Episode 607: Connecting with Students

Episode 607 Connecting With Students graphic

Welcome back to Season Six of Linking Our Libraries!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange. Our members are libraries of all sorts: public, schools, academics, special libraries, archives, and history centers. Join us in working thorough skills library staffers can use to be more successful in their work!

This week we look at strategies you can use to connect with students! You can use these ideas in schools, or in any type of library. Our purpose in every library is always to connect our community to information, and we have some suggestions for getting that done!

Our Guest Host this week is Audrey, with a flair for technology, from Mississippi Elementary in Sauk Rapids. She helped to organize a really interesting conference – led and produced by students!

The Basics:

Our community members are the whole reason we work in libraries, media centers, or other locations to serve their communities. And a lot of those community members are kids, from kindergarten through seniors in high school! So today we are going to work through some strategies you can use to reach out and connect with this group, to be sure they know how wonderful your library and your resources are.

You can already tell just from that age range that this is a group of people with all kinds of different needs. A lot of that is content – you can use many of the same strategies in connecting, but provide different levels and types of content.

Don’t forget to be thinking about promoting diversity in the information and materials you share! It’s always a good idea to buy books, subscriptions, or other resources after talking with other people.  It can be really hard to know your own blind spots – the things you know so automatically you don’t think about it, and the things you don’t even realize exist. So when you want to make connections, think about how to do that from a variety of perspectives, to be sure you are including everyone in your community!

One easy thing you can do is look around your library and think about using it as one of your target community members. What is on the walls? Bright, colorful posters are always good. Student art is likewise going to be welcome at any age. Can you walk in the room and look all around? Is the furniture sized appropriately for the age you are serving? Can you easily get where you want to go? Is it obvious where people should go to check out books, or to return them? Making signs can help locate things, but you don’t want too many signs – people get blinded to them. Nobody understands the Dewey Decimal System, and a lot of patrons will not even understand how things are organized. Putting up pictures on the endcaps to let everyone know the subjects in each aisle or on a bookshelf will make it so much easier for people to find what they want.

Think about the programs you can offer. Yes – in a school library there could be a variety of fun programs!! Here are just a few we found other school libraries trying:

  • Storytime in a Foreign Language Invite a community guest /staff member to read books in their language. Bring books to share with children sharing the written language as well. Complete the session with pieces of information about their culture.
  • Book Baby Shower Decorate new arrivals in the library 
  • Community Service Club Teen library volunteer program that could fulfill volunteer hours requirement for schools, churches, service clubs, etc. Recruit teens to assist with the summer reading program, storytime crafts, shelving. and other jobs. With training they could also do outreach storytimes with community daycare groups.
  • Altered Books Projects Save your scraps and discarded books to use in this fun crafting event. Starting with a discarded book as a canvas, kids can use glitter, sequins, and stickers to decorate their artwork.
  • Charades Read a book about emotions, like “How Are You Peeling?” After the story, the presenter assigns each player a specific emotion to act out while the others guess.
  • Book Blind Dating Wrap up books in brown paper and write a few descriptive words on the outside; let students be surprised by their books after checking them out
  • Green Screen Fun Set up a green screen and let kids make their own unique videos, complete with all sorts of interesting backgrounds
  • Learning Prescription with Technology Work with teachers to provide tech tools in the library; students can be sent there to work on projects during class time (See the article link in our show notes for more information!)

“…[S]tudies clearly demonstrate that strong school library programs help all students do better academically, even when other school variables are considered. Students who don’t speak English at home can be among those who benefit the most.

  • School library programs foster critical thinking, providing students with the skills they need to analyze, form, and communicate ideas in compelling ways.
  • School libraries are places of opportunity. They are learning hubs and homework help centers where students use technology and the latest information resources, preparing them to succeed in our global, competitive economy and the ever-evolving workplace.
  • Strong school library programs instill confidence in reading in multiple formats, which is fundamental to learning, personal growth and enjoyment.
  • School libraries foster a safe and nurturing climate during the day and before and after school. They are often the one place in the school that is open to all students, and where a school librarian cares and can support students across grade levels and subject matter.”

Libraries of all types are wonderful – we are big fans here! But school libraries have a chance to really connect with kids, and to help support them not just in individual classroom assignments, but also in learning to value reading, learning, and the value of good information! 

Resources for you to consult:

Okay, we’ve shared a few background ideas and strategies here. Let’s talk with Audrey to get some ideas for making these theories a reality in their schools!

Books Read

And now we have one of our favorite parts of each episode: sharing books! Each of us will share a book we are reading. Links to each book will be on our show notes page, with a link to Amazon.com. If you buy a nice book – or anything else – Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits. Thanks in advance!!

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez

Fortune Furlough (A Miss Fortune Mystery Book 14), by Jana DeLeon

The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Conclusion

Thanks to Audrey for working through all these ideas with us!

Thanks to you for joining us this week! It’s always better when you are here with us!

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Check back in with us next week for another library skill!