7 successful strategies to develop your school library advocacy toolkit

1

7 successful strategies to develop your advocacy toolkit

My journey

2

1979 began teaching career

Secondary, teacher-librarian, head of department, acting deputy principal, regional educational adviser, education officer

1994 – independent consultancy

A magic moment2001 – Australian School

Library Association Citation Award in recognition of services to teacher librarianship in Australia

“From the time she first took on the role of ASLA Councillor it was evident that she had the vision, dedication, drive, enthusiasm and attention to detail to be a future leader of the Association and teacher librarians.”

3

Before and after 1991 to 1995 – SLAQ President 1996 to 1998 – ASLA President 2001..... 2002 – Contracted as Executive Officer for ASLA 2005 – Capra Ryan Australian Teacher

Librarianship prize (CSU Master of Applied Science)

2005 – Contracted as Executive Secretary for IASLPresentations & papers

http://www.kb.com.au/presentations/index.htm

4

School Library Inquiry

Who are you, what do you do and what are you doing about it?

5

Dr Dennis Jensen MP, Sharon Bird MP & Karen Bonanno, ASLA Executive Officer

Advocacy defined

6

7 strategies to develop your advocacy toolkit

1. Identify a memorable message2. Capture killer statistics3. Gather startling facts4. Source quotable quotes5. Find remarkable stories6. Massage the media7. Leverage the network

7

Strategy 1:Identify a memorable message

What is the perception you want to get across?

What is it that you want to keep in front of everyone’s mind?

What experience do you want teachers and students to have?

Get a message that will stick“Our school library

evolves to meet the students’ needs”

8

Strategy 2:Capture killer statistics 46% of Australians are illiterate

[Adult literacy & life skills survey, Summary Results, 2006 www.abs.gov.au]

40 to 45% of primary schools chose to have either a refurbished or new school library built under the BER [Building the Education Revolution Implementation Taskforce Interim Report, 2010]

Pew Research Center – Numbers, facts and trends shaping our world http://pewresearch.org/

Australian school libraries research http://www.asla.org.au/research/

9

Strategy 3:Gather startling facts “In this survey 86 (12.518%) of the schools reported

an annual library budget of less than $1000. A further 113 (16.448%) schools reported an annual budget of less than $5000. In all nearly a third of the survey participants (28.996%) received less than $5000 for their school libraries. Across the whole survey group 45.123% of schools received less than $10,000 as their annual budget.” (2008, http://www.chs.ecu.edu.au/portals/ASLRP/report/libraries/annual-budgets.html)

The Horizon Reports http://www.nmc.org/publications The Productivity Commission http://www.pc.gov.au/

10

Strategy 4:Source quotable quotes “Cutting libraries during a recession is like

cutting hospitals during a plague” – Eleanor Crumblehulme.  This one became the slogan on a T-shirt – http://www.cafepress.ca/soullesstees.440929848

“Digital literacy, in its broadest sense, is now as important as being able to read and write and to do your sums”. [Broadband business plan - http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2010/s3097939.htm]

http://www.useful-information.info/quotations/library_quotes.html

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/library.html

http://www.quotegarden.com/libraries.html11

Strategy 5:Find remarkable stories Source a case study

Equal Education campaign – “One school, one library, one librarian” - http://www.equaleducation.org.za/

Capture the student voice

Student learning through Ohio school libraries research project

Student learning through Australian school libraries project http://www.slav.schools.net.au/synergy/vol4num2/hay_pt2.pdf

Once I was lost…now I am found

12

Strategy 6:Massage the media

Author visits Special events such as Book Week Lunchtime activities Displays of resources or student work New library or different layout

EdNA school events calendar http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/schools_events/

13

Strategy 7:Leverage the network AASL Advocacy tip of the day

http://advocacytipoftheday.wordpress.com/ ASLA http://www.asla.org.au/advocacy/ ISLM http://iasl-online.org/events/islm/ SLA UK

http://www.sla.org.uk/advocacy.php CSLA

http://www.csla.net/res/sip_toolkit.htm

14

Let’s recap

1. Identify a memorable message2. Capture killer statistics3. Gather startling facts4. Source quotable quotes5. Find remarkable stories6. Massage the media7. Leverage the network

15

Become part of the tribe

“One of the most powerful of our survival mechanisms is to be part of a tribe, to contribute to (and take from) a group of like-minded people.” Seth Godin, 2008

Share collective wisdom Develop critical mass Promote a consistent message

16

Where can you do that?

Go tohttp://www.karenbonanno.com.au/

tag/library-advocacy/Free access to valuable information

Valued at $ 2,000Collaboration, Community,

Contribution

17

Bonus 2 – PowerPoint

Provide access to this PowerPoint presentation

Go over points again Capture content (and acknowledge)

Email the web link once it is uploaded

18

Bonus 3 – Webinar replay

Provide access to this webinar as a replay movie

View and review Hear the presentation Share with others

Email the web link once it is uploaded

19

Call to action

Go tohttp://www.karenbonanno.com.au/

tag/library-advocacy/

Collaboration, Community, Contribution

Build the tribe

20