It’s the time of year when students begin to go on field trips and school picnics that celebrate the end of a year well done. Well, field trips aren’t just for the students. We as librarians can take field trips to our local schools to find out what’s going on next door. After all, best practices are best when shared.
One event that the high school librarians in my county do twice a year is that we find one afternoon when we can eat lunch together and discuss what’s new at our libraries. I’ve garnered ideas about author’s visits, coloring tables, and class set book collections, to name a few. Your librarians next door often face similar problems with similar populations to those in your school library. What a better way to think of solutions together to these problems.
If you work in an independent or private school, I would highly recommend visiting with the librarians at local independent or private schools. While some demographic information may change from school to school, the librarians often have a good idea about the needs of the school and how they best meet them.
Lastly, if you’re unable to find local librarians to visit, I would recommend visiting the other schools in your district. If you’re a high school librarian, you’ll get to see where your students are coming from and the skills they are learning on the middle and elementary levels. Vice versa, if you are an elementary librarian, you’ll get to ascertain the type of skills you need to be preparing your students for as they enter their middle and high school years.
All school librarians carry a wealth of knowledge. Share the wealth with others!
Author: Megan Shulman
Megan is both the middle and high school librarian at Humboldt Junior Senior High School which serves grades 7-12. She has her Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Mrs. Shulman has been both a classroom teacher and a school librarian. This upcoming school year, she will be entering her 8th year in public education serving Title 1 schools. Her areas of expertise are school library leadership, brain-based learning strategies, and creating maker-spaces in the current library atmosphere.
Categories: Blog Topics, Professional Development
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