Aligning Evidence-Based Library Planning with School GoalsMary Virginia Meeks T.C. Marsh Middle School, Dallas ISD

Maria Cahill, PhDTexas Woman’s University

What is evidence based library practice?

Know Students’

Needs

Find Existing Evidence

Apply Best Practice

Collect Evidence

Evaluate, Communicat

e, Plan

Why Implement Evidence-

Based Practice?

STUDENTS

Applying Evidence-based Practice

Determine needs

Consult stakeholders

Brainstorm strategies

Implement a plan

Collect evidence

Evaluate

Communicate

Repeat

Needs

“To be thought of as essential we must contribute to solving the needs of the School Board. The politics of scarce resources is fickle. All departments and members of the educational community are fighting for the same resources of time, money, and visibility. So, what needs to be done is to figure out what is the most important goal, agenda item, objective of your local school board. Once you find that out then show how the library helps to meet that goal. “

Ann M. Martin, August 2009

Determining Campus Goals

Campus Improvement Plan

Conversations with administration

Conversations with teachers

Conversations with students and parents

School Board minutes

PlanningFormulate preliminary library

goals based on campus goals (CIP)

Create preliminary strategies

Solicit input from stakeholders

Share your plan

Planning Details

Prepare a plan for measuring your effectiveness (i.e. what evidence will you collect and how will you collect it?)

Implement Strategies

Create a schedule for routine procedures addressing goals and adhere to it;

Create a schedule for collecting and analyzing data;

Carry out all strategies related to accomplishing goals;

Collect evidence to evaluate each strategy

Communicate

Get evaluative information from your stakeholders and share with them that which you collect;

Communicate the activities and evaluative data with ALL stakeholders regularly;

Address Shortcomings

Identify the shortcomings of your plan;

Repeat the EBP process.

Let’s PRACTICE

Developing Goals

Sample Campus Goals (from CIP)

1. Increase cohesiveness

2. Increase technology use

3. Increase college readiness/awareness

4. Increase school-wide AVID use

5. Increase extra-curricular participation

6. Increase academic behavior

Developing Goals cont.

Sample Library Goals (Based on Campus Goals)

1. Increase cohesiveness

2. Increase technology use

3. Increase college readiness/awareness

4. Increase school-wide AVID use

5. Increase extra-curricular participation

6. Increase academic behavior

Create Objectives

Sample Library Goal and Objectives

1. Increase cohesiveness

Among staff

Among students

Among parents

Partnering with Stakeholders to Implement Plan:

Brainstorm Strategies for Objectives

1. Strategies to implement for “Increasing Cohesiveness” GOAL:

Staff: initiate collaborative lessons, attend campus and department meetings, host monthly coffee,…

Students: Fine waiving, give “permanent passes,” have library make-over days, clubs and events…

Parents: Host coffees, email/newsletters, volunteer group, …

Sources of Evidence

GOAL: Increasing Staff cohesiveness

1. Checked Curriculum Central weekly and approached 5 teachers per month with collaborative ideas/support; resulted in a 200% increase in staff collaborations overall.

Sources of Evidence

GOAL: Increasing Staff cohesiveness cont:

2. Hosted monthly staff coffees with increased attendance yearlong; end-of year surveys indicated increased satisfaction in personal and professional relationships school wide.

Your Turn, Partners!

GOAL: Increase extra-curricular participation

Strategies?

Evidence?

Sources of Evidence

Rubrics

Exit slips

Surveys (formal and informal)

Benchmark tests (with caution)

TEKS objectives

Other feedback

• Demonstrated mastery of info literacy skills (staff and students)

Traditional library stats (WITH other evidence)

National studies/expert opinions (WITH other evidence)

Find Sources of Evidence in sample strategies:

Book Club

Mini-Lessons/Story-time

Collaborations

Book trailers

Family Literacy program

Reading Incentive Programs/Activities

Website

Parent Coffee

Communicate “You are what people see you do.” –Anonymous

6 Weeks Updates to LMS and stakeholders

-Examples on next slide

-Doug Johnson’s wiki: https://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/AllAboard

-Share with each other!

Video

Website/Blog

Local news

PA announcement

Flyer/mini-poster

Stickers/t-shirts on kids

Photos/callouts

6 Weeks Update forms for LMS

Items that may be included on the update form:

Circulation Statistics

Research Statistics (database use, databases taught)

Library Use (grade levels, subjects, drop ins, etc)

Collaborations (types, how many, etc)

Evidence of contributing to campus goals

Other possible info: Meetings attended, library closures, librarian leadership demonstrated

Six Weeks Update for Stakeholders

More sites to visit for communication formats

The Unquiet Library (print and Animoto formats)http://www.theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/cat.php?cid=19980

 Library Girlhttp://lib-girl.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-bird-its-plan-its-our-annual-report.html 

Springfield Township HShttp://issuu.com/joycevalenza/docs/annualreport11 

Possible Issues in Implementing Evidence-

Based Practice

Time consuming

“Bad” evidence

Change can be slow

Concluding Remarks and Questions

Maria Cahill, Ph.DAssistant Professor School of Library and Information Studies Texas Woman’s University Denton,TX Mcahill1@twu.edu

Mary Virginia MeeksLibrarianThomas C. Marsh Middle School Dallas ISDDallas,TX mmeeks@dallasisd.org