Many schools require teacher-librarians or library assistants to attend workshops or trainings to grow professionally. Because library staff are often unique to their schools, it can be tough to find relevant professional development that isn’t a one-size-fits-all model given to all educators.
That’s where online workshops, webinars, and courses can help!
Here are 15 Professional Development Activities for Librarians and Library Workers:
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Learn from Experts through Webinars & Online Courses
Many of these webinars offer completion certificates or even continuing education credits to prove you participated. Check with each website if that’s something your administrator wants to see.
Librarians Teach online courses – Try out the Getting Started with Library Centers course for FREE!
- Librarians Teach is the sister company that I started with Cari White from Library Learners.
- Cari and I are creating self-paced online courses for school librarians about topics that aren’t usually covered anywhere else. We have a combined 30+ years of experience in elementary school libraries, and we specialize in teaching about library centers…especially since Cari invented them!
EdWeb.net webinars – One of my favorite places for staying current with trends in education, and there is a “thread” specifically for librarians. In fact, when I had to complete some replacement hours or “floating days” for my district’s flexible PD, this is where I went first.
WebJunction webinars – This site covers ALL libraries, not just school libraries, and there are some good webinars on ways to collaborate and connect more closely with your local public library.
School Library Journal’s webcasts and School Library Connection’s webinars – Though some of SLJ’s and SLC’s online events are paid, their webinars are usually free. Obviously, SLJ and School Library Connection will have very relevant topics for school teacher-librarians and cover topics from instructional best practices to makerspaces to collection development & management
AASL Learning Library webinars – Some free webinars, and some are free if you’re an ALA & AASL member.
State or local library association conferences & trainings – Most U.S. states have a library association for professional librarians and library staff, and some even have one that’s specific to school libraries. Check with a library association for your area to see if they have a virtual conference or summit, or online webinars for members.
And P.S. you should join as a member if you’re financially able to…the professional connections and support are worth it!
Common Sense Education’s webinars – Great for catching up on general education trends, with a tech & media focus.
Teaching Tolerance webinars – An excellent place to learn more about culture, race, and discrimination today. This work-at-home time might be ideal to explore your own biases as well…because at least 1 of these webinars will make you feel uncomfortable (myself included), and that’s worth spending some time reflecting on why and unpacking that.
Read & Discuss a Professional Book
Get together with other librarians in your district, or with other teachers in your building and host an online book study of a professional book.
- Google Classroom or other learning management systems are great for managing on online book club, but even a private Facebook group can work well.
- Make sure to add your administrator to the group, GClassroom, or other discussion platform for both accountability and advocacy.
- Collette’s Recommendations:
- Rebellious Read Alouds: Inviting Conversations About Diversity With Children′s Books by Vera Ahiyya – I haven’t read this one yet, but another librarian recommend it to me!
- Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp, or really any book by Donalyn Miller.
- Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox
Other professional / library-related book recommendations:
- Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt – I finished reading this a few weeks ago, and I’ve been amazed at the difference it has made as I’ve tried to make my life less about working all the time, and more about equal measures of meaningful work and family time. Free to Focus has practical advice and free downloads for practicing and using the advice Hyatt gives.
- Deep Work by Cal Newport – I actually read this one before Free to Focus, but it is more abstract and focuses on higher education. For teachers, drawing parallels between Newport’s work in academia and our own work is pretty easy, albeit not a perfect metaphor. For me, this book helped my brain set-up and prepare to implement the Free to Focus techniques.
- Invent to Learn by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, 2nd edition – For anyone who is maker-interested, this is required reading.
- Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation by AnnMarie Thomas – Also for the maker-interested, and I think it’s just as important for elementary librarians to read as Making Makers.
- The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Designing & Teaching Online Courses by Joan Thormann and Isa Kaftal Zimmerman – Yes, the copyright is 2012, which is ANCIENT in the tech world. But the strategies and practical tips in this book are invaluable, and easy to replicate with modern tools and learning management systems. If you are tasked with designing an online course from the ground up, this book is a goldmine!
Sharpen Your Tech Skills with Online Certifications
Take a Google Certified Educator Training.
- If your district uses Google Suite for Education, or if you just like using Google tools, take the Google Certified Educator Level 1, Level 2, or Certified Trainer training.
- Though the test to “earn” your certification isn’t free, it’s extremely affordable.
- Ask your administrator if they will pay for a voucher so you can take it for free, but if they can’t or won’t, I recommend taking these courses through your personal Google account. Then it can travel with you to another district or job, which is especially important for younger or more mobile teacher-librarians.
- When I want to do something in Google Classroom and can’t figure out how, I go to one of 2 websites: Alice Keeler or Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning. Check out both of them for online courses as well (though not usually free) to help you learn more about using Google tools in your library instruction.
Apply to the Common Sense Educator recognition program.
- Most librarians are aware that Common Sense Education is well-respected as a source of reviews for apps, games, and other media aimed at children in grades Pre-K through 12. The Common Sense Educator recognition program is a customizable online course for educators to learn more about using technology tools carefully and thoughtfully. I especially like that they model the best practices of differentiating online teaching by offering choices to you (the student).
Take the BrainPOP 101 course, and/or become a Certified BrainPOP Educator.
