The librarian is the library (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

 61. The librarian is the library. 

The best facility, the best resources, the best budget and the greatest curriculum do not make a great library program. 

The single key ingredient of a successful program is a library media specialist who is approachable, collaborative, and supportive of staff and students.  

If the right media person is in place, the rest of the “stuff” follows.

62. The paraprofessional is often the face of the library. 

When Mrs. Palardy was my library clerk, I was called Mr. Palardy about half the time. Of course, Mrs. Palardy was also called Mrs. Johnson frequently as well. 

Library patrons, especially kids, don’t know and don’t care who the “professional” librarian in the media center is. We are all “librarians” in their eyes. 

So? 

When is the last time you provided a staff development opportunity for your paraprofessional? If the clerk is crabby, what do the kids think about your library? Have you given your paraprofessional a chance to be creative or try a new task lately? 

Behind every successful librarian is a competent paraprofessional. Never underestimate the para’s importance. 

63. There is no reason not to have a budget. 

Too many library media specialists confuse having budget with having a fully funded budget. 

It is our job to create yearly budget proposals that realistically reflect the resources necessary to run a program that makes a difference in student achievement. Just because it may be unlikely the budget is fully funded doesn’t mean it should not be submitted. 

How’s a principal going to know what you need and why you need it unless you tell them? 

Schools, administrators and states have lots of money – more than enough to support quality library media programs. They may not choose to fund such programs, but they have it.  

Help them make good choices. 

64. Be virtual.  

Don’t fight the fact that kids would rather access information online than in a physical library. Quite frankly, so would I. Even the most convenient library is never as close as my computer. 

Every library needs a web page that guides its patrons to reliable and relevant resources. Librarians should be taking and answering requests and question by e-mail. 

Learning to make web pages is not rocket science. 

Tom Peters observes, “If you don’t like change, you’ll like irrelevance even less.” 

The library rule rule (from Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

 58. The number of students in the library media center will always be in inverse proportion to the importance of anyone visiting. 

It never fails. There are a thousand kids in the library third hour. Fourth hour when the superintendent and board members drop by on a facilities inspection, the place is a ghost town. 

There is not one damn thing you can do to keep this from happening.  

There are good things you can do to counteract such mistaken perceptions, however: 

• Keep the library as full of kids as possible as many hours as possible. 
• Make communications and marketing a top priority. 
• Issue invitations to important people to visit during exciting times. 

There are enough things in life that cannot be anticipated or controlled. Work on the things you can.  

59. Life-long impressions of libraries are formed very young. 

I once had a superintendent brag to me that he obtained his college degrees without ever setting foot in a library. (And this was in pre-Internet days.)  

“ I thought there was something special about you,” I tactfully replied.  

There are people who don’t like libraries. My suspicion is that they were frightened by a librarian as children. 

The kids we bark at, ignore, or chase from our libraries today are our teachers, school board members, legislators and referendum voters of tomorrow. 

What comes around, goes around. 

60. The library rule rule.  

Never have more than three rules for your media center. These are mine: 

• Be doing something productive
• Be doing it in a way that allows others to be productive
• Be respectful of other people and their property.

That’s it.

The beauty of this is that nearly every behavior, both of commission and omission, can be judged according to these rules. 

If your library has a list of a dozen or more rules (Don’t eat the library books. Don’t poke others with sharp objects. Don’t sharpen your pencil more than 3 times within 45 minutes. Don’t moon the librarian.), rethink your strategy. 

Teaching kids to examine their own behaviors and apply simple codes of conduct to a variety of circumstances is not a bad thing to do.  

Integrate technology into your worst units (From Machines Are the Easy Part)

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part. 
Illustrations by Brady Johnson

54. Children will be in genuine danger if certain skills are not taught.

Instructions on using dangerous technologies are accompanied by training on how to use such them safely. Such technologies include: 

• Scuba diving 
• Shooting a gun 
• Driving a car 

I am guessing that skydiving could be added to the list, but I am not about to find out. 

At what point does the use of information technologies fall into the dangerous category? Do kids: 

• Find pro-anorexia sites on the web? 
• Meet pedophiles in chat rooms? 
• Locate inaccurate information about STDs? 

The ability to evaluate information and navigate the Internet safely must be taught to all students. To do less is no more responsible than handing them a loaded gun. 

55. Integrate technology into your worst units. 

Every teacher I know has units that are weak. When I taught 7th grade English, I dreaded the poetry unit. Kids didn’t like it and I didn’t like it. It stunk. 

A big mistake many teachers make is plunking some technology-related project smack into their best units, the strong ones that have great activities, are supported by wonderful resources, and are loved by the students.  

This may come as a surprise, but technology-enhanced projects do not always go well the first time. And by placing them in a strong part of your curriculum, you run a high risk of screwing up a good thing. 

Plunk these projects in your worst area of the curriculum.  

Things can only get better. 

56. The franchise dilemma. 

Why do classroom projects work well for the originator and not when others try it. It’s because of what I call the "franchise dilemma." In the restaurant business, there are many great local restaurants, but when an attempt is made to franchise them, a very small percentage are successful. Why? Because it’s impossible to export the passion and artistry of the person who made the first restaurant successful. 

Teachers have stunningly successful projects because of their passion for the topic or method they used. One fellow each year has his kids research the history of a local building and turn the research into articles for the local paper. When others have tried this they don't seem to make it "go." 

The best we can do is offer examples of projects which have worked for others and then glean the kernel of pedagogy that made them so successful - relevance, leveraging the popularity of technology, group work, affective skill attainment, etc. 

We can’t "teacher-proof" teaching. Without genuine personal investment in what and how we teach, the job just becomes a mindless set of actions.  

57. Teach what you use. 

In 1982, the board of the district in which I was librarian and English teacher decided to buy an Apple II computer instead of library books. I was not happy. And instead of processing books with my three days of extended contract time, I taught myself the AppleWriter word processing program. At the end of those three days, I thought “Wow!” 

I was suddenly no longer captive of some of my own writing limitations: bad handwriting, crummy spelling, and poor keyboarding skills that made revision painful and time-consuming. My stuff looked professional. I was liberated. 

Ten seconds later I realized that everyday I taught about 75 kids who might also experience such liberation. Technology use in schools suddenly made sense. 

Teach with the technology that personally empowers you.