Happy New Year!

Semester one is almost over, and so far we have survived Freshman orientation and both the Sophomore and Senior research papers.  We have promoted Banned Books Week, an Angry Birds Family Night, and the Elves in our Shelves.

Looking forward, we are planning our presentations for the Texas Computer Education Association at the beginning of February and our District Showcase in the middle of February.  The Juniors are coming in March for their big research unit, the Freshman are coming in May, and we want to plan another family night for Texas Public School's Week.  Of course, I have not forgotten School Library Week and Teen Tech Week....can't wait for those.  Fun times in the library!

As I prepare my part of our TCEA presentation, I want to take a few minutes to stress the importance of keeping library statistics as a way to promote your presence.  We started collecting stats 3 years ago when the district decided to hire 3 full time librarians at the same school. We wanted to make sure that our stats supported the fact that 3 librarians are a necessity on our campus, not a luxury.

Three years ago, we prepared a monthly report and sent it to our Principal and APs.  At the end of the year, we invited our teachers, staff, the administrators (superintendent, deputy superintendents,  heads of departments, library director, etc), school board members, and key community members (mayor, public librarian, etc) to come to an end of year bash where we also shared our stats for the year and thanked them for their support.

Last year, we sent the monthly reports to the Principal and APs again.  Then quarterly, we also sent them to key people in the district with which we had an established relationship, and we invited everyone back at the end of the year to thank them for their support.  This year, we started by sending out the first month to all key people in the district asking them to reply if they wanted to be kept on the mailing list and receive a library report each month.  Over half of our audience replied with a definite "yes," including 2 school board members.

So, where do you start?

Three years ago we started taking stats on our book circulation totals, how many classes we were either co-teaching or facilitating, the number of students coming to the library on passes, and the number of technology problems we solved.  Here is what our report looked like .....

This year we are keeping track of our circulation statistics, number of searches from our databases, the classes we co-teach/facilitate, students who come in before and after school, students who come in on passes during the day, the number of staff development meetings and events that we host, the amount of technology that is checked out by our teachers, and the number of technology issues we solve.  Here is what our report looks like now .....

Needless to say, our report has grown.  I think it is all about reporting on the things you deem important. Does a report like this take time?  Of course, but the numbers speak for themselves. This is a great way to promote your library to those who make the decisions in your district.  Just a thought!