Collaborative Partnerships: Choosing the right ingredients

Camilla Elliott – Mazenod CollegeHead of Library | eLearning CoordinatorSchool Library Assoc of Victoria Conference19 August 2016 www.linkingforlearning.com

Twitter: @camillaelliott

www.linkingforlearning.com@camillaelliott

@slavconnects

#slavconf

https://todaysmeet.com/SLAVConf

Collaborate Today

easy to say – harder to do!

Library as Learning Commons

Potentially powerful learning

partnerships with a common

goal - the student as learner.

Circle of Influence(positive energy)

Circle of Concern(negative energy)

Source: http://www.hpma.org.uk/node/2350

How principals spend their time

Source: https://infogr.am/how-are-principals-spending-their-time

http://bit.ly/SoftlinkSurvey2015

What does your brand say about you?Library visibility – homepage, website

Display screens around school – photos

Musty, dusty, cluttered?

Empowerment of the Library Team

Professional attitudes

Vision – clearly stated and shared

Collaboration and Advocacy – hand in hand

1. People do things for their reasons, not our reasons

2. Understand, respect and address their reasons

3. Cultivate relationships of credibility and trust

Ken Haycock - Successful advocacy is “planned, deliberate and sustained over time”. It is not an emergency response.

Source: http://kenhaycock.com/advocacy-and-influence/

Relationships

Some matter more than others

A+ Decision makers who are not necessarily library users

Fellow teachers, parents, students, principals

Potential advocates – people who will exercise their influence with decision-makers in support of school libraries

Avoid - Habitual moaners who gravitate to the library for a sympathetic ear

Marketing through Collaboration

1. Objective? Clear and measurable?

2. Target group? Who is important? Who is the opinion leader?

3. Strategies? Who are the specific targets? What are their issues? Where and when do

they meet? How does one best communicate with them?

4. Most appropriate communication tools for this specific group? Note that this is step # 4 in

the process! Too often we start with the tool (brochure; video; celebration day) do the

research first.

5. Evaluation: was the objective achieved? Not the activities (we had a very successful

meeting) but the result (how could the effort have been successful if funding went

down?).Ken Haycock

Influence

Be at the table -

not on the menu

Team Work!

Collaboration requires Preparation

What’s our story?

Stories,

Sound bites,

Elevator speeches,

Data, data, data!

Achieving Effect

Focus on nurturing relationships of credibility and trust

Know the research, but don’t expect it has magic without your strategy and behaviour.

Realise it is your collaborative behaviours that give life to the research - evidence

Adopt a firm conviction that it matters – Believe!

The number one factor in converting a library into a learning commons is the strength and vision of the professional doing the transition.  

David V. Loertscher, Carol Koechlin

Camilla ElliottTwitter: @camillaelliott