Championing Your School Library: A Practical Guide to Advocacy, Marketing and Promotion

There has never been a more exciting time to be working in school libraries in the UK. The government has committed to ensuring that every primary school in England has a dedicated reading space and has launched a cross-party inquiry into the benefits of reading for pleasure as well as the role of libraries in addressing the steep decline in reading engagement among children and young people. The new Ofsted inspection framework looks at closing the reading gap and evidence of a reading for pleasure culture in schools, while the current National Year of Reading is encouraging the whole country to 'go all in' and read about what we love.

It's vital that school librarians are the cheerleaders; equipped and enthused to hit the ground running and to take advantage of every opportunity this pivotal year presents - which is where Championing Your School Library comes in. This timely, practical and empowering guide will enable everyone working in school libraries, whether new to the field or experienced professionals, to highlight the power and the impact of what they do every day - with minimal extra work!

The award-winning and influential author, Barbara Band, will already be known to many and has spent her entire professional career advocating, campaigning for and championing school libraries both in her own school and at the highest levels nationally and internationally. This comprehensive book is the culmination of that vast experience - a winning combination of library know-how, business strategies and marketing tools.

Beginning with a fascinating look at the history and provision of school libraries and the challenges they have faced over recent years, Band goes on to define and explain advocacy, marketing and promotion and the important intersection between them. Subsequent chapters explore the marketing cycle and mix, branding, advocacy plans, stakeholder mapping and engagement, promotion strategies, digital tools, social media, evaluation frameworks and continuing professional development opportunities.

Every chapter concludes with targeted 'Questions for Consideration' allowing those in charge of school libraries to take stock of their own situation, make more impactful plans, demonstrate their own worth and sustain their efforts over time. These questions, combined with real-life examples, ideas and case studies drawn from business and libraries create a clear roadmap to advocacy success and make Championing Your School Library a must have. Read it from cover to cover and revisit it often throughout the year. It will inspire confidence, help shape plans, boost enthusiasm and ensure you make an impact, whatever initiatives you implement.

Self-advocacy, shouting about your own success, doesn't come easily to many solo-working school librarians but this authoritative, supportive and highly readable guide shows it to be essential to strengthen influence, secure funding and position the library as a must-have at the heart of the school, driving achievement and integral to inclusion and wellbeing.

Band shows that advocacy is not just essential but also eminently do-able, providing actionable strategies, essential tools and a passionate belief that school libraries make a difference which is infectious. She argues convincingly that taking action, however small, for your own library, has a ripple effect which helps shape the future for generations of students. It's a hard rallying cry to resist!

Suggested Reading Age 14+