Annotated Bibliography

How to advocate for your school library

Written Criteria For Resources:

These resources were written by librarians, or policy makers who see the value in the library. All of these resources contain factual evidence taken over a period of time. There are also resource that can be brought up to policy makers, and used to support advocacy for teacher librarians.

Advocate this, Not that

In this article Hunt makes the argument that schools should be allocating their funds into improving the accessibility of the library. There is a large disparity between the 90th percentile of students, and the lower 10th percentile. As stated, “Students in the 90th percentile read 200 times more outside of school than those in the 10th. In other words, 90th-percentile kids read more in two days than students in the 10th read all year.” Hunt then argues what good is it to motivate students to read if they do not have access to books. “While the average home has about 100 books, two-thirds of low-income homes have none. Increasingly, those homes are clustered in poor neighborhoods that have become veritable book deserts.”

Hunt then goes on to discuss the various ways in which libraries are essential to school. Through information literacy, and the adoption of open-free, low-cost proprietary resources librarians are essential to teaching how to navigate digital resources. The library is also the only place where UDL can be fully implemented with student interest in mind. This article is a great resource for library advocacy. Hunt does a fantastic job of showcasing many different ways that the library is an essential part of the school.

Hunt, Jonathan. (2018). Advocate this, not that. School Library Journal.https://www.slj.com/story/advocate-this-not-that

School Libraries 2021: Advocacy is a Necessary Part of the Job for School Librarians

The article School Libraries 2021: Advocacy is a Necessary Part of the Job for School Librarians brings up several key issues relating to job advocacy for school librarians. Hinton discusses that although schools with credentialed librarians consistently have higher test scores, districts often choose to defund libraries first. Lack of exposure to credentialed librarians has a long term effect on student’s reading scores and their relationships with libraries. Students who grow up never having exposure to a librarian or library will be less likely to vote to fund libraries, and to include them in schools. The long term effects can be truly detrimental to libraries and the communities they serve.

Hinton, Marva. (2021). School libraries 2021: Advocacy is a necessary part of the job for school librarians. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/school-libraries-2021-advocacy-is-necessary-part-of-the-job-for-school-librarians

Perspectives on School Librarian Employment in the United States, 2009-10 to 2018-19

This resource gives statistics on school librarian employment throughout the United States. The comparisons are from 08/09 - 18/19. There is a downward trend in librarian employment. With no librarians being hired, there is a much higher librarian to student ratio. This reduces the effectiveness of the library and the programs and resources they can offer.

Lance, K. C., & Kachel, D. E. (2021, July). Perspectives on school librarian employment in the United States, 2009-10 to 2018-19. SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? https://libslide.org/publications/perspectives/

Dear School Leaders: 5 Things You Need to Know about Your School Librarian

Amanda Jones, who is the 2021 school librarian co-librarian of the year. In this article she discusses how she developed 5 essential things she would tell school leaders about having a credentialed librarian. This resource is great for librarians who feel they are being underutilized and undervalued at their school or district.

Jones, Amanda. (2021). Dear School Leaders: 5 Things You Need to Know about Your School Librarian. Knowledge quest: Journal of the American Association of School Libraries.https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/dear-school-leaders-5-things-you-need-to-know-about-your-school-librarian/

AASL Advocacy Toolkit

The advocacy tool kit is a resource developed by the American Association of Librarians. In it, there are different ways to advocate for the library within your program. The article lists ways to address stakeholders, ways to advocate daily within your everyday routine. There are many articles and links to research that will prepare you for advocating for your library. This resource is good to have available so that you can be prepared for advocacy. Another value that this resource adds, is that the American Association of Librarians is an accredited organization.

AASL Advocacy Toolkit: educated support for school libraries and school library professionals. (2018). American Association of School Librarians. https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslissues/toolkits/AASLAdvocacyToolkit_180209.pdf

Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us

Lance and Kachel discuss how having credentialed full time librarians affects student achievement over time. Their findings show that, “nearly 8% more students scored Advanced on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment in reading in schools with a full-time, certified librarian than in schools without.” Also, “ Where part-time support staff was added to the full-time librarian, almost 9% more students achieved Advanced scores.” Lance and Kachel also discovered that librarians have a positive impact on students' writing and math scores.

Lance, Keith Curry. Kachel, Debra E. (2018). Why school librarians matter: What years of research tells us. Phi Delta Kappan. https://kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

CSLA Advocacy Toolkit

The CLAS Advocacy Toolkit is a resource for advocating for teacher librarians in your school or district. The California School Library Association has taken the time to pick quality articles and data and show the value and need for credentialed librarians at all school sites. Some resources also discuss what happens when librarians are removed from districts and the long term effects it can have on students and the community.

CSLA Advocacy Toolkit. California School Library Association. http://csla.net/csla-advocacy-information/

AASL Advocacy Brochures

This resource is a list of brochures created by the American Association of School Libraries. There are many different brochures aimed at administrators, parents, policy makers, and students. Each brochure was created with advocacy in mind. They are quick summaries about how libraries and librarians are essential to schools. This resource can be presented to different stakeholders when advocating for teacher librarians. As stated on the webpage, “Developed and distributed through a grant from the Bound to Stay Bound Books Foundation, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) presents a new advocacy tool to help school librarians generate and guide discussion with stakeholders about quality school library programs. School Library Programs Improve Student Learning is a series of advocacy brochures each designed to speak to a specific stakeholder audience within the school library community, including administrators, policymakers, parents, and teachers.”

AASL advocacy brochures. (2011). American Library Association. http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/brochures

This article discusses student reading trauma, and the ways in which libraries are a healing place. Unlike the classroom, librarians often see students in smaller clusters, throughout the day. This gives the librarian an opportunity to create a more intimate relationship with students. Students who experience poverty or unstable living conditions can have the least access to books and information. When visiting the library they often tell librarians that they don’t like reading. The article discusses how one librarian focuses on building relationships with her patrons instead of focusing on giving them books. She talks about their general interest, and then when they are open to it, they fill out an interest survey. This helps the librarian tailor her collection to books that interest her population of readers. Simple acts of kindness can help students build a positive relationship with reading.

Hinton, Marva. (2021), Librarians offer personal attention and community to students facing challenges. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/schoollibraries/librarians-offer-personal-attention-and-community-to-students-facing-challenges

Librarians Offer Personal Attention and Community to Students Facing Challenges

Advocating for the school library through relationships

In the article Lewis discusses how administrators will often hire instructional coaches to support common core English language Arts instruction. What administrators often miss is that credentialed librarians are often trained to perform many of the duties that instructional coaches do, plus they are masters of research and literacy. Lewis discusses how administrators often have no clue what the roles of librarians are, and only associate them with book handling. This article can be useful in establishing ways in which librarians can be utilized throughout the school, and how administrators can see the value of librarians. It also discusses ways in which librarians can advocate for themselves and find other ways to be utilized throughout their school.

Lewis, Melanie. (2020). Advocating for the school library through relationships. Knowledge Quest. 49(1), 46-51.

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