The Librarian Influencer of the Week is Sarah Jones from Justin Elementary in Northwest ISD in Dallas/Fort Worth part of Texas. She just wrapped up her 1st year as a school librarian with 18 years total in education.
You can find the podcast on my podcast page, your favorite podcast player, or by visiting this link http://laurasheneman.libsyn.com/a-first-year-librarian-with-a-5-year-plan-with-sarah-jones
In this podcast Sarah recalls many lessons learned and shares her accomplishments during her first year in the library.
- She inherited one of the oldest libraries in her district.
- She needed to revamp the whole program, including her collection which was over 20 years old.
- She reorganized the library to be more user-friendly.
- Her priority was building relationships.
- She came to realize that not everything will be perfect. And that’s OK!
Here are a couple of Librarian Influencer strategies Sarah shared:
- She uses a variety of strategies to network with teachers.
- She saw a huge increase in her circulation during one semester!
- She supported teachers as they adopted 1:1 chromebooks.
- Her 5 year plan helps guide how she will meet all her goals.
These are some professional technology resources Sarah uses to stay sharp as a librarian:
- Lucy Calkins writing resources - https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ALucy+Calkins&s=relevancerank&text=Lucy+Calkins&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
- School Library Program: Standards and Guidelines for Texas https://www.tsl.texas.gov/sites/default/files/public/tslac/ld/schoollibs/costforstandards/School%20library%20program%20standards%20Final%20Version.pdf
- TCEA’s Elementary Technology Conference - https://elementary.tcea.org/https://tcea.org/resources/techedge/
My chat with Sarah was so inspiring - a first year librarian with a 5 year plan!
You can follow Librarian Influencer Sarah Jones at:
Twitter: @jonessarah005 https://twitter.com/jonessarah005
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Thank you and visit www.laurasheneman.com to learn more about becoming a Librarian Influencer!