No Budget, No Problem - E215

WEBVTT
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I'm Julie Saunders. I'm Jan Wilson. Julie and I both have experience as school
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librarians, and we've worked together as district library leaders.
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In each episode, we'll dive into our profession with interviews and meaningful content to inspire you.
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The ideas and opinions shared by any host, guest, or listener are their own
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and do not represent those of any respective school district.
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Welcome to Library Exchange.
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Check out Abdo Reference today at abdobooks.com.
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Julie, guess what? What? Well, I really want to say chicken butt. Anyway.
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I raised all boys, by the way. Okay, Julie, do you have your passport ready? I do. All right.
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We're traveling overseas with today's episode. Are you excited?
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Very. Okay. Well, it's not a surprise to you, but good acting. Last year.
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We went down under to Australia, and today we're checking in with a librarian
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from the heart of Europe.
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We're going to Germany. Yes, we are. We've been looking forward to having Alyssa
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Trommler as today's guest.
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You may know her as the International School Librarian on Instagram.
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But what you may not know is that she has the unique challenge of running a
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library for students from over 30 different countries.
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That is next level right there, Alyssa.
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So she started at the CJD International School in 2019 as a professional educator.
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But like many of us, the library eventually found her.
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We can't wait to hear more about this. Welcome to Library Exchange,
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Alyssa. Thank you so much for having me.
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I'm very, not using the word excited, just psyched to be here.
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Great. I like it. Okay, so Alyssa, will you share where you are in Germany and
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let's hear about your school.
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Yeah, so actually I live in Goslar, which is a really cute little fairy tale town.
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You might have seen a few videos on my Instagram about that as well,
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but my school is in Braunschweig. In English, you would say Brunswick.
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So can you tell us a little bit more about the actual school and the makeup
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of the school? How many students? The number of faculty?
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Yeah, so my school is CGD International School, and we have 50 staff members
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and 250 students at our school.
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As you mentioned, from over 30 different countries, over six continents,
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which is really, really fun, actually, to...
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Talk to all these children from different cultures and different languages and
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welcome them into the library.
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And what are the grade levels that you serve? We do pre-K all the way up to year 12.
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Great. And I've got one more question. You had mentioned something about who
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is able to use devices and who is not able to use devices in your building.
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I think that'd be interesting for American listeners to hear.
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Yeah. So actually, they just decided that years one and year two will not get
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devices this next year, only from year three up. However, in the library,
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we have a rule that only from year eight and up are allowed to use devices at the time.
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So you may have to interpret what you mean by year one and year two.
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Can you convert that to what a grade level would be in the United States?
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Yeah. So instead of saying grade one or first grade, second grade,
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we use year one and year two. So first grade would be year one and second grade
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is year two then. Great. Okay.
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So, Alyssa, I have to start with this because I know everyone else is also wondering,
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how did you go from Wisconsin to Germany?
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So, the original plan was actually to move to Spain.
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I have my bachelor's in Spanish and humanities, and I wanted to continue to
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become a Spanish translator.
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But then my, at the time, partner said, well, let's move to Germany.
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Instead they speak English there I don't have to learn Spanish it's perfect,
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so instead of him learning Spanish I got to learn German surprise.
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But it it worked out you know I I didn't know how long I would be here and even
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though he and I ended up splitting up I met my now husband here
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fell in love with the country fell in love with the language and almost 11 years
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later I'm here we've got two beautiful kids,
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And I'm happier than I've ever been. It's really amazing.
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Oh, I love that. So let's dig into all the things you've done in your library.
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So, Alyssa, you inherited a space from a librarian who worked there for over a decade.
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We love that you became motivated to add the books, redesign the space,
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create a reading incentive program without a budget. But let's start with this.
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You needed new books. You had zero budget. How did you get started? Yeah.
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Yeah, so I was a little bit bummed at the beginning to hear about that naturally.
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But I decided that I was just going to do something about it.
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And so I asked if I could start an Instagram page and got the okay from our
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marketing department to be able to do that.