- BrainPOP is one of my favorite subscriptions and one of the vendors who to offer free access until the end of the school year. Request access on their homepage.
- You have to take the BrainPOP 101 course before you can take the Certified BrainPOP Educator course, and you need to have an “active individual educator account” with a BrainPOP subscription.
Learn by Listening with Podcasts
When I had a long commute to work, I spent 6.5 hours driving every week. So I learned to find interesting podcasts and Spotify playlists to mix in with audiobooks and radio listening as I drive.
Here are some of my favorite podcasts, which have HOURS of excellent professional and personal listening:
School Librarians United podcast with Amy Harmon
- Amy’s long-running podcast is a must-listen! She and her guests discuss real-world, practical issues and challenges facing school librarians, and every episode gets me thinking, asking questions, and brainstorming solutions for my elementary school library.
- If your school offers independent professional development hours that you can submit, Amy offers PD certificates for each episode you listen to.
Leading from the Library podcast with Shannon McClintock Miller and Future Ready Schools
- Shannon McClintock Miller is a respected leader in the school library world, and her partnership with Future Ready Librarians® keeps librarians connected to All4Ed’s Future Ready Schools. Shannon has a weekly guest and together they discuss how they are tackling the unique issues that are facing school libraries today.
Fuse #8 n’ Kate podcast
- Fuse #8 n’ Kate is the only “book podcast” I’ve kept up with, albeit not regularly. I really appreciate the outside perspective of Kate, who isn’t in the children’s literature/library world, and the conversations are awesome and reflective. This podcast also tells some of the little-known behind-the-scenes info about classic children’s literature, so that’s always interesting to me.
Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers podcast
- What I like most about this podcast is that Angela is a tireless voice of encouragement to teachers. She knows what it’s like, and she advocates for self-care equally with excellent pedagogy and instructional practices.
- It was Angela’s podcast that first introduced me to the idea that I didn’t have to work all day and all night to be a good teacher or a good librarian. I learned to change my teaching practice so that I can leave at the end of the school day and not feel guilty. THAT is why she’s amazing!
Cult of Pedagogy podcast
- Jennifer Gonzalez is amazing, and I love her practical approach to excellence in teaching. She’s insightful and thought-provoking, and always gives me something to consider when I listen to an episode.
- This podcast is awesome for keeping up with teaching trends and how to apply them in a REAL classroom. It’s truly about putting superb teaching theory in practice with realistic expectations.
Curriculum Writing or Development
If your school or district lets you work on your own to write or develop your library curriculum (which they should), this can be a perfect fit for those once-every-other-month PD days.
Revise Your Most Unengaging Lesson or Unit
This is hard, right? Not only is it difficult to reflect objectively on a unit we’ve made and find it’s not working anymore…but it’s often impossible to find the time and mental space to do the actual revising. Now might be the perfect time to re-vamp your library curriculum, even if it’s just one unit or lesson.
READ MORE: 10 Digital Library Activities Students Can Do at Home
For example, I have always hated teaching website evaluation, and there just weren’t that many resources that I thought would fit well with the rest of my curriculum or fit my student’s needs. I could have spent 100-ish hours creating my own…or what I did instead was use Benjamin Kort’s unit that I read about in SLJ’s November issue. He very kindly posted the link on Twitter, and it deserves 5,000 likes!
Here is the fake news / media literacy unit discussed in the second section of this article. Just a couple months away from revising it for year two! http://bit.ly/2DB9USW
– Benjamin Kort, tweet on Dec 2, 2019 @ 9:50 PM
2019 was the first year I taught media literacy / website evaluation this way, and while I already see some modifications that it needs, I felt MUCH better about the effectiveness of that unit than I ever have in the past.
Other ways you could get started:
Read over the current AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, if you haven’t already.
Find the standards you could help teachers address more thoroughly by collaborating or teaching them entirely. Communicate what you plan to do to teach those standards and/or skills with both classroom teachers and your administrators.
If collaborative instruction isn’t possible and a fixed schedule is your reality, research what other librarians are doing to teach a standard or area you feel is weakest.
Of course, don’t forget to share the “finished” unit or lesson after it’s revised with your administrator and/or colleagues.
Collection Management – Update Your Website or Catalog Your Ebooks
I wrote these 2 activities last on purpose because they really shouldn’t be a priority.
Add the MARC records for ebooks to your online catalog or check how they appear to students, and fix them up as needed.
- I realized after adding my records from our state ebook consortium that they didn’t have a call number, so over the past few years I’ve manually added a “copy” of that ebook with a barcode and a call number that starts with EBOOK to make it easier for my students to distinguish between ebooks and print books. It’s tedious though, and not important in the grand scheme of things.
- But again, if you need compensation time or PD hours to submit for “credit,” it’s a possibility: Standardize your ebook MARC records.
And finally, updating your website with either better design, or web accessibility, or more up-to-date resources is always a good idea.
- Try weeding your website resources like you weed your library’s book collection.
- I also offer library website design and set-up as a paid service, if you need a new website, or just want to overhaul and update your current one.
READ MORE: 6 Essentials that Every School Library Website Needs with a free checklist and editable library resource logins document to share with students
I really like the activities you posted here very informative and at the same time it is beneficial for the librarian.