Championing Your School Library

For school libraries to thrive, their impact must be made visible to senior leaders and the wider community. This book offers clear, practical strategies - combining data and storytelling - to demonstrate how libraries drive attainment, inclusion, and well-being for both students and staff. It equips librarians with the tools to showcase their value and secure the recognition they deserve.

-- Carol Webb

Given the pressure on school library professionals to advocate for their libraries and roles, this book makes a much-needed contribution to the field by outlining how this can effectively be done. Situated in relation to the history of the profession in the UK context, the book clearly outlines the concepts that it explores, grounding considerations with practical, real-world illustrations of practice. It guides the reader to discover how to develop their capacity for marketing the value of the school library and its resourcing and staff through diverse approaches. The recurring “questions for consideration” invite the reader to pause and reflect, and actively connect the content covered in the chapters to their own unique situations and selves, making the book thought-provoking and relevant.

-- Margaret K. Merga

Barbara has spent her professional life advocating and championing school libraries. This book is the sum of everything she has learned along the way, and is a guide to championing your own library - whether to the parents, governors, Heads of Department, SLT, MAT, - or even wider afield. We know that we all have to constantly advocate for ourselves, and this book gives us information about how to do this effectively. Full of practical tips and action plans, all school librarians will find this book invaluable.

-- Caroline R