Feature

School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXIV, Number 8/April 2008

Staffing Has Been Cut… Now What Do You Do?

by Kristin Fontichiaro

Now What?

You fought the good fight—presented pro-library research findings and rallied supporters—but the Board still cut your staffing. Maybe they cut your hours, added duties, or assigned you to multiple buildings, or your support staff has been reduced or eliminated. What do you do next?

I have had this experience twice in different districts; library media support staff was cut at the same time that extra duties were assigned to me. Each time, my colleagues and I redefined and restructured our library media centers to maximize teaching and learning. In this article, I will discuss some of the things I've learned about coping with staff cuts, both from my good choices and from my naïve choices. (I'll leave it to my friends to decide which lessons I’m still learning!)

Don't Blame Administrators.

I know many library media specialists who consider cuts as a personal attack by "stupid administrators who don't understand school libraries." You may feel this way, but try to step back and depersonalize the situation. Most administrators would prefer not to cut anything. They agonize over shrinking funding at a time of greater need. By the time the Board votes, most administrators are so stressed that they have not had time to think about what the real impact will be of cutting a library media clerk back to half-time. There is your hidden opportunity. Take the lead and create a vision for a restructured library media center before administrators do it for you.

Don't Badmouth.

Email and Web 2.0 tools have made it easy to establish relationships and conversations with colleagues around the world. It is tempting to share our frustrations about our situation and our administrators with our virtual colleagues, but remember that blogs and many listserv postings are public, archived records. While today’s budget cut might be a staff cutback, a future budget cut might result in job loss. I know of a library media specialist whose anti-administrator sentiments were so well known that they precluded her from obtaining other employment when her position was eliminated. Keep your personal frustrations offline.

Take the Lead in Restructuring.

As soon as cuts are announced, push past your hurt feelings and take action right away. If you can present a completed restructuring plan to your administrator (saving him or her the trouble of doing it), you may be able to craft the plan to fit your vision for a vibrant library media center. Start by listing the values and core activities of your program. Depending on your unique situation, this might be done alone, with remaining library media staff, with trusted colleagues, or with other members of the department.

When we faced a reduction in support staff for the coming school year just as the district was converting from a Mac to PC platform, my colleague and I met and listed these priorities for the upcoming school year:

•  Maintain the integrity of the library media curriculum.
• Maintain the library media specialist's role as teacher, collaborator in designing quality student learning, and technology leader.
•  Minimize the impact on teachers and students.
•  Prioritize TOA tasks that directly impact teaching and learning and those that require technical expertise.
• Reassign non-essential tasks to other staff members or departments.

With these goals established, we then began to decide what to keep, what to reshape, and what to eliminate from the library media program. Three key questions guided this process:

•  What are the things that only you can do?
•  Which tasks could be assumed by other staff?
•  Which tasks could be eliminated?

In our district, many of us have fixed schedule classes that fill at least half of our school hours. How could we keep technology moving forward with less support time? We thought about areas where we could be proactive instead of reactive. A colleague and I established a tech tools wiki as a central repository for tips sheets. Library media colleagues began cc’ing one another in technology emails sent to staff. When one of these emails arrived, we could quickly customize the content to fit our building and forward it to our own staff. The wiki and emails helped staff continue to develop technology skills, maximizing information while minimizing the number of interventions needed. Similarly, some library media specialists invited teachers to lead some technology in-services instead of doing them alone.

I also worried about how I would support open access to the library media center when I was teaching and there was no support staff or volunteer available. Open checkout time was reserved for thirty minutes each morning to ensure daily access, even if I was teaching the rest of the day and unable to assist them. This had unexpected benefits for teachers, who realized it could be a time when students could come down for AR, independent work, collaborative work, research catch-up, and more. Teachers were asked to send down videos first thing in the morning to minimize interruptions. Parents were called upon to help more with circulation so professional time could be used for teaching and learning.

Various tasks were examined to determine which could be taken over by others. Tasks considered included videotaping classroom events, updating people’s webpages, or taking school photos. The result was that teachers could be empowered to do many of these tasks themselves. Students were asked to take charge of straightening the computer lab so the TOA could concentrate on networks, accounts, and troubleshooting.

