The Librarian Influencer of the Week is Vilia Garcia from Harlingen CISD in Harlingen, Texas. She just wrapped up her 10th year as a school librarian with experience in middle school and a comprehensive high school.
In this podcast, Vilia recalls many lessons learned and shares her accomplishments during her first year in the library. Listen here: http://laurasheneman.libsyn.com/your-classroom-is-everyone-on-campus-with-vilia-garcia
It was a very trying year as she learned to transition from the classroom to the library.
Find a mentor who can advise you to focus on one task at a time.
She had grand ideas of everything she wanted to accomplish, but she still needed to focus on things like getting the year started.
Here are a couple of Librarian Influencer strategies Vilia shared:
She creates a library to support students in a diverse environment to include such areas as Career and Technology students, dual enrollment, and life skills.
She has worked as a solo librarian and with a co-librarian. She prefers having a co-librarian so she can work as a team.
Building relationships is so important. It will take time to develop these.
Over time, she has started seeing her classroom is everyone on campus, not just the students.
School Library Advocacy
She set up library-specific social media accounts.
Tag everyone you know as you get things kicked off.
At first, she showed what she did as a librarian. Now she showcases her students and their work.
Follow your district protocol.
Identify who you want to reach. Instagram - Students. Parents - Facebook and Twitter, etc.
My chat with Vilia was very inspiring and filled with ways she builds relationships and advocates for her students.
You can follow Librarian Influencer Vilia Garcia at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ViliaGarcia
School Twitter: https://twitter.com/South_Library
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/south_library/
SnapChat: south_library