Being Indispensable

This timely title provides a toolkit of strategies designed to help librarians become vital players in their school communities. The authors lay out a specific plan of attack for becoming indispensable—so much so that parents, teachers, and administrators couldn't imagine a school without a library. The text includes workbook-type activities that help librarians focus on knowing who they are, understanding their stakeholders, and advocating for their program and position. The authors have a hint of fairy-godmother about them; they're encouraging and supportive, but also quite stern at times. For example, their advice includes the following: "Throughout this process you must be scrupulously honest. Neither sugarcoat reality nor make it worse than it is." Although the individual ideas presented in the text aren't necessarily new, the authors have collected and distilled a huge amount of information into a step-by-step game plan that both beginning and experienced school librarians can follow.—Lindsay Cesari, Baldwinsville School District, NY