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And I thought, okay, well, there are some other librarians on Instagram who
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do this and they put their Amazon wishlist up there. Actually,
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quite a few American librarians do this.
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And so I took inspiration from that. Most schools in Germany are funded by the
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government. So this doesn't really have to be a thing over here.
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However, since we're a private school, that's also an international school.
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So we don't follow a German curriculum. We're an English-speaking school.
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Because of that, the German government doesn't support us whatsoever.
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And so all of our funds that we get in through the fees through the students
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go to paying a lot of our staff, and go to lots of other things that are needed.
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So Instagram was my best day at the beginning.
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So Alyssa, did you have any other tips and tricks you wanted to share on how
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you could get donations to add more books to your library?
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Yeah, so other than the Amazon wishlist, I also decided to take a lot of the
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old books that we had in our library that we were reading out anyway,
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and to have a little used book sale. So I was able to do two last year.
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And through that, I raised 250-ish euro.
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And then I was able to order books with that 250 euro.
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I also decided at the summer party
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that I was going to let myself be the victim of a water balloon toss.
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Yes. And it was actually was really fun. A lot of the parents came up to me.
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They're like, are you okay? But it was a lot of fun. And I was able to raise
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101 euro through kids pummeling me with water balloons.
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Oh, that's so creative. That's great. Yeah.
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Did you get many results from your Instagram post with your wishlist?
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Yeah, we got over 140 books donated through the Instagram wishlist, which is incredible.
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And actually, we just got another package right before we started recording
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today. I got another package. So I'm looking forward to opening that up and seeing what that is.
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Well, you know, that's pretty significant, thinking that you only have 250 students
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and you had 140 books donated.
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That makes a big difference in your collection. That's wonderful.
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Yeah, a lot of it actually was my friends and family from back in Wisconsin.
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But a few parents have donated as well. And then the big hope was that I would
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actually be able to reach an audience bigger than just friends and family.
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And I've had two people that only know me through Instagram donate,
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which was like such a big shocking moment for me because it's like, okay, this is the hope.
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Meet me in the media center. She has people from all over the United States
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that are always shipping her, and the world actually, shipping her books.
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And I'm just like, if I even get a tenth of that for my kids at my school,
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that would be so incredible.
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Librarians helping librarians. I love it. Alyssa, besides the issue with the
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books, you wanted to update the physical space and eventually to include a makerspace
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area, correct? Can you tell us about that?
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Yeah. So the library was definitely not the coziest place, I would say.
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It was green and red, like the worst version of Christmas colors.
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And chairs instead sort of beanbag chairs and just like hard stools.
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So I decided got to get this out, got to make it a place where I want the kids
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to be comfortable and feel welcome.
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And so actually my parents were
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super helpful in donating the entire cozy corner that we had up until now.
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It has now gotten bigger because I started to GoFundMe to create a maker space
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and to make the cozy corner, the reading corner even bigger.
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So through that, I was able to raise over €1,100 in donations just by posting
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on Instagram. And my PTA was able to help out with that as well.
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They sent it out in the group chat and kind of updated the parents on what's going on with that.
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So that way, if the parents wanted to invest in our library at our school as
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well, then they were able to do that.
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So Alyssa, recently I saw a post where you were actually using some type of
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special paint for the chairs that weren't wood.
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I would love to hear more about that. What did you use to paint the beanbag
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chairs and things like that? Yeah. So the beanbag chairs, we actually got new
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donated, but we had some stools and those were vegan leather.
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And so I was able to find a leather slash vegan leather paint that is also child-friendly,
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eco-friendly and everything.
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And I was able to repaint all of those in the new blue that I wanted to have
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that corner. So goodbye Christmas colors, hello calm blue.
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I just really was, I was so impressed with how thick and how thorough that,
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I mean, on your Instagram post, it was very impressive how the paint actually
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looked really good and the pop of color.
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What a difference. I just was so impressed by the whole painting. It was really cool.
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Like the fact that I didn't have to toss them and that I could reuse them.
