Leadership & Advocacy

School Librarians are leaders in their school communities in supporting the whole child. In this session, attendees will learn how the National School Library Standards connect to the ASCD Whole Child Tenets as school librarians create healthy and safe spaces, engage and challenge students through inquiry learning, and support students and the school community through access to diverse resources and lessons.

How do independent school librarians illustrate the impact of their programs and positions for colleagues, administrators, and decision-makers? In this panel discussion moderated by 2021-2022 ISS Chair Jenna Nemec-Loise, ISS members share best practices for a beyond-the-numbers approach to measuring and communicating school library impact. Come with your questions and leave with actionable tips, tools, and techniques for illustrating your impact within and beyond your learning community!

"Please place the mask over your own mouth and nose before assisting others." This session will review the research related to teacher and school librarian burnout. We will share tried-and-true methods to respond to the challenge of teacher burnout and help arm school librarians with the knowledge and skills to grow and thrive in the current work environment and beyond.

Consider your performance evaluation rubric as an advocacy tool. Researchers share their findings of state level School Librarian specific rubrics that show how student inquiry moves (SIMS), as Inquiry Researchers, Library Users, Readers, and Accomplished Learners, can inform customization and clarity of a performance evaluation. Participants will review a performance evaluation rubric with SIMs and discuss ways their own rubrics can be adapted in order raise awareness of their unique role.

“Well you aren’t very busy.” “It’s nice you get to read books all day.” “I’ll bet your job is pretty easy.” Have you ever heard phrases like these? Let’s discuss and learn some tips, tricks, and strategies to change the labels and perceptions of the role of a librarian in your workplace.

Start your professional writing journey today! Hear key tips and brainstorm ideas to get started. Walk away with a plan for submission. Your story matters. School library and other professional publications are fabulous resources, but they are only as good as their content. That’s where you come in. Whatever part of school librarianship sparks your passion or you are most proud of is something others would benefit from reading about. Great for first timers but published writers are welcome too!

Relationships between school librarians and principals should be shining examples of collaboration, targeted success and comprehensive provision. Unfortunately, many librarians and administrators find their alliances fall short of this standard. This session, presented by a librarian and principal, will examine misperceptions and other possible reasons for ineffective librarian/principal relationships. Participants will gain insight on how to build a better partnership.

What exactly is Copyright? Am I being the Copyright role model that my students and other teachers need me to be? These are questions that we all have been faced with. In this session we will look at Fair Use and how it can help us to legally use materials in our classrooms. The session will also look at common problems that we have all faced when it comes to Copyright. Participants will leave with resources to use at their own schools.

When positions are converted and eliminated, an elevator pitch won’t save jobs. Here, school library leaders present a professional learning initiative for school librarians, their answer to strengthening library programs by meeting the AASL National Standards and becoming Future Ready. With a structure to identify areas for improvement, set goals, collaborate with stakeholders, implement changes, and reflect, school librarians advance library programs in tangible, measurable, and visible ways.

Sharing the stories of survivors of genocide and human rights abuses through the library provides a much broader understanding of the world and what happens when we fail to recognize each other as human. Librarians have the ability to create a space for students to share thoughts and ideas. Beyond the school walls lie community resources that can speak to human rights issues. As librarians, what other areas can we take leadership roles? How can we aid our students and impact our communities?

Beginning school librarians might not fully anticipate their critical leadership role in moving institutions forward in teaching and learning. There are parallels between building-level administrative leadership and school librarianship, both working with all teachers and students. See how school librarians can re-conceptualize both their daily routines and their long-term goals for improving student achievement, building a responsive and student-centered culture, and modeling life-long learning.

The Three Rs of School Libraries will be a fun, interactive, and inspiring session to enable participants to reflect, rebuild, and revitalize their library instruction and programming during these critical moments in our students' lives and history. Join the New York City School Library System (NYCSLS) as we present innovative practices to reflect on a year of remote/hybrid learning, strategies to rebuild strong library programs and collections, and practical steps to revitalize instruction.

