Assignment, Creative writing
Marketing:
Project description:
What I want you to do for the first part is be thinking about the different audiences you have as a school librarian. The bullet points I have are sort of a starting point, some kinds of basic information you might want to know about these different audiences. This information is important, because not only can it help you target your message, it can also help think about the kinds of services and programs you should be offering: a large parent population of migrant workers will likely have different needs from a large parent population of white collar workers. You might not have an answer for all of these, or be able to find one out, but try to figure out as much as you can, and feel free to add more: what I am looking for is enough details to give me a good picture of what that audience looks like for you.
For the second part, I have you creating some marketing materials, and please feel free to create some stuff for a program/service you are already offering: no reason to do double work. If you”re not currently a librarian of record, be thinking about a program or service you”d like to offer, or maybe consult with your librarians and see if there”s something they need advertised: I like you to create useful work. You”ll be describing the program for me, and then also talking about why you chose the particular pieces for the particular audiences. This is so I can see your thinking and decision making process, and make sure they are sound: Twitter is probably not the best method to advertise something to kindergarteners, for example.
In the third part, you”ll be preparing basically what”s called an elevator speech, even though in the scenario you”re giving it on the way to the parking lot. Essentially, your task here is to convey the importance of the school library in general and collaboration in particular to an administrator who isn”t aware of what the library really has to offer.
Finally, the last part may be a bit of a stretch activity for some of you. I want you to write a letter (keep it under a page) to one of your elected officials, either on your school board or a state representative or senator. You might be wondering why I am having you do this. The last year I was in a school library, the district was planning to cut the elementary librarians: they”d already cut the middle school librarians, and the second high school librarian (they had to keep one for accreditation purposes). In collaboration with many of my fellow elementary librarians, we went and spoke to the board several times, got parents, teachers, and other stakeholders to speak on our behalves as well, and in the end, the school board decided not to cut the elementary librarians. The number of school librarians has been on the decline for a while, and even though you may not be under threat now, you need to know how to talk to those who make the financial decisions for the districts and the state. Even if you think your positions never will be threatened, wouldn”t it be great to have some experience talking up what school librarians do in order to get some more stuff for your programs?