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I was so pumped about that because Germany in general is really forward thinking
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when it comes to that. And so eco-friendly and nachhaltig.
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This is really important for people here and me too. So let's talk about your
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reading incentive program. Is this a new initiative for the school?
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Yes and i'm super thrilled to be able to offer to the kids so i've been secretly
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working to try to get restaurants to sponsor us and a local bookstore actually also agreed to,
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and so for the summer reading which i invented i made a bingo card i didn't
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want it to be work i wanted reading to be something that the kids could enjoy
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so the bingo spaces are pretty easy but i got a local bookstore graf,
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maria was super friendly and helping me out with that and freddie fresh so they
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were able to sponsor us so that the kids can read and get a reward at the end of the summer as well,
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and then next year this is something i'm so excited about when i was a kid we
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had something called book it which i learned recently that not even all my friends
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in the same city had book it.
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But just to give a brief overview you read books you hit your reading goals
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which was usually minutes and then you got your own free personal size pizza
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and you got to go to the restaurant and your parents got to sit down and eat with you.
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And it's just like the coziest memory of being able to enjoy that time,
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not only that you earned your pizza, but that family time.
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And all you had to do was read books. And so this is something I really wanted
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to bring to my students because-
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Just those core childhood memories of getting to go out and eat with your family, and you earned it.
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So I was able to work with Peter Pana, which is a restaurant here, Peter Pan, Peter Pana.
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And they offered us free kids' meals for every kid that finishes their reading.
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And their kids' meals are awesome.
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Books for burgers is what we're going to call it, because they have incredible
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burgers there. So I am just so excited that I can offer this to the kids next year.
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So, Alyssa, I just have to say I'm so inspired by you because we hear a lot
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of, you know, on Facebook groups where barriers actually become real barriers for people.
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When they're told they don't have a budget, they're like, well,
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I don't have a budget. I'm like, can't do that.
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Or I don't have the books available to do this program. Or I don't have the,
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space that's welcoming.
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And they just throw their hands up and they'll continue to complain and complain
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and complain. And they don't, they can't move past that.
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But here you are, new to a space, knowing that changes needed to happen.
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Where you were told no, you made a yes. And you did it in ways that were creative,
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inspiring, and with great excitement.
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I'm just really in awe. You've done a lot of great things for your library.
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And I hope that you inspire others to find a way when they feel like there's
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a complete barrier to what they want to do.
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Thank you. Julie, you sound like you're doing your recap to the guest right now.
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Just to point that out. I just think, you know, when you can make lemonade out
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of lemons, it's an inspiring thing. And people want to hear this story.
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I'm very excited about it. Thank you so much.
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Alyssa, I have a question really quick. So to go back to that paint that you
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used on the vegan leather. Yeah.
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You said it was eco-friendly, but how is it with, is it, is the wear and tear,
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is it standing up to the kids, you know, is it lasting?
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So, funny story about that. I never posted this video, but I had to take a video.
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I actually had to contact the company because even though I'm fluent in German,
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I have my Amazon set to English.
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And it said that it won't rub off. It said that it won't, you know,
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it won't come off. But eventually it started coming off. And so I was like,
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okay, well, that's not cool. So I contacted the company.
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They sent me a screenshot saying, well, it says here you have to use the top coat.
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But in their English translation, it didn't say that. So after talking with
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them, they were very kind and sending over the top coat.
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So then that's why we were repainting them in that video. instead of the first
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time around. We had to do it again because it did rub off.
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But now with the top coat, they say that it should hold out because it's made
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for car seats. So, you know, people scoot across the car seats when they're going into the car.
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I'm hoping it'll withstand the test of time. That's what they promise.
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So we'll see come two, three weeks into the next school year, but I'm hopeful.
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I really hope that people do visit your Instagram because what you've done to
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redesign the space is really cute and some of the creative ideas,
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Even when you took the carpet and you put the two pieces of carpet together with.
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The fastener in the middle underneath and just to create a new space.
