During the month of May, the BACC posts have revolved around the Texas Library Association’s webinar with the co-bloggers which took place on May 19. Over 60 participants from around the country attended the webinar . In addition to Texas, there were participants from Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia, and more; at least one person joined us from Germany! It was exciting to see so many people all coming together to share ideas and discuss collaboration in the school library.

Judi Moreillon kicked things off by asking, “Is your school collaborative?” In an informal chat poll, the response was almost evenly split. We still have work to do. Why is collaboration important? Judi said it perfectly, “Working together, we can achieve more than we can individually.”

The discussion continued and soon the chats were filling up with ideas of what collaboration looks like in your school library. These ideas showed the changing image of school libraries:

What would a new person see when they come into your library?

• Welcoming greeting
• Talking
• Buzz and flurry
• Co-teaching
• Students working in groups
• Teaching on online tools

 Where is student input reflected?

• Music
• Student art
• Smiling faces
• Comfy chairs
• Hours of operation
• New coffee shop
• Group study rooms
• Student display boards
• Student book trailers
• Casual corner
• Lunch/socialization
• Student work on website and in library
• Reading buddies
• QR codes
• Book spine poetry
• Chatterpix Kids on website
• Science research and poster sessions
• Stop motion animation
• Students submit designs for website banner

This is not the library of yester-year!

Next, we were encouraged to think outside of just the traditional classroom teacher/librarian collaboration. Who else could be a collaborative partner? Again, participants shared great ideas:

• Art
• Curriculum coaches
• Sped
• PE
• Music
• PTA
• Coaches
• Bilingual teachers
• Theater
• Preschool teachers
• Student teachers

The consensus was that collaboration is about cultivating relationships. A great place to start is with new teachers. Rebecca Morris recently published an article about this in the June/July issue of Knowledge Quest, “You’re Hired! Welcoming New Teachers to the School Library.”

So, how do you earn their trust?

• Become a curriculum expert – you are first and foremost a teacher
  • Melissa encouraged us to, “Teach more, librarian less.”
• Ask to go to curriculum training sessions, even for areas outside a typical library focus
• Train teachers after you attend conferences
• Offer to do “little things” to make friends and build relationships
• Service at the point of need. We are in the business of “servant leadership”
• Use online tools to organize content, such as Symbaloo or LibGuides
• Above all, stay focused on the student

One participant said, “Teacher do not always realize the depth of which we can help them. They think we are only there for the students.” One of the AASL dispositions for school librarians is “perseverance.” This may be the time to practice this disposition! Don’t give up – let them see the great things the librarian can do for the teachers with the ultimate goal of positively impacting students.

A final take-away for collaboration with teachers: What is your elevator speech for collaboration?

Ask the teachers: How can I help you? How can we together make an impact in increased student learning?

Judy Kaplan next reminded us of the importance of collaborating with the administrators. After all, the librarian often has the same “big picture view” as the administrator.

Find your entry point:

• Find a daily chance to interact
• Build a relationship
• See the big picture – think from an administrator point of view
• Active listening, empathy, humor”Massage the message”
• Return on investment – scarcity of resources, time, and money
• Mission and vision drives the activities – get involved on committees – be at the table
• Show what you are doing in the library – important at budget time!
• Find your allies

The take-away for collaboration with administrators: What is your library’s brand? Tie it to the mission and vision of the school.

Finally, some of Lucy Santos Green’s thoughts were shared. How can we collaborate with the greater community?

• Parents who own businesses can be great partners
• Public librarians visit to share summer programming
  

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We were reminded that the community includes more than just the students and the teachers. What are you doing to collaborate with all of the stakeholders in your school community? Start by identifying them. Then think about the take-aways from this month and particularly from the webinar. As another school year draws to a close, I challenge you to consider these questions

•  What is your elevator speech for collaboration?
• What is your library’s brand?

Spend time this summer developing and practicing these, then share with the community of school librarians on this blog and in your local area. You might be surprised at the results.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/opensourceway/5041738157 Original image created by Libby Levi for opensource.com. Used under Creative Commons licenses, Attribution and Share Alike

In one of my first posts for BACC, I blogged on Resource Sharing for Manpower. In this post I discussed how important it is to involve your parents and community members in the school library program, enriching your school library program, expanding the expertise and resources you offer teachers when collaborating, and maximizing your impact on student learning.

For the Building a Culture of Collaboration Webinar, I will be discussing the different options and groups to consider when developing these types of connections. Judi posted this earlier but I am adding the webinar information again in case you missed it:

Webinar Information:
May 19, 2-3pm Central Time: Building a Culture of Collaboration (Collaboration Series) – FREE

Register at https://join.onstreammedia.com/register/80146595/register_for_culture

All Webinars will be recorded. A link to the recording will be sent to all registrants (i.e. you may want to register even if you know you cannot attend the live event). All Webinars will carry Continuing Education credit.

For my portion of the webinar I will be talking about networking, identifying parent connections, the potential of social organizations, knowing your neighborhood, business partnerships, and religious institutions. Hope to see you there!

Lucy

In the upcoming Building a Culture of Collaboration webinar, the co-bloggers invite you to connect with us for a lively discussion about sparking and sustaining collaboration with stakeholders in our schools and communities. So far this month, Judi proposed some self assessment questions about collaborating with students; last week Judy added questions about collaborating with administrators; and this week I will add some things to think about when developing relationships with teachers.

During my years in practice other school librarians used to often ask me “how do you get teachers to work with you so much?” I was always surprised by this question because to me it was just a natural part of my job as a school librarian – working with teachers. But it was also something that was hard to put into words when thinking of how to respond to this question.

We all know the importance of working with teachers and the research on the various roles of the school librarians repeatedly illustrates the importance of developing relationships with teachers, but I think it is the “how” part that is sometimes difficult.

So hopefully our discussion on May 19^th can focus on the “how” of making that connection with teachers and the sharing of strategies to cultivate this all important relationship.

Some things to think about:

1. Approaching Teachers

2. Foundational Steps to Developing Relationships

3. Proactive Strategies

4. Publicize the Benefits of Collaboration

Bring your thoughts and strategies so that we can share and learn from one another on May 19^th!