Instructional Partner

Being a school librarian means getting to know your community; this includes students, parents, faculty and staff, and businesses your school partners with. This will happen naturally over time, but can be augmented with surveys and other information gathering methods.

Every school has a mission they strive to operate by; to fully integrate your library program into the school culture, you too must remember and honor the school's mission. By making sure you are on the same page as the school in terms of goals, advocating for yourself and your own goals becomes much easier.

Make it a point to get to know the educators in your school community on a personal level. Set aside time to go over the curriculum, brainstorm lesson plans, and discuss mutually beneficial collaboration. While it may seem forward and out of place, teachers most likely feel the same way about approaching you for the first time; by taking the initiative you reassure them that you value their knowledge and expertise.

To truly be a part of the school community, you must stay involved and abreast of your institution's plans, goals and events, both current and future. The school library should not be an island, disconnected from the rest of the school; it should strive to become an important, integral piece of the school's operations, which can only be achieved by making the effort to stay involved.

Just as teachers design their lesson plans around certain rules and standards in accordance with the state, you too should pay attention to those standards, as you will be asked to provide relevant library materials, advice and expertise that support and work to advance student learning. This includes familiarizing yourself with the AASL standards framework, as it provides the blueprints for setting up an effective school library program (AASL, 2018).