feel and/or be more successful in those efforts?
What do you think? Should school librarians receive some kind of required training Meredith discusses in her blog post? Do you feel you might be a more effective librarian if you could receive some training in sales and marketing?
Buffy Hamilton, Media Specialist
Creekview High School
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
Give Me Five
This is another article in a series of articles that has a simple premise. The articles will take you less than five minutes to read (that’s when you give ME five!) and each will contain an introduction to a problem or concept pertaining to our work encouraging kids to read. Each article will also include a list of five ideas, reasons, tools, steps or other helpful items (that’s when I give YOU five!) related to the topic of the article. While none of these articles will claim to be the last word on any topic, I promise to make each one fun, well researched and way beyond the obvious. (If you have missed the first four articles, you can view them at http://glma-inc.org/newsletter.htm or e-mail me at tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com and I’ll send you a .pdf file of the articles or an audio CD of the articles along with a bonus article we handed out at COMO.) Here is Give me Five…
#5 – “Plays Well With Others”
One of the big buzz words for media specialists in Georgia in recent years has been COLLABORATION. There is no doubt that collaborating with your teachers (the ones who will take advantage of it!) offers many benefits to the school, the teachers and the students. It also opens the eyes of teachers and administrators to the value of a trained and certified Media Specialist. It’s always good for them to know that you do more than shelve and check out books all day long!
Collaboration with teachers of all grades and subjects can be quite taxing, physically and mentally, but we all see benefits in it. While no one person will know the full extent of your value to the school, collaboration is one way you can show them why they need you. And since librarians are by nature collectors and disseminators of information, sharing with teachers helps fill one of your needs as well.
Collaboration can benefit you in other ways. In addition to being a teacher-librarian collaborating with your colleagues at your school, you can also benefit from collaborating with your peers. As a matter of fact, you may find this type of peer to peer collaboration is one that charges your battery, instead of draining it!
I am a school show presenter and every January I have the opportunity to go to Houston, Texas and spend time with about 25 of my colleagues from across the country. This year we added a school show performer from Scotland and another from Australia, so now we are an international group! We stay in touch by e-mail, phone, and even snail mail, offering ideas, encouragement, bragging and complaining, sharing experiences and asking for help. Without a doubt this type of collaboration has been an extremely important part of my success and has helped me take my performances and my business to a whole new level.
There are many ways you can be involved in a group of your peers locally, regionally, across your state and across the globe. You can be a part of a group like GLMA and read the newsletter, blog, and listserve postings. You can organize or be a part of your RESA consortium. You can start or participate in a listserve for your school district to discuss challenges, ideas, and opportunities with fellow media specialists. You can set up a blog for a few invited colleagues from around the country to pool your knowledge and experience.
There are also lots of benefits to being a part of such a group. Here are five.
Get involved with other media specialists. It could be one of the best things you’ll ever do for yourself!
Tommy Johns has been getting and keeping the attention of children and adults for almost three decades as a school show presenter and educational entertainment specialist. Find out more at www.tommyjohnspresents.com. He welcomes your comments on this column and ideas for future “Give Me Five!” articles. You can contact him at tommy@tommyjohnspresents.com.