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So you've made this tiny area transformed where you have books that are available,
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but also have workspace. You have, you know, places for the younger students,
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places for the older students.
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It took a lot of creativity and imagination to make that happen,
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but it's really fabulous. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's all about the budget.
00:16:50.285 --> 00:16:56.137
You know, buying a huge carpet like that costs a ton of money. They're so hard to find.
00:16:56.654 --> 00:17:00.912
But this was also Ökotex, which is like an eco standard here in Germany.
00:17:01.232 --> 00:17:03.005
Both of the carpets are Ökotex.
00:17:03.400 --> 00:17:07.522
And so I was able to get two 70-year-old carpets and just put them together
00:17:07.522 --> 00:17:14.737
with that special carpet fastening tape rather than spend a thousand plus euro on a giant carpet.
00:17:15.120 --> 00:17:19.102
Wow, great. Thank you. Those creative problem solutions. That's right.
00:17:19.392 --> 00:17:20.752
That's right. Creative problem solving.
00:17:21.172 --> 00:17:24.982
That's exactly right. Right. Librarians want to hear because that paint with
00:17:24.982 --> 00:17:30.387
the top coat, what an easy solution for people who have furniture that is kind of worn and torn.
00:17:30.730 --> 00:17:35.392
Alyssa, I want to thank you for your time. And can you remind our listeners
00:17:35.392 --> 00:17:37.266
how to follow you on social media?
00:17:37.504 --> 00:17:41.302
Yeah, so I pretty much only use my Instagram right now, actually,
00:17:41.302 --> 00:17:43.992
but I'm international school librarian.
00:17:44.432 --> 00:17:47.361
There are little points in the middle, but you can find me if you just search for that.
00:17:47.657 --> 00:17:52.544
I have a TikTok, but I haven't updated it since like day one because I'm just so bad at that.
00:17:53.089 --> 00:17:55.080
But yeah, Instagram is where you can find me.
00:17:55.864 --> 00:17:58.592
Great. Thank you so much, Alyssa, for sharing your story today.
00:17:58.592 --> 00:18:01.512
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
00:18:02.336 --> 00:18:06.821
We've exchanged ideas. It's time for the recap. Again, Julie,
00:18:06.821 --> 00:18:11.361
another school librarian with challenges, but she has such positive energy.
00:18:11.921 --> 00:18:16.101
So positive. So when I went back and listened to,
00:18:16.581 --> 00:18:21.101
our interview to prepare for this recap, I thought, I wonder if it makes our
00:18:21.101 --> 00:18:25.556
listeners feel better to know that far across the Atlantic Ocean,
00:18:25.794 --> 00:18:31.281
a librarian in Germany is also trying to run a library on a zero budget.
00:18:31.601 --> 00:18:36.041
Not sure. Yeah. Wait, what's that? Oh, it does make you feel better. You're welcome.
00:18:39.241 --> 00:18:43.351
So Alyssa was very creative in how she found solutions to the barriers that
00:18:43.351 --> 00:18:47.401
were keeping her from providing quality library services, creating an Instagram
00:18:47.401 --> 00:18:50.096
account and promoting her Amazon wish list.
00:18:50.520 --> 00:18:55.631
She started that last November and had already raised or actually had donated
00:18:55.631 --> 00:18:57.798
1000 books to her collection.
00:18:58.071 --> 00:19:00.874
Yeah, it's been it's been successful for her for sure.
00:19:01.351 --> 00:19:07.140
Speaking of books and budgets, May's School Library Journal cover story is the
00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:09.891
budget and funding survey results.
00:19:10.297 --> 00:19:15.850
I think it said over 800 libraries responded, and the title of the article is
00:19:15.850 --> 00:19:22.480
Unmet Needs, which I guess sounds better than we're buying our own glue sticks again.
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:29.870
Okay, that's my last sarcastic thing for now. Anyway, but before we move away
00:19:29.870 --> 00:19:34.040
from donations and fundraising, I want to mention something I heard that was
00:19:34.040 --> 00:19:38.004
successful and profitable for a librarian.
