The Librarian’s Guide to Teaching
This podcast is hosted by two higher education instructional librarians. Episode 38: Marketing Your Library Instruction discusses the challenges related to this task. I found the hosts: Amanda Piehart and Jessica Kiebler to be extremely transparent in their discussion. I appreciated their candor regarding the lack of interest and/or blatant disregard of library outreach. Recognizing that department chairs and teachers can be overwhelmed, they suggested doing individual outreach to departments or specific educators that you feel you have an interest in or expertise to share. The goal is to build a rapport within the department and portfolio of materials to share that can be used to garner further interest in what the library has to offer. The Librarian’s Guide to Teaching is pretty specific to university academia but the content can be applied to many different types of library settings.
Wow. This podcast sounds really great to those starting out in the field. I appreciate when honesty and useful tips can be presented into a podcast so I will definitely check this one out.
I also listened to The Librarian’s Guide to Teaching. I listened to episode 35 (Lesson Planning) of this podcast and I was very pleased with the two hosts. I am not a teacher, nor do I work in a school library (which is why I chose this episode) and found the information very helpful. I appreciate that they also offer references to the discussed resources so that you can add them to your personal list. This podcast is a keeper.
This sounds like a useful resource for librarians who are just starting, especially if the library program needs a good update to address all of the school’s needs. I remember one of the librarians who helped me in my last practicum saying how important it was to market the library and establish those connections through collaboration with teachers or departments. I wonder what other advice they have on that podcast. I will need to check it out.
I wasn’t sure if I would listen to this podcast, because of its focus on higher education. But your review and the other comment makes me think that there is wisdom and insight that would be relevant to librarians at all levels who are working on outreach, especially with schools.