The Librarian Influencer of the Week is Texas librarian Linda Martinez. She worked at an elementary school library along the Texas/Mexico border for several years and transitioned to a middle school library just a few weeks ago. Click here to listen now!
Here are some Librarian Influencer strategies Linda shared for early-career librarians:
It takes time, but you will be able to transition to the library you’ve always dreamed about.
Linda likes to use the summer to catch up on her reading lists.
Linda loves to develop themes during the summer for who she will decorate her library when school starts. She's very creative and has made curtains out of plastic tablecloths and even newspapers!
One summer she studied about genrefying her library and was ready to go when the next school year started.
Linda’s advice for new librarians:
Linda recommends teaming up with your newest teachers because they are eager to try new things.
Offer professional development when the new school year starts. But, remember teachers go into survival mode when the new school year starts.
Be flexible. Work with the teachers who are trying to work with you.
She taught her 1st - 5th grade students to do self-checkout to free her up to help other students. It took time for everyone to get the hang of it, But, it worked!
Linda’s advocacy advice:
She realized she didn’t have a lot of pictures or other documentation of the great work she did early on in her career.
Use social media and newsletters to show parents and teachers everything you do. Help change their thoughts that you only check out books.
You can follow Librarian Influencer Linda Martinez at:
Twitter: @LibrarianLindaM https://twitter.com/LibrarianLindaM
Facebook: Linda Autumn https://www.facebook.com/pharroutparties
Instagram: librarianlindam https://www.instagram.com/librarianlindam/
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