00:19:38.451 --> 00:19:44.033
I heard it in June at the Georgia Library Media Conference. It's called Summer Institute.
00:19:44.289 --> 00:19:49.100
But the fundraiser was for lunch glow parties. Do you know what I'm talking about, Julie?
00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:57.316
I do. I do. Yeah. This idea comes from Julie Pizzola, who is a Georgia elementary school librarian.
00:19:57.566 --> 00:20:02.621
Her administration approved a glow stick lunch party in the cafeteria.
00:20:02.830 --> 00:20:07.677
So she purchased glow items in bulk and then sold them to students.
00:20:07.904 --> 00:20:11.930
So when they're in the cafeteria, dim the lights for part of the lunch period
00:20:11.930 --> 00:20:16.370
and the kids have their glow sticks. And you and I participated in something
00:20:16.370 --> 00:20:19.300
like this at Summer Leadership a few summers ago.
00:20:19.800 --> 00:20:24.160
And you can do, like, the colors on the projector, like Guitar Hero.
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:28.447
So you can really do this with all three levels. That was a great idea.
00:20:28.865 --> 00:20:33.330
Starting at GoFundMe was a great idea for creating a student makerspace and
00:20:33.330 --> 00:20:34.758
redesigning the reading corner.
00:20:35.117 --> 00:20:38.722
Really, she also was able to use her repurposing skills, too.
00:20:39.390 --> 00:20:43.335
Yeah, so I feel like I'm talking a lot, Julie, but I'll let you talk in a minute, okay?
00:20:45.153 --> 00:20:50.445
I agree with you 100% because you know that when we've trained new librarians,
00:20:50.445 --> 00:20:57.117
we always tell them, don't rush into a new space and make major changes your first year.
00:20:57.506 --> 00:21:02.035
Don't compare your space with something you've seen on social media because
00:21:02.035 --> 00:21:08.948
it's important to watch how students use the space, if the shelving makes sense to them, and more.
00:21:09.476 --> 00:21:13.975
But since Alyssa already worked at the school and was familiar with the library,
00:21:14.381 --> 00:21:16.895
she gets a pass on that. Yes. Okay. Yes.
00:21:17.775 --> 00:21:20.906
She felt it wasn't cozy. That was her word.
00:21:21.295 --> 00:21:26.145
And needed to be more student friendly. So just by swapping outdated colors
00:21:26.145 --> 00:21:31.709
for calm tones, it's just like painting any room. It really transformed the space.
00:21:32.402 --> 00:21:39.015
And I'm always finished. I want to mention the business partners in the community
00:21:39.015 --> 00:21:41.021
with her reading incentive programs.
00:21:41.451 --> 00:21:46.547
She talked about the Pizza Hut Book It program, which is pre-K through six.
00:21:47.244 --> 00:21:49.683
Did you have this when you were growing up? I don't think we did.
00:21:49.703 --> 00:21:51.543
I don't think we did in our area.
00:21:51.883 --> 00:21:56.113
Yeah, I can't remember when it started, but if you have a Pizza Hut restaurant
00:21:56.113 --> 00:22:02.319
near you, there is a mobile app for the Book It program for summer and school year,
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:08.380
and kids can earn one free personal pan pizza every month that they meet their reading goal,
00:22:08.815 --> 00:22:11.695
October through March, and then once in the summer.
00:22:12.171 --> 00:22:15.160
Let's just say you don't have a Pizza Hut near you.
00:22:15.590 --> 00:22:20.083
Ask a local restaurant to partner with you like Alyssa did, or an ice cream
00:22:20.083 --> 00:22:21.708
shop, or a bowling alley.
00:22:22.051 --> 00:22:26.451
Businesses want to get involved because it's a win for literacy and for their
00:22:26.625 --> 00:22:28.575
business. Another takeaway.
00:22:29.231 --> 00:22:31.223
A no isn't a no forever.
