The role of the librarian and the impact of the library program can be invisible, especially in the digital age (Todd, 2015).  There are still many people who ask: “What exactly do you do?” or “So, you just read books all day?”

If library professionals are not actively working to advocate for our programs and the impact we have on student growth and learning, then it is easy for our importance to go unrecognized. Since we know how effective and important we are, we know how dangerous it is if our programs to disappear.

In order to combat this, we must to equip ourselves with real data. Armed with information, we can defend our programs, our jobs – our existence – in a meaningful and convincing way. Todd’s (2015) article recommends maintaining a portfolio of  action research which demonstrates the value of library programing and the correlation between library activities and campus goals. With this information, we can demonstrate that our programs are 1. Aligned with the school and district goals, and 2. Effective and impactful. We will then be more likely to gain the support we need for our program – increasing our visibility.

Reference

Todd, R. (2015). Evidence-based practice and school libraries: Interconnections of evidence, advocacy, & actions. Knowledge Quest, 43(3), 8-15.

Photo by David Clarke on Unsplash