The Librarian Influencer of the Week is Kara Harper from Magnolia, Texas. She just wrapped up her 1st year as a school librarian after 17 years as an educator.
You can find the podcast on my podcast page, your favorite podcast player, or by visiting this link http://laurasheneman.libsyn.com/one-year-down-with-kara-harper.
In this podcast Kara recalls many lessons learned and shares her accomplishments during her first year in the library.
- She was fortunate to be mentored by her campus assistant principal who was the former school librarian.
- She was hired to be the librarian at the same campus she had been teaching at.
- Kara was surprised by all the “other hats” she had to wear above and beyond her role as librarian.
- Her technology support helped her build relationships with teachers who later reached out to her for other kinds of help.
Here are a couple of Librarian Influencer strategies Kara shared:
- Be positive if you want to have return customers in the library.
- Librarians don’t know everything, but they know how to find out everything.
- Focus on relationships. Focus on the campus needs at the beginning of each year. Eventually you’ll have time for your own projects.
- Be visible.
- Initiate conversations.
These are things Kara did her first year and recommends for you to do:
- Didn’t weed or order books until the second semester.
- Find a mentor.
- The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts and Practices (Library and Information Science Text) ISBN-13: 978-1610698238
- The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity ISBN-13: 978-0986155499
I loved hearing about Kara’s first year!
You can follow Librarian Influencer Kara Harper at:
Twitter: @harper_kara https://twitter.com/harper_kara
Instagram: @karaharper https://www.instagram.com/karaharper
Are you subscribed to my podcast? If not, I want to encourage you to do that today. I don’t want you to miss an episode. I'll be adding some bonus episodes and if you’re not subscribed there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes or subscribe through your favorite podcast provider.
I’d be very grateful if you left me a review, too. It will help other people find my podcast and it'll also be fun (and instructional!) for me to read.
Just click here to review in iTunes or in your podcast provider and select “Ratings and Reviews” then“Write a Review” and let me know what your favorite part of the podcast is.
Thank you and visit www.laurasheneman.com to learn more about becoming a Librarian Influencer!