In the district where I worked previously, we reshaped the library media assistant’s role when it moved to half-time by reducing the amount of fixed schedule time dedicated to library checkout. We merged the hardback and paperback collections into a single fiction collection to make shelving and finding books more efficient. We began making spine labels for our new books with a really big font so we could put them in Dewey order more quickly. We asked our staff to write or email requests so we could prioritize them as they were received.

All of these ideas were brainstormed in the spring before the cuts took effect and presented to administrators before the close of the school year. When we met with our administrators to discuss our plan, we began by sharing the basis for the plan. With that common ground, we then moved to the concrete suggestions. When our administrators saw that we were committed to doing our best under less-than-optimal circumstances, they were better prepared to support the necessary changes.

Help Teachers Transition.

When meeting with administrators, ask for time at the back-to-school staff meeting to roll out proposed changes to staff. Use this time to share priorities and, more importantly, the commitment to maximizing the time and resources available. Ask for their help in adapting procedures and to help work proactively instead of reactively to minimize the impact on teaching and learning. Most educators are sympathetic when they sense a commitment despite adverse circumstances.

However, it’s human nature that this sympathy may melt when they are in an emergency situation and want help immediately, even if it is not the library media specialist’s priority. Within the context of this type of frustration, it helped me to step back and think of some key phrases I could use in those tough moments, phrases that would reassure staff that I wanted to help, even if I could no longer do it to the same degree as before. Practice those phrases until they become natural and don’t be afraid to invite your colleague to help you problem-solve. When an administrator comes asking for you to do an extra task that is beyond what you are able to do, ask for his help with prioritizing duties.

Keep Growing Your Program.

Our feelings are hurt when budget cuts happen, and it is both practical and necessary to cut back on services. However, we all feel better about our jobs when we have a project or initiative that excites us. Try to find an aspect of your library job—a new special collection, moving furniture to create a new conversation nook, a new collaboration with a teacher, or adoption of a new Web 2.0 tool—that makes you excited to come to work each morning.

Stay Connected to Professional Organizations and Professional Development.

Professional organizations are essential because they give us a sense of community. We meet and develop friendships with colleagues from other districts who can share their expertise and their strategies for doing more with less. Your state organization is a terrific resource. Consider raising your profile in that organization and increase networking. If your job is ever eliminated, you will need these contacts to network your way into a new—and hopefully better—job. Consider joining the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) or the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). This is especially important if you work in an imperiled state; these organizations can give you a “bigger picture” that may be more holistic and optimistic.

Take time for your own professional development and growth. Listservs and blogs can be great, free strategies for keeping up with trends and best practices. Set up a separate email address for listservs and vendor contacts so those messages won’t clutter up your work email and reduce your efficiency. Set up Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com) or Google Reader (http://reader.google.com) so new blog postings are gathered in one place. The blogs of literature, librarianship, and technology leaders can guide you to new trends and tips—the very information you need to add value to your school. Scan headlines quickly between classes.

Alternatively, take yourself out for a "reading dinner" (or at least a leisurely hot chocolate) at least once a month. The time you would have spent making dinner can be used to read professional literature about new developments and think reflectively about your program, teaching, and library management. Some people use this time to reflect on their lesson plan book, jotting notes to remember for next year, or to write a reflective professional blog.

Take Care of Yourself.

Many of us became library media specialists because we wanted to help and empower others, and in times of reduced staff or budget, it is easy to prioritize others' needs over our own. Just as airlines warn us to place the oxygen mask over our own mouths before assisting others, we need to practice self-care before we can truly help our colleagues. Try these suggestions:

•  Change requires stamina. Get a good night’s sleep.
• Change requires energy. Schedule time for exercise, and don’t skip meals.
•  Change requires revitalization. During dark winter months, make sure you see the sunlight sometime during the day. When you get home at night, set a time to be done working or answering work email for the day.
• Change requires focus. Politely turn down work "opportunities" that will rob you of the time you need to support your core priorities.
•  Change requires reflection and redesign. Ask yourself at stressful times, "Is what I’m doing sustainable?" If not, revisit your priorities and realign your tasks.
• Change requires support. Don’t sacrifice family and friends to make it work at work.

Conclusion

Budget and staffing cuts are scary, and this is the time of year when staffing cuts are announced. If you’ve successfully navigated a budget cut, or if you’re still scrambling for ideas, join us on the Library 2.0 blog to share your strategies (http://blog.schoollibrarymedia.com).

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