Listening is crucial to building bridges between public, school librarians

As a public librarian, one of the most important ways to connect with media specialists isn’t by highlighting all the amazing resources you have to offer. It isn’t about doing booktalks or scheduling student trips for library tours or author visits. While these services are valuable and needed, the key to bridging the gap between school and public libraries is really about listening and understanding what your school counterpart has to say.

Some of you may think you’ve already tackled this problem. But before you breeze past this step in building a sustainable and beneficial relationship with your school librarian, take this simple quiz: What are the full names of the librarians at your local middle and high schools? Do they work full-time at one school or are they shared between buildings? How many classes and students do they see and instruct in a day? When was the last time the school district had an increase or decrease in funding? Does the library have a formal collection development policy? Is the library open to all students before and after school and during lunch? Are your local school library programs tied to your state curriculum standards? Does your state require teaching credentials or certified school librarians? What effect has No Child Left Behind (NCLB) had on school libraries in your area? What is the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act?

If you answered all 10 questions, then good for you. But if you only answered half of them, you’ve failed. If you were stumped by any of the first eight questions, then shame on you because the answers are in your own community. It’s time to start some investigating in your own backyard, and I suggest you start right now.

While these questions may seem like peripheral information for a public librarian serving teens, the truth is they have a profound effect on your school counterpart—and by extension, they profoundly affect you.

Public librarians often complain that media specialists are unresponsive and have no interest in cooperating. Here’s a word of advice: don’t be surprised if your school counterpart isn’t jumping at your offer to booktalk at her school. That’s because she’s likely in charge of a heavy class load, she shuttles between two and three schools each week, and she doesn’t have a district-approved collection development policy.

Regardless, you can fine-tune your services to make them attractive to your school librarian. But it’s going to take a little effort.

Once you’ve answered the first eight questions, focus on the last two. The key to building stronger partnerships with school librarians is understanding the pressures and limits that they face.

No Child Left Behind is a complicated piece of legislation, but public librarians need to learn about its basic elements, particularly the effect they’ve had on the way school librarians instruct students and structure their work days.

The SKILLs Act is another element of NCLB, which is up for reauthorization, and public librarians should be aware of this. It requires that all school districts ensure that every school employs a state-certified media specialist in each school library.

Cooperation between public and school librarians is crucial for all librarians who serve teens. As Sara Kelly Johns, president of the American Association of School Librarians, says, “Cooperation can improve if each understood both the similarities and differences between their roles.”

Now is the time to find out what’s going on at your local school libraries so that we can work together and form an effective team that supports the library needs of teens in every way.