I consulted with one of our LMS (librarian) a month ago about the school
administration cutting her budget from $13,000 (good for our area) down to zero
for next year. This is what a trained school librarian can do with just a bit
of nerve, study/research and willingness to expend some political capital and
in the same breath willing to build influence with administrators. She was
already doing some of my suggestions; here is her response to her efforts:
I thought I would drop you a note to bring you up-to-date on my budget
situation.
I emailed my administrators and asked for an uninterrupted meeting about my
library program. I provided them with a list of 10 questions that I hoped they
could answer during our meeting. They emailed back with a set time for the
meeting.
I gathered evidence of my importance (Ha Ha). I gathered research to prove that
there is a direct correlation between the quality of your library program and
student achievement. I also gathered five years of budget information to show
the decline from $13,000. down to $5,000 over that period of time.
The meeting went quite well. I had their uninterrupted attention for about 1
1/2 hours. Neither administrator had a clue what I spend or how badly my budget
had been cannibalized. I did remind them that I service all 370+ students and
40+ staff where athletics only involves about 40+% of our students. The
athletic budget was cut by 25% last year and will be cut by 25% again this
year.
They agreed to allow me to purchase items for next year with the same budget as
last year. Let me reword that - they agreed to let me fill out purchase orders
- no guarantees. They were very open about the budget situation and appeared
supportive of my program. They took all the information that I presented and
wanted to share some of it with the school board.
I feel that this is the best that I can hope for right now. The things I may
have to live without for a few years are minor compared to the problems that
would be caused if we have to RIF teachers.
Surely things will improve.
Thanks for all your help.
Harry Willems, consultant
Southeast Kansas Library System
Harry Willems, Consultant Asst. Dir. 620.365.5136
Southeast Kansas Library System 620.365.5137 (fax)
Iola, KS 66749 harryw@alltel.net
42.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
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