Thing X: Annual Reports

Last year was the first year that I created an annual report for my library program. I did it at the end of the school year using Google Docs. I tried to keep it short and visually appealing so that the Board might actually read it. My administrator seemed to like it and said he would pass it along to the Board members, but I never heard any feedback one way or the other. According to the blog post by Doug Johnson, "any report that goes unread, no matter how lovingly crafted, how amazingly complete, or how stunningly designed, is a waste of the librarian's time." While I enjoyed making the report, I am unsure that it had any impact whatsoever, and may have sadly been a waste of time. My goal for going through this lesson is to find tips for my report to make more of an impact and to demonstrate all the wonderful things that our library is doing!

One point that Doug makes in his post is that it is important to align the goals of the library with the goals of the school. We recently were a Focus District school (just got off the list this year!), so our main goals were improving ELA and Math scores. Looking at these goals for the school, I plan on including information and data about how my library program supports the ELA curriculum in many ways (reading and analyzing informational texts, information literacy, summarizing, main idea, reading for pleasure...and so much more!). The Annual Report Guide by Debra Kachel gives some great examples for how to include data in your annual report. I never thought about including direct quotes from the students about what they learned or did in Library! I also like how she broke it down into three main areas: Teaching for Learning, Building the Learning Environment, and Empowering Learning Through Leadership. These three areas really cover all areas of the library program. I also really like her idea of including quotes from the student in the report.

The information I included on my 2018 Annual report was:

• Circulation Statistics
• Library Research Projects
• Collaborative Projects
• Special Events
• Technology Programs
• Databases Used

I also included pictures to go along with these topics, to make it more visually appealing. I You can see it here: Abe Wing Annual Library Report 2018. Looking at several of the examples that Jen LaGarde curated, I feel like including an infographic may be a better way to visually display some of the more boring data. Definitely more "eye-catching".

While I have much of the data I already need for the report, I feel my next step is to look at my lessons, and find the ones that best align with the ELA standards, and get examples of student work to show how Library is supporting our district goals. I also plan on interviewing/surveying students to get quotes for the report. I just purchased Buncee for the district, and am thinking of using that this year to create my report, in hopes of making it a bit more visually appealing for the Board and my administrator.

We are getting a new administrator next year, so I feel like have a great annual report will be a good way to introduce him to all the wonderful things we do in the Library all year long!