February is the month of love, and what a better time to promote loving your library in your school. In this post I’m going to give you practical ideas on how to gain favor and appreciation for your school library.

1. Host an “I Love Books Breakfast” with your new books. No matter how small your budget may be, you almost always acquire new books each year.  Host an event for faculty and staff that display the new books with summaries, as well as suggestions for which curricular areas each book may fit.  Throw in a table with coffee and donuts and ta-dah!  You have instant book love and your teachers have an update about new resources.
2. Host a blind date with a book event. Wrap up some new books, as well as some books that don’t circulate as often as you’d like.  Invite students to bring their lunches to the library and take a wrapped book to their tables to read.  It’s always surprising how many students end up checking out their blind date books.
3. Create an “I Love My Library” interactive bulletin board. With the words “I Love My Library Because…” and then have an array of heart shapes on colored paper.  Allow students to write what they love about their library and to fasten their heart to the bulletin board.  Be a part of school spirit-building with your creation.
4. Host an “I Love My Library” bookmark competition. Students who win get a small prize and you can duplicate the bookmarks to hand out to students who visit the library.
5. Celebrate a “Book Bachelor” event where students choose from at least 20 books featuring romance or love poetry. Help each student find the right match!

I hope you’ll be able to celebrate the month of love and love of your library at the same time!

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.

Twitter

Categories: Advocacy/Leadership, Blog Topics, Community/Teacher Collaboration, Student Engagement/ Teaching Models