Communicate and collaborate with colleagues and communities.

7.1 Oral Communication: Effectively engage in oral communication in professional contexts. 

7.2 Written Communication: Effectively write a professional email-salutations, no text speak, write in a grammatically correct way, clearly articulate an idea

7.3 Collaboration within a Library of Information Organization: Works with others within the organization to achieve meaningful outcomes. 

7.4 Collaboration with external constituencies: Works with others outside the organization to achieve meaningful outcomes. 

Artifacts:

LIS 693  Professional Development Assignment: "Using DC Public Library's Research Databases" (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4) 

LIS 654: Portrait of a Collaborator (7.2, 7.3)

PLO 7 is about effective communication and collaboration within my library organization and greater learning community. Without professional, kind, and regular communication, relationships will be hard-built and students will not get the greatest benefit from their certified Librarian. Through email communications and in-person conversations, School Librarians can build positive relationships that grow community understanding of the role of the Librarian and how they can support teachers and grow student learning outcomes. 

In my Professional Development Assignment for LIS 693, Using DC Public Library's Research Databases, I communicated with my Supervisor during our in-person, bi-weekly meetings to craft the PD goal and plan for execution (7.1). From there, I communicated directly with grade-level team leads to schedule 15 minute time slots for the presentation during one of their upcoming grade-level meetings. These emails were professional, organized, and personable while explaining the purpose of the PD and scheduling options (7.2). On the occassions that I did not hear back from a teacher regarding scheduling, I approached them in the faculty lounge and hallways for personable conversation and to touchbase about scheduling. Within the PD sessions themselves, I took teacher questions in real-time answering them in a professional manner (7.1). In collaborating with my Supervisor and all the grade-level leads, I was able to introduce my faculty to a wonderful research tool availible to them and begin showing them how to navagiate the site and explore how it could fit into their lessons. In this way, we worked together as a learning organizaiton to solve a community need which will lead to elivated student research skills (7.3). In addition to training my teachers during this PD on how to use the research tools available through our public library, I also updated them on the progress of my work collaborating with the public library to get all of our students a public libray card. This is a gerat example of reaching outside our school organization to achieve meaningful outcomes for our students (7.4).

My Portrait of a Collaborator assignment from LIS 654 highlights the importance of professional communication while displaying digital competencies. In this Genially introduction of myself, I am letting them know who I am, what I stand for as a School Librarian, and how I can assist them, all in grammatically correct and clear wording. I am also highlighting 21st Century know-how that could be applied to future work that we do together, resulting in greater student achievement (7.2, 7.3). "School librarians & teachers make a strong instructional team combining their knowledge of pedagogy, resources, and technology to meet the specific needs of each student" (American Association of School Librarians, 2025).

Without the ability to communicate effectivly, both written and oral, it will be hard to build trusting, working realtionships. To achieve shared goals, a professional and serious approach to communcation and community engagement is necessary. These skills were emphasized in these assignments aligning with the goals of PLO 7. 

References:

American Association of School Librarians (2025). Strong School Libraries Build Strong Students [InfoGraphic]. 

American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/sites/default/files/aasl/content/aaslissues/advocacy/AASL_infographic_resources.pdf