Make a Big Impact @ Your School Board Meeting

This book details effective strategies for promoting a library beyond the building level in order to make an impact with the influential individuals who make the key decisions that directly affect the school district and library program. Make a Big Impact @ Your School Board Meeting was inspired by the authors' experiences speaking at local and national library conferences on the topic of making presentations to school boards and forging relationships with key administrators. It became clear that many librarians are unsure how to create a comprehensive marketing plan, and are simply too busy with their day-to-day tasks to tackle this daunting project. This book is written specifically for K-12 librarians in the field. It can also serve as an instructional tool for school library certification programs. It spotlights the importance of ongoing advocacy and leadership, teaches school librarians how to demonstrate the tremendous value of their library programs and how they directly impact student achievement, and showcases library-specific marketing techniques that can be used during good and poor economic times. By using the straightforward methods and tools provided, librarians will greatly improve their ability to avoid detrimental budget cuts to their programs. Supplies critical marketing, outreach, and public relations tools, including a sample monthly report for the school principal and sample press releases Provides an extensive checklist to help librarians prepare for the night of the school board presentation Includes useful forms such as a customizable advocacy PowerPoint presentation accessible from the accompanying CD Describes useful Web 2.0 tools for advocacy and reaching the audience