BLOGS > FEBRUARY 22, 2024
Regardless of the age of your students, actively involving them in the running of your library has multiple benefits. It can enhance reading engagement, help with developing a school-wide reading culture, provide students with leadership opportunities, and promote the role of your library within your school. Students like to be heard and will feel valued if you seek their opinions and then act on that information. After all, the students are your customers, so the library needs to be relevant and provide the things that they want, especially if you are trying to encourage them to be regular library visitors.
Reading engagement can increase when students are able to make their own choices about which books that they read (Merga and Gardiner, 2018), so it makes sense for your library to have as many of the books that your students want as possible. Providing the books that your students ask for will also ensure that your school library collection is relevant and reflects the specific reading interests of your students.
Talking about books enhances the social aspect of reading, exposing us to books we may not otherwise know about and motivating us to try something new. Not surprisingly, readers of all ages are most likely to read books that are recommended by friends. Many of us will have at least one or two reading friends whose opinions we value and who are the best and most reliable source for our next great read!
Give your students a sense of ownership by making them an integral part of the library space. Put their art and other work up on the walls (ask your teaching colleagues if they have anything suitable to display), get them to help create library displays, get their thoughts on the layout, and find out what they like and what they don’t – then make some changes. The more your students feel a part of the library, the more they will enjoy being there and the more often they will visit!
Always consider where your collection gaps are well before budget submissions are due. Key decision makers are driven by what benefit students will gain from every dollar spent. By showing existing gaps, and how filling them will contribute to positive student outcomes you give yourself the best possible opportunity for budget approval.
Your school library management system will help you identify gaps in your collection.
It’s always important to know well in advance what will be studied. If you have visibility of the school curriculum, you can make sure that your collection will support it. This is where it’s important to engage with departmental heads to get overviews of the year’s topics. If you have a general outline for the year ahead, you can better assess potential and current resource subscriptions.
Encourage students to be involved in the library as helpers, workers, advisors, technicians, and ambassadors. Get to know your students so that you can identify those best suited to various roles within the library. Make a point of publicly acknowledging their efforts with badges, certificates, and increased responsibilities. You can download certificate and badge templates from the Accessit Library e-Learning Centre (ALeC). The library can provide a safe place for students to learn to lead and be role models, enhancing the position of the library within your school.
Involving your students will also help to raise the profile of your library within your school. The more students are given a chance to have a say and to be heard, the more they will value the library and see it as their place, becoming some of your strongest advocates and biggest supporters. As library visits and student engagement increase, so too will recognition of the important role that the library plays in supporting learning and student achievement within your school.
References
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