How to Prove Your Library’s Impact and Win Support: A Guide for International Schools
Why Librarians Need to Show Their Impact
In international schools, librarians wear many hats – from reading advocates to curriculum collaborators. But despite their essential role, libraries often face funding cuts, staffing challenges, or limited visibility in leadership discussions.
The challenge isn’t that school leaders don’t care – it’s that library impact is often invisible without the right tools and language.
Fortunately, tools like Accessit Library by Follett Software are designed to help you track, showcase, and advocate for your library’s contributions in ways that resonate with decision-makers. Learn how Accessit Library can start improving your library immediately.
Start with the data – but make it tell a story.
Library management systems like Accessit make it easy to pull usage statistics, borrowing trends, and reading engagement data. But data alone isn’t enough – you need to frame it in a way that speaks to school-wide goals.
What school leaders care about:
- Student achievement and involvement
- Equity and access
- Operational efficiency
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Curriculum alignment
Sample storytelling tactics:
- “Our checkout rates for multilingual books have increased 40% this year, supporting our goal of inclusive education.”
- “Students using Accessit to track reading progress showed stronger independent learning skills, aligning with our IB learner profile goals.”
- “We used usage reports to reallocate budget toward high-demand nonfiction, ensuring every dollar supports engagement.”
Use Accessit reporting tools to your advantage.
Here’s how international schools are using Accessit to build their advocacy tool kit:
✔ Borrowing Trends
Show what’s being read and by whom – broken down by class or year group, age, language, subject, or genre. Demonstrate engagement growth over time.
✔ Curriculum Alignment
Track resources used in direct support of curriculum units, inquiry projects, or literacy benchmarks.
✔ Program Participation
Pull data on reading program engagement, top-performing themes, and student-led book reviews or dashboards.
✔ Collection Development
Illustrate how collection updates reflect student demographics, interests, and curriculum needs.
“Accessit’s real-time dashboards made it possible to walk into a meeting with evidence in hand. I could show how every decision was tied to impact.”
– Librarian, International School in Singapore
Don’t just show numbers – tell stories.
Data proves value, but stories make it stick.
Collect and share quotes from student book reviews and conversations like:
- “This book helped me feel seen.”
- “I didn’t know I loved history until I read this.”
- “The dashboard made it easy for me to find books that matched my topic.”
Pairing stats with stories paints a powerful picture of the human side of library impact.
Build stronger visibility with your admin team.
Make it easy for your leadership team to understand – and support – your work:
- Share quarterly impact reports using Accessit visuals.
- Invite administrators to student book talks or reading challenges.
- Offer short presentations showing how the library supports school goals.
- Share dashboards or access usage data via staff portals.
If you work across multiple campuses, Accessits site-level reporting makes it easy to compare and advocate for specific needs – whether it’s additional funding, more staff hours, or a new digital collection.
Advocate without burnout.
The best part? With automation from Accessit, reporting isn’t another job – it’s built in.
You can:
- Automate overdue reports and circulation summaries
- Use pre-built templates to export data in seconds
- Run comparisons over time to measure program success
- Quickly identify underused parts of the collection
You don’t need to be a data analyst to advocate for your library – you just need the right tools.
Learn more about Accessit Library.
Accessit Library by Follett Software gives international school librarians the insights and tools to prove value, win support, and grow impact. Learn more about Accessit Library here:
👉 Explore Accessit Library and discover its reporting tools.