Positioning library values--equity, diversity, inclusion, and intellectual freedom--at the center of the academic program benefits all learners. Classroom-library collaboration for instruction means equitable access to diverse and inclusive resources and programming. Coteaching ensures that learners have physical access and increased opportunities for intellectual access to ideas and information. With a values-centered practice, school librarians lead the entire school community toward success.

Don't just talk at families - engage them! Do you avoid digcit conversations because you feel like you must know the right answers? The good news is, you don't! Digcit is not black & white. There is no playbook. So let's invite families to a conversation instead of a presentation. In this session you will experience a condensed version of a digcit family event that puts participants at the center of the action and the school as the guide on the side. Leave with great ideas you can easily implement.

What happened when the pandemic put your projects and future initiatives on pause? Supported by a strong collaborative relationship, we were inspired. Thus began a journey, connecting a network of 120 Wisconsin school and public librarians through Project READY. Attendees will learn how our project overcame barriers, built community, and propelled racial equity work. The strategies and ideas shared will provide motivation and tools to replicate this work in districts, regions, or states.

School librarians-- always reliable problem-solvers-- showed agile and responsive leadership in teaching and service to meet the changing needs of students and teachers, demonstrating relevance and unique skill sets to the learning community. The pandemic brought an abrupt change to our school library realities. Let’s identify and unpack what we have learned to make our school libraries stronger, more prepared, and even more vital to the success of our students.

The AASL National School Library Standards call for school librarians to build and advocate “for strong relationships with stakeholders who recognize and support an effective school library.” This session will address the fundamentals of advocacy, explore stakeholder mapping, consider examples from the field, and empower school librarians to advocate for their students and their libraries’ resources, instruction, and services.

Looking for ways to embed into all subject areas as well as integrate your school library program into the community at large? Join us as we showcase the benefits school librarians can reap by embedding into all classrooms and working as a team with teachers, parents, your public library, and local organizations. Participants will receive examples of collaborative lessons and resources to get started on the road to building a program that includes all stakeholders.

Radical Inclusion means welcoming and affirming the voices of all library stakeholders in a way that shares power. It means that libraries are not neutral or apolitical spaces. In our session, we'll share strategies and experiences that will help those in attendance learn to disrupt the fallacy of providing equal access by centering historically marginalized voices in our schools, which is the only way we can truly support and strive for justice. Inclusion must be Radical, or it will fail.

Are you a school librarian looking for some new, innovative and creative programming to pique the interest of your students, faculty and staff? Look no further! Learn how you can both connect with your pubic librarian and empower yourself to build upon existing programming in your library. You'll learn about some amazing programs to take back to your library and easily implement. You'll be given a detailed road map to successful library programming! You will not go away disappointed.

Not all learners learn the same; school librarians & administrators are no different. Presenters will demonstrate differentiated instruction for adult learners who have varied levels of experience and familiarity with the AASL standards. Library leaders will share about one state’s successful implementation process. Participants will collaborate as they explore and curate resources to develop a personalized plan for delivering differentiated instruction. Prepare to think, create, share, & grow!

School librarians are amazing! Obviously, we all know that, but how do we go beyond the echo chamber and ensure everyone else knows how essential we are? Join members of New York City School Librarians’ Association as we travel our path from social gatherings to library advocates and everything in between. Learn why and how we leveraged librarian collaboration to become school librarian advocates. This session will help every school librarian find their voice.

In 2020, we saw libraries no longer bounded by walls and shelves. How might school leaders assess the role of the library as education continuously evolves? This hands-on workshop will assist those in school leadership roles in formulating ideas and practices to unbound the school library from its pre-pandemic role in the school community. We will present an evaluation tool to assist school leaders in formulating which area(s) of the school library they need to adapt, change or discontinue.

School libraries and the existence of the school librarian has become a point of discussion for school districts across the country. While some districts respect and support the work of these essential practitioners, other districts have opted to eliminate them. What can school librarians do to advocate for their library program? How can school librarians serve as activists for their profession? Today's school librarians must fight back with a stronger message and solicit support from allies and co-conspirators.