Advocacy

When we tell the story of our library, do patrons feel that it represents them? Every time we discuss a successful program, we are reinforcing our library's importance to administrators, students, and teachers. Here are some effective strategies from Michael Margolis, CEO of Get Storied, an organization devoted to transformational storytelling.

Double feature crisis show! Today we’ve got not one but two — TWO! — reviews for the price of one click. Really, these two books — Fat Angie and 17 & Gone — have very little in common, but they are both March pubs and have some thematic overlap, dealing as they do with girls [...]

Speaking at SLJ's Leadership Summit in Austin, TX, last month, ALA President Barbara Stripling implored attendees to demand that their communities assert all students' right to a library.

You don't have to be in Washington State to get the exciting takeaways from the Washington Library Media Association's (WLMA) two-day conference, being hosted in Yakima, Washington, starting Thursday, October 17. WLMA will again be offering a free virtual broadcast of key presentations from the event.

School librarians must be assertive leaders and technology experts, Joel Castro, associate superintendent for the Lubbock, Texas, School District, told attendees at SLJ's annual Leadership Summit in Austin in September. Castro also urged school librarians to work closely with their school principals in order to forge common ground.

Jennifer D. LaBoon, coordinator of library technology for the Fort Worth Independent School District, and Cindy Buchanan, program director for library media services for the Aldine, Texas, Independent School District, shared advocacy strategies with attendees at the SLJ Summit in Austin. Here are takeaways from their presentation, “PTA & School Library Relations.”

"There are 242 schools in the School District of Philadelphia. Only 16 librarians are left standing across that line. And what my [former] city colleagues tell me, is that NO Philadelphia public high schools have certified school librarians," writes Joyce Valenza. "Consider this divide."

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, when organizations nationwide unite to raise awareness on how, with education and support, bullying can be obliterated from schools and communities. SLJ has compiled a list of tools for educators and parents, which includes advice on collection development, plus news and feature articles highlighting authors’ efforts against bullying.

Scenario Learning is offering free bullying prevention resources to every school in October and November. Nominations are open for the American Library Association's Excellence in Library Programming Award until December 1. The Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2014 Young Adult Literature Symposium is now accepting program proposals through November 1. The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee is looking for new members to participate in various capacities.