4.4 Advocacy
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For this objective, my artifact is my Program Assessment completed during my practicum course. I set out to evaluate my current media program, find an area that needed improvement, and then advocate for the necessary program changes to best fit our library users’ needs. In this plan, I collaborated with our administration and other stakeholders to redesign an aging computer lab into a more meaningful space.
My current position benefits from a newer media center space: the library was recently remodeled (in the past 3 years), the collection is well maintained, and our Title 1 budgets keep technology readily available through the media center. This makes it tempting to sit back and let advocacy opportunities pass me by! This assignment gave me the chance to practice advocating for a space that I thought needed a change. The trust of my administration to let me take the lead was also encouraging: I was able to collect input from our stakeholders and put my assessment of our space to use right away.
If I were to change any portion of this assignment, I would make sure to include a full budget of what I would like to see in the computer lab for the next school year in my next meeting with administration. Labs and computer use are a quickly changing part of media centers everywhere: although our administration did not volunteer any funding at this point in the year, it does not hurt to make suggestions. Part of advocacy is presenting ideas for your stakeholders to see the potential of their investment. I would like to more specifically share my ideas for this space, and what it would cost to make it happen in the future. This plan was excellent practice with advocating for funding and physical space needs!
My current position benefits from a newer media center space: the library was recently remodeled (in the past 3 years), the collection is well maintained, and our Title 1 budgets keep technology readily available through the media center. This makes it tempting to sit back and let advocacy opportunities pass me by! This assignment gave me the chance to practice advocating for a space that I thought needed a change. The trust of my administration to let me take the lead was also encouraging: I was able to collect input from our stakeholders and put my assessment of our space to use right away.
If I were to change any portion of this assignment, I would make sure to include a full budget of what I would like to see in the computer lab for the next school year in my next meeting with administration. Labs and computer use are a quickly changing part of media centers everywhere: although our administration did not volunteer any funding at this point in the year, it does not hurt to make suggestions. Part of advocacy is presenting ideas for your stakeholders to see the potential of their investment. I would like to more specifically share my ideas for this space, and what it would cost to make it happen in the future. This plan was excellent practice with advocating for funding and physical space needs!