School Library Staff Guide
Have you ever wanted a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about managing a school library that shines? Here is my attempt at putting that together for you and all school library staff.
Okay, that's a big promise and this page doesn’t do that just yet. Actually, it will probably never be complete because I will always be adding to it and updating things. But the purpose of this guide is to link you to the information I have learned in my journey in school libraries, information I would have loved to have when I was first starting out. Some links will take you to step-by-step guides, some blog posts I've written and some to pages created by other school library staff. I hope it is a starting point for you, whether it's your first year working in a school library or your twentieth.
See something that is missing? Let me know. If you have a resource that would be helpful or would like to contribute to this guide, please get in touch.
Start of the Year
Starting well can really help with the year ahead. To begin with, get some planning done. I always start with a to-do list for the start of the year. Some of these things are items that need to be checked off at the start of every year and others might be targeted towards your focus areas for the year. Here's a helpful to-do list with ideas on what to get done at the start of the year. Back-to-School Guide for School Library Staff.
Having the major events of your year and displays planned out gives you an idea of what is happening when. Here are some useful tools to help you plan your year.
Budgeting
A budget is an important resource for a school library. With a decent budget, you are able to provide the digital and physical resources for your school library, fund author visits, update your space, and respond to staff and student needs. Regardless of whether your school library budget is tiny or massive, a fixed known amount or just a rough guide, keeping track of your budget and how funds are spent are important skills. Coming soon.
Collection Management
Managing the school library's physical collection is an important part of the role of working in the school library, whether you are looking to maintain or update your collections or are faced with new-to-you collections.
Collection Development
Reinvigorating a Non-Fiction Collection and updating the graphic novel collection (the same process could be followed for any collection)
Magazines in the school library
Weeding
Weeding is a vital part of maintaining your library collection. Here's my guide to the ins and outs of weeding.
Genrefication
Inheriting a Genrefied Collection
Everything you need to know about genrefication This page includes articles and step-by-step guides on the genrefication process for fiction, non-fiction and special collections.
Signage
Updating the signage in your school library (without it costing a fortune)
Special Events
The school library is the perfect place to host a range of special events. They help promote the library and develop a love of reading and writing in our students.
Special Events Calendar. This calendar offers a range of event ideas, all related to school libraries, literature or reading.
Book Week is a highlight of the Australian school library calendar. On this Book Week page you will find theme announcements, ideas, activities, display ideas and much more.
Activities and Clubs
Running book clubs, activities and groups in the school library is lots of fun.
Book Clubs. How to get them started, promote and recruit members and a list of activity ideas.
Dungeons and Dragons - a guide for anyone (even someone who has never played before) to get a group up and running.
Looking for more activity ideas to run in the school library? Here are a few to get you started.
Promoting the School Library
Promoting the school library, its collections, services, events and reading itself is incredibly important. The work of the school library can sometimes be a mystery to those who don't step through its doors and spreading awareness of what the school library does and getting as many students as possible involved, is vital. Therefore, marketing and promotion techniques and skills can be incredible handy.
Want to align your promotions and market your school library under a cohesive brand? Try the Creating a Marketing Plan series, which includes tips for getting started, branding basics and a step-by-step branding audit guide.
Making your library visible on the school website is an easy way to ensure parents and families can find information about your space and services. Here's a few tips to get you started. Creating a Library Presence on the School Website
End of the Year
You made it! Congrats on finishing your year. Things never seem to wind down in the school library and often the end of the year is busier than ever. There are a few important things to get done and well as steps you can take to prepare for the following year.
End of year means annual report time. Preparing a report is a great way to reflect on the year, assess what progress towards goals have been made, where funds have been spent, celebrate achievements and set goals for the following year. It's also an incredibly important for advocating for the school library with school leadership, business managers, staff and school families.
School Library Annual Reports - a guide on why they are important and how to get started, along with an editable annual report template.
Annual Report Loan Statistics - what data to collect and why.
© Copyright 2024 Madison Dearnaley.