00:22:31.882 --> 00:22:36.683
Often librarians will ask for anything from extra funds, extra personnel support,
00:22:36.683 --> 00:22:41.667
other types of needs from their administrators, and the answer is often no.
00:22:42.276 --> 00:22:45.498
But remember, that is not a forever no.
00:22:45.765 --> 00:22:49.743
If you really believe in something that will truly improve student impact and
00:22:49.743 --> 00:22:55.063
will help you provide quality library services, continue to ask in a variety
00:22:55.063 --> 00:22:57.983
of ways, more than once and to more than one person.
00:22:58.683 --> 00:23:02.803
I often tell people that between my former director and me, our district budget
00:23:02.803 --> 00:23:07.663
for books remained the same for almost 18 years, even though we added dozens
00:23:07.663 --> 00:23:09.884
of schools, tens of thousands of students.
00:23:10.205 --> 00:23:14.573
And finally the right person heard the request at the right time and our district
00:23:14.573 --> 00:23:16.525
library book budget was almost doubled.
00:23:16.967 --> 00:23:21.355
We never stopped asking often for 18 years until we got the yes we needed.
00:23:21.709 --> 00:23:24.793
So make sure you are always communicating with your administrators when you
00:23:24.793 --> 00:23:27.550
apply for grants or seek donations in other ways.
00:23:27.921 --> 00:23:31.833
This shows the importance of whatever it is you are seeking to your admin team.
00:23:32.245 --> 00:23:35.023
Okay, so 18 years is a long time. Well.
00:23:37.303 --> 00:23:40.033
Hopefully others don't have to wait 18 years, But the thing is,
00:23:40.033 --> 00:23:43.853
when you believe that it's going to have student impact, just keep on trying.
00:23:43.853 --> 00:23:46.698
Keep on trying. And try to do it without whining.
00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:49.668
Yes, absolutely. But go ahead, Julie.
00:23:50.486 --> 00:23:55.352
Okay, so the last thing, Alyssa has the qualifications for a librarian working
00:23:55.352 --> 00:23:59.118
in Germany, which is not the same as being certified in the U.S.
00:23:59.536 --> 00:24:05.324
But what she has is a growth mindset and a dedication to providing quality library services.
00:24:05.602 --> 00:24:10.022
Look at everything she's accomplished simply by just seeking out ideas and learning
00:24:10.022 --> 00:24:11.755
on the go and taking action.
00:24:12.139 --> 00:24:17.172
So to the certified librarians listening, it's easy to feel worn down by the
00:24:17.172 --> 00:24:20.666
barriers, the policy changes, the endless no's.
00:24:21.067 --> 00:24:26.639
But let Alyssa's story reignite that spark. You have the training and the expertise. Don't give up.
00:24:26.965 --> 00:24:31.652
Take a look back at a project or request you had to set aside and figure out
00:24:31.652 --> 00:24:33.865
how to turn that no into a yes.
00:24:34.511 --> 00:24:38.762
You just hit the nail on the head there. Barriers aren't necessarily a dead
00:24:38.762 --> 00:24:43.166
end. sometimes it's just about finding a creative solution.
00:24:44.031 --> 00:24:50.436
Listeners, follow Alyssa on Instagram at international.school.librarian.
00:24:50.744 --> 00:24:55.098
Thanks for listening and join us for our next episode on August 24th.
00:24:55.643 --> 00:25:01.373
Make sure to visit our website at www.libreexchangepodcast.com.
00:25:01.727 --> 00:25:06.812
There you'll find episode notes, resource links, and a link to our Etsy store.
00:25:07.178 --> 00:25:13.047
Plus, you can submit a question or inspiring story that might be featured on a future episode.
00:25:13.737 --> 00:25:19.132
For guest clips, episode reminders, and trivia giveaways, follow us on Instagram
00:25:19.132 --> 00:25:24.500
and YouTube at LibraryExchange and on TikTok at library.exchange.
00:25:24.906 --> 00:25:29.800
Thanks so much for joining us today. We can't wait to have you back for our next episode.