Frequently Asked Questions

1. How can I help generate meaningful instructional interactions for students?
2. What data is important to collect and interpret to further school library work? How can this be done?
3. How can I effectively and efficiently manage a school library?
4. What will make the school library program count in my school?
5. What strategies can I use to prioritize what is accomplished in the school library when I don’t have enough help to get it all done?
6. Are there ways I can be more assured that my collection is truly reflective of the school’s agenda?
7. How can I more effectively collaborate?
8. Who should do what in a school library setting?
9. How do I incorporate content area standards into my school library program?
10. What will help me maximize budget expenditures in the school library?
11. How can I better identify myself in the context of the school library?
12. Who needs to hear about the school library program and how might that happen?
13. What techniques can I use to better involve the school library program into federally mandated legislation?
14. How can decision makers about the school library be influenced?
15. How can these workshops be structured for professional development time?
16. Why do both facilitators need to come to all sessions?
17. Cost is an issue for the district – how can this be considered?
18. How does payment work?

How can I help generate meaningful instructional interactions for students?
By examining what is currently done to generate learning interactions between students and their professional facilitators, analyzing their content and essential issues, the creation of a more meaningful set of instructional interactions will become visible.

What data is important to collect and interpret to further school library work? How can this be done?
The answer to this question is based in what your district, community and state require. Federal standards are known, but how these are manifested at the more local level will establish an understanding of what data is collected, what data can be collected, and how it can be used with the school library.

How can I effectively and efficiently manage a school library?
Management strategies in a school library often equate to the management strategies of a school – techniques are considered that allow for more effective student learning and instructional interactions. Analysis of what is occurring, what can occur, and what impact other work may have on effective student learning are to be considered.

What will make the school library program count in my school?
Defining your identity, your purpose, and then making this count outside of the school library into the entire learning community will allow the school library program to count in a school, and be recognized as integral instead of ancillary.

What strategies can I use to prioritize what is accomplished in the school library when I don’t have enough help to get it all done?
Student learning drives all strategies for prioritizing school library work. Learning to discard the less essential for the more essential, and how to still accomplish goals that improves student learning are the answer.

Are there ways I can be more assured that my collection is truly reflective of the school’s agenda?
Being aligned with the expectations of the curriculum and learning community will help make any school library collection more reflective of the school agenda.

How can I more effectively collaborate?
Defining rationale and modeling positive impact for collaborating will allow more classroom teachers to understand the benefit to their students and classroom if classroom/school library collaboration occurs.

Who should do what in a school library setting?
There are multiple tasks that require various levels of school library personnel interaction – some are intra and some are inter in terms of the school’s agenda. Prioritizing these aids in understanding what needs to happen for what reason and when.

How do I incorporate content area standards into my school library program?
This is an analysis issue that then becomes a driving force for the work of the school library program. By understanding the articulation of these standards in that learning community will also help to determine priorities for learning.

What will help me maximize budget expenditures in the school library?
Being able to link expenditure with student learning and achievement is a powerful budget defense. The school library can do this in a school setting. Learning how and where to share this information also facilitates budget requests.

How can I better identify myself in the context of the school library?
Often the professional in the library is not given professional stature. Identifying yourself as this professional occurs by action more than word. Devising ways in which the professional is vital to student learning will better identify oneself in the context of the school library.

Who needs to hear about the school library program and how might that happen?
Marketing and advocacy are issues that school library programs often neglect. Defining the who, what, where, why and when regarding communicating the agenda and work of the school and its library are strategically important for deciding who and how to share this information.

What techniques can I use to better involve the school library program into federally mandated legislation?
The assessment of how federally mandated legislation is manifested in a school as well as a district are the first techniques to use in defining how to best involve the school library program in this work. From there, creating an assessment technique that clearly shows the connection between the school library and the learning required by this legislation will help in defining techniques to be use for school library involvement.

How can decision makers about the school library be influenced?
This is a marketing strategy. Defining who these individuals are, ascertaining how to best supply information that can influence their decisions and doing this become a necessary part of the work of the school library.

How can these workshops be structured for professional development time?
There are multiple combinations of these workshops – it is up to you to decide which topics resonate most strongly with the needs of your district. More than one workshop can be scheduled on the same visit. You are encouraged to speak with one of the facilitators to organize them.

Why do both facilitators need to come to all sessions?
While one or the other facilitator will lead parts of a session, the partner will facilitate the work of the participants during that time. Quality interactions between both facilitators and the participants for this work is guaranteed.

Cost is an issue for the district – how can this be considered?
Savings occurs when more than one workshop is scheduled for the same trip. Costs are kept at the minimal level to facilitate the work of the school library in a school. Follow-up contact is given for every workshop, and post work as well as workshop deliverables are given to every participant.

How does payment work?
There are a variety of ways that a workshop can be paid for. Due to the invoice timing in most school districts, invoices are usually done before the event to assure timely payment. All expenses related to travel are directly billed to the responsible parties of the workshops and all reservations for the time spent onsite for the workshop(s) will be scheduled and established before the event.

Payment is to be sent to the following address:

InfoCounts, L.L.C.
3031 191st St SE
Bothell, WA 98012