#85 Line Manager

Who should line manage a school librarian?

Well, probably not anyone from the administrative side of things, as they have little to do with curricular issues, information science or literacy. That includes ‘Business Managers’ of any description.

Head of English? I don’t think so. The librarian is there to support the whole school curriculum, not just the English Department.

The simple answer is that it should be a depute head or headteacher, who should have the skills and overview of school issues to be able to advise and guide you appropriately. In all my posts, I had a senior manager as my line manager, and would definitely not have settled for less.

#84 Discipline

An earlier post referred to a discipline policy, and how this should fit in with school policy.

Writing a discipline policy is fairly easy, particularly if you base it on the whole school policy. Keeping order in a busy school library is not so easy, and requires a great amount of patience, perseverance and a certain amount of psychology.

First, what not to do.
Lose your temper. This instantly marks you down as the loser in any conflict. Respect goes out the window on both sides.
Get personal. Deal with the behaviour, not the pupil. Don’t slag them off or humiliate them, this will often backfire on you.
Get involved with a fellow professional’s pupils. Deal with it personally, after the class.

I’ve seen teaching staff shouting loudly at pupils within an inch or two of their face. Where do you go after that?

Things to do.
Keep calm. Even if you’re irritated internally, keep a calm exterior and a level tone of voice and manner.
Concentrate on the behaviour, repeatedly pointing out that it is unacceptable, if necessary.
Isolate the poor behaviour. If a pupil refuses to leave, clear everyone else out. The miscreant will usually leave of their own accord before the room is cleared.
Follow through. If an incident is unresolved, ensure you follow it through to the bitter end. Involve guidance teachers, teachers, managers and the headteacher if necessary. This is not usually necessary, but take it as far as it needs to go.

This is a very difficult topic, and one that doesn’t get any easier. However, if you are observant, attend relevant training and learn from your fellow professionals (particularly good teachers) your working life can be relatively calm and satisfying.

The tips here are short, but fairly sweet.

#79 Working Space

Some librarians have the luxury of working from an office, whilst other members of staff slave at the desk face. Others are based at the desk, with an office to retreat to. Others live at the desk, full stop.

Whatever your circumstance (I’ve been in all of them) there are things you can do to alleviate stress and confrontation. Even if you don’t have office space, you can have a filing cabinet. Keep your important docs in there and lock it.

If you do have an office, make sure it is a place of holiness where only the invited can venture.

If you have the luxury of time to plan whilst others service the desk, why haven’t you taken over the world yet?

#75 Get Published

I think there are many reasons why you should publish your views, opinions and accomplishments. I am also aware that there are many librarians for whom this does not come naturally.

It is fairly easy to get published. If you have a strong opinion about a current issue, or want to highlight an innovative service that you provide, you can send an outline to the editor of a clutch of library centred journals. Failing that, you can blog the information globally, or locally within your own institution.

Why publish at all though? Isn’t it a bit precocious and pompous, if not even vain? Well, that’s for the audience to judge, but it can be a useful exercise for the following reasons:

• it’s good CPD
• it lets you express your opinions and thoughts, which are as valid as anyone else’s
• it raises your profile
• it can raise your institutional profile
• it can raise librarians’ profile generally
• it gets you involved with a wider professional community
• it’s fun

Isn’t that enough reason?

Information Scotland

CILIP Library & Information Update

CILIP Library & Information Gazette

Library Weblogs

#74 Copyright

I despaired of ever setting up any kind of copyright framework in my school posts which had any kind of meaningful standing in the reality of day to day use of documents in schools.

Let’s be honest. Misuse is rife. The librarian is expected to be some kind of policeman, attempting to ensure that CLA guidelines are consulted and observed. Why this should be the case is something I have questioned in the past.

My attitude to copyright is simple. I do not work for the CLA. I do not get paid to implement copyright law. I do not get paid to question teachers and support staff about how they use and copy texts and journals.

I do get paid to advise staff. This I do, in the spirit of squeezing the law till it squeaks. I would not advocate breaking the law, but I would advise pushing copyright procedures into the grey areas, as long as it doesn’t infringe authors’ rights as laid down by the government and the CLA guidelines.

The bottom line is that we are paid to interpret the law and the guidelines to help teaching staff teach; simple as that.

#71 3D Displays

It can be fairly easy to create an interesting 3D display to promote a new batch of books, or stock you’re trying to create interest in. For example, a new batch of Michael Hardcastle books might inspire a mannequin based display with football kit and other football paraphernalia. With the help of your Art and PE departments, this should be fairly easy, but it can be trickier for other topics.

Useful places to look for free or cheap materials: bookshops, book suppliers, publishers, cinemas, video rental outlets, charity shops. It’s amazing what you can find, and what some outlets will happily part with, particularly promotional materials.

#70 Specialist Subject: Literature

Most English Departments in most schools will at some point ask pupils to write in some depth about a text of their choice. This may be a novel, a non-fiction text, poetry or short stories.

Several years ago, I set a blog ‘database’ of texts, which contained reviews, plot outline (no spoiler!), author details and links to any film tie-in. The latter was particularly popular partly, I fear, due to a desire to do their SSL project without reading the book.

Learning Teaching Scotland attempted to move this idea forward in 2005/6 by creating the Book Maze, but this seems to have fizzled out, as there is little evidence of recent activity. I had some input into the Book Maze, but was of the opinion that it should be aimed at pupils rather than teachers or librarians, who generally don’t need guidance in this area.

I think this is a great idea to promote literature study, if you can find the time to do it. If not, you could consider getting your pupils to do it for you.

#67 Working Into A School

This is something that can either be very difficult, or very easy depending on your outlook. Some librarians tend to concentrate on their ‘domain’ or space and keep concentrating on that, regardless of external forces. Personally, I think that’s a mistake.

My experience in schools led me to believe that the following activities can make your professional life much more manageable and rewarding, if common sense is applied:

• get to know the school jannies and don’t boss them about or fall out with them
• ditto with administrative staff. They’re the people who really get things done in schools
• have a wander about the corridors and classrooms from time to time (but avoid hauling Johnny up for dropping his chewing gum: counter-productive!)
• get involved in sporting activities (if you’re not sporty take pictures or video the event)
• enthuse about your own hobbies whether that’s IT, books, chess, sport or knitting
• try and get 1 or 2 teachers on your side (not all of them, just some)
• try and get on to teaching staff CPD events if you can. After they stop gawping, it can be quite productive.
• try and learn more about the curriculum than the teachers: seriously useful
• talk to the pupils. No, I mean TALK to the pupils, find out what they really think, and let them feel they can confide in you
• visit the staffroom. This can be hell, but you will get to know a few people you wouldn’t otherwise meet
• create a coffee spot (decent coffee) with biscuits, so staff might come and visit you
• retain your sense of humour; it will avoid the burning up of mega stress points

Try a few of these, and you might avoid this.

#65 Wall Space

There are several different ways of making use of your wall space, and none of them need to be terribly expensive.

You can display outcomes form any library competitions or activities. There is a double advantage here in that your customers will see their own work and it’s free!

Look out for CPD opportunities for training from specialist companies that show you how to use leaflets, ribbons and posters to best effect. This can be very impressive for little or no cost.

Try something different, like the link below that leads to a site that lets you create genuine looking US road signs that you could use for navigation, or just for fun.

Roadsigns Maker

You can find some more practical examples here.

#64 Staff Manual

For a lone librarian, this one might seem impossible. Where am I going to get the time to create a staff manual?

Also, it will only be of benefit to other people, won’t it?

Well, no. Not really. It’s a good CPD exercise for a librarian (or any other professional) to create a staff manual. It gives you a snapshot of what you’re actually doing and how you’re doing it. You may look at some procedures along the way, and decide that change is required.

It may also save your bacon if you’re off ill for any length of time, or anyone needs to take over your operation for any reason.

What kind of things should you look at? Here’s some suggestions:

University of Waterloo Library Manuals

School Library Handbook (Philidelphia, USA)

Handbook For High School Librarians

For Visually Impaired Users