Evaluating School Libraries Collections at the Site and District Level as a Tool for Advocacy

Christina Young

Takeda, J. (2019). Evaluating School Library Collections at the Site and District Level as a     Tool  for Advocacy. Knowledge Quest, 47(3), 14–21. Retrieved from     http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?   direct=true&db=lls&AN=133682940&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Summary - In this article three school librarians in the Beaverton, Oregon School District use data to affect “transformational change” in the way libraries are perceived and budgeted for in their district. They begin by creating a matrix to show how their work is aligned to district goals and national standards. Because in their district library budgets are determined at a building level by principals, they then presented collection and circulation data along with mission statements and their standards matrices with elementary principals. In framing their work with principals, they focused on three main themes: choice reading, diverse books, and access for all. They were encouraged by a menor to provide a twenty-seven word, nine second, three part message and presented:

Our libraries support student growth as learners. We encourage students to explore their own interests and provide access for all to carefully selected resources that are current and diverse. 

Because the district had recently invested in classroom libraries for language arts classrooms the librarians pointed out the differences between classroom libraries and school libraries and the importance of funding and maintaining the school library. The article goes into detail about the types of reports they used and provides templates for users of Follett’s Destiny.  In their final reports to the principals  the librarians advocated for budget recommendations across the district: $2,000 per elementary school library, $3,000 per middle school library, and $5,000 per high school. As of the writing of the article, the budgets had not been determined. 

Evaluation - As I am creating my vision of my future library in project four it is interesting to read about how librarians in another district  are using data similar to the data I collected for projects three and four and presenting it to their districts to advocate for funds. One important take-away was how they framed library books as “consumables” in their presentation to principals. Library books are not meant to last forever and need money to be replaced. Other interesting take away was about how to introduce teachers and parents to diverse books as “mirrors and windows”.  A final take-away was report templates they provided in the additional resources section of the article. Finally, one sad reality check: their district serves 41,000 students in 53 schools. All of the elementary and middle schools are served by paraprofessionals. High Schools are served by paraprofessionals and a library and instructional technology teacher (LITT), although it was unclear if the LITTs were one per school or three for the entire district.