More Ironic Than Alanis

A bitmoji of Steve singing, surrounded by a lottery ticket, a rain cloud, a glass of white wine with a fly in it, a bunch of spoons, and a plane crashing.

Well, the news has been grim lately. As school budgets get tighter than they have for years, more school library programs are being shuttered to “save money.” More school librarians are being let go or reassigned to “improve budgetary outcomes.” 

It is ironic on a scale I have trouble conceptualizing, as these library program cuts are coming at a time when headlines are trumpeting the “literacy crisis” affecting students of all grade levels. 

And now, a digression.

Whenever I can, I love to drop in on graduate classes and chat with future school librarians. When I do, I am often introduced with a list of accomplishments that makes me blush. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – I’m not anyone special. I just love school librarianship. And anyone who’s been in education as long as I have is going to rack up a “Greatest Hits” list a yard long simply by virtue of being alive. 

So when I have to put together a self-introduction to go with a presentation proposal for a conference, I pretty much always feel ashamed, like I’m trying to brag. 

But as Amanda Jones says, “It’s not bragging, it’s advocacy!” So here are some ways I’ve been rethinking my approaches to advocacy.

Back to our regularly scheduled post: 

I see SO MANY amazing school librarians sharing amazing things they have going on in their library programs. But when it comes advocating for their programs, there is often a sense of, “Well, we don’t do that in polite company.” 

I think it’s extremely important to recognize that being good at what you do is not the same as farting. 

When parents come through my library, they are often enthusiastic about the space and what it offers their students. Which made me realize: Just doing what I do is a form of advocacy.

An edited image from the old Palmolive dish soap commercial. In the background, Madge is doing the nails of a woman with one hand in a bowl of green liquid. In the middle distance is a bottle of green dish soap, with the edited name "ADVOCACY" and an edited label that reads "increases awareness while you do your job". In the foreground, the bowl of green liquid is labelled "Advocacy". Text at the top and middle reads: "Madge Says: You're SOAKING in it!"

(Those of you too young to get this joke – trust me, it’s funny. Those of you old enough to get this joke, click if you’d like a full-sized version to print.)

To really make it stick, though, I have to help folks see it and hear about it. 

So to avoid the brag-shame, I’ve started getting more vocal about my space and my programs without mentioning myself at all. 

It doesn’t have to be about you; it can be about the program. 

Just sharing pictures of some of the activities students do is advocacy. Publishing your circulation numbers is advocacy. Letting parents as well as students and teachers know about the library’s available hours, programs, and services is advocacy. 

Here’s the part that I think really trips up a lot of folks: It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even meet your personal definition of success – every new attempt is worth trumpeting. Because if you weren’t there trying it, it wouldn’t be happening. 

Think about that for a second: Your worst efforts are still better than the alternative! 

Playing with SCKLS

I was fortunate enough to chat with librarians in the South Central Kansas Library System (SCKLS) a few months back about advocacy. In a pre-event survey, almost two thirds of respondents said they engaged in advocacy for their library program once a week or less, with a wide majority saying less than once a month and a couple saying they never engaged in advocacy.

After we talked about how every communication that goes out is a form of advocacy, respondents to a post-even survey, two thirds of respondents said they engaged in advocacy more than once a day. (If you need some ideas about how you’re advocating daily, here are my slides on the School Library Advocacy Matrix.)

The School Library Advocacy Matrix, by Steve Tetreault, CC 4.0 BY SA NC. This four quadrant matrix's horizontal center line is labelled "Less Effort" on the left and "More Effort" on the right. The vertical center axis is labelled "More Independent" at the top and "More Collaborative" at the bottom. In each quadrant are 8 to 10 activities that school librarians can do that are also a form of advocacy.

 

Because it’s really just a matter of framing, of the mental lens we’re looking through. 

Adjust Your Lens

When you share what your program is doing for students and staff, what you’re really doing is saying, “Our students deserve a good education.” Because a school library is a vital part of a good education. That’s not an opinion – research has repeatedly demonstrated it. 

I think part of the problem is that we are all so busy all day, every day, that taking the time to tout WHY we’re so busy falls by the wayside. 

But at a time when school libraries are both more necessary than ever, and are facing ever-increasing cuts to programs, it’s vital that we help others see the myriad ways a school library program supports